The latest news on the Sony hack reveals that on top of the world learning of just what the film industry thinks of “the talent” this new age of computer chaos has created terrorist film critics who really do not like The Interview. While this may sound the least bit trite, it is not meant to downplay the viciousness that has been displayed, or attempt at Internet terrorism being perpetrated by the GOP (Guardians of Peace). The GOP claims, through a very unveiled threat, that they will attack cinemas that dare to show the Seth Rogen and James Franco “unfunny” comedy.
CBS news reported that the hackers have said that movie audiences should remember 9/11 and that non moviegoers should beware if they live near a cinema showing the “awful” and “unfunny” film. The threatening note, which starts with the word “Warning” reads pretty much as the other missives from the GOP. While the English language may not be the first, or even second, language of the originator, the letters are improving, slightly.
Apart from the direct reference to the Twin Towers attack on September 11, 2001 the letter attacks Sony, again, and warns that those who “seek fun” by going to watch the Rogen/Franco film The Interview will seemingly not live to regret it. The terrorist film critics also state that the movie is terrible and presumably they must have seen the feature as the hack performed on the entertainment company has, again presumably, given them access.
Seth Rogen has attacked the media for giving airtime and credence to the hackers. Rather Interestingly, the star takes the same stance as the female celebrities who had their naked images stolen and posted on the Internet earlier this year. The Neighbors star says the information it theft and that the media are not only aiding and abetting the original thieves (terrorists) bt they are “literally re-selling it.”
Rogen is right.
While the comic actor and director is right to be angry, Seth shows that he has lost touch with what the public crave, apart from his films. Anyone “cruising the net” knows that controversy sells. Scandal, skullduggery and vicious backbiting are almost as popular as sex, aka porn. The very fact that a lot of the Sony emails splashed across the Internet are not just dismissive of the stars that they interact with, Angelina Jolie is a “spoiled brat” according to one email from Sony execs, seems to fill the average film fan with a sort of “I knew it” delight.
Suspicions that Angelina Jolie is a brat aside, this type of communique seems to prove that the studio heads don’t like their big money earners. The stars that drive punters into cinemas and put dollars in the company coffers are despised, denigrated and downplayed. Sony is not alone in its condescending attitude towards those dollar-signs-on-two-legs who bring home the entertainment bacon. In this way they are similar to the alleged North Korean terrorists who stand accused of this massive Hollywood hack.
It certainly stands to reason that Kim Jong-Un is not too pleased that The Interview, from Sony and Seth Rogen along with his BFF James Franco, is based on the premise of his assassination. This hack, an exercise in exposing all of Sony’s demons online, makes one thing perfectly clear. In order to be the dictator of any country, one must leave their sense of humor at the door, or better yet, not possess one at all. To be fair to the North Korean leader, there are not very many country heads who would find a film about their orchestrated demise all that funny either. The Interview is due to hit cinemas on Christmas Day this year.
By Michael Smith
Sources:
