What should Sony do with The Interview?

I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. South Park had been criticized previously when they censored the episode on the prophet mohammad during the aftermath of the Danish cartoon kerfuffle. Another weak decision.

 

Actually that isn't a comparable decision in terms of the validity of the threat. One is an empty threat from the hermit kingdom about bringing '911' to people that go to see the movie (whatever that means)...the other is a line that you do not cross unless you have a deathwish. The threat to anyone that draws the Prophet is extremely real.

 

Comedy Central censored that episode--not South Park. What's also interesting is that South Park actually featured Mohammad in an episode previous to the one where he was censored.

 

I don't really see your distinction. A direct or an implied threat existed which lead to the censoring or removing of content that would otherwise have no issue in being shown and which will likely lead to future self censorship.

 

I was explaining why the two were not 'weak decisions'- only one of them was. One decision was based on a threat that was almost nil.....one decision was based on a threat that was almost certain if South Park went ahead and drew the Prophet.

This isn't an argument about whether censorship is good, bad or ugly....you said the South Park decision was 'another weak decision'. If you know the facts about drawing the Prophet you'd know it was anything but a weak decision and in no way comparable to the North Korean situation.

 

I disagree with your threat assessment. We simply don't know(*) what would have happened either way. Saying that one threat was nil and the other near certain is pure conjecture.

* So what happened in a much earlier episode of South Park when they did exactly the same thing? An episode was shown years earlier depicting mohammad, uncensored, and there wasn't a peep out of anyone.

 

It was pre 9-11 when the original image was shown- I would assume I don't need to explain how that changed things?

Go ask Theo Van Gogh if the threat is the same....oh...right...he got shot and stabbed to death for doing it. Are you under the impression that a thousand strong North Korean death squad was in America ready to kill all of the people that went to see the Interview? If not...then the threat isn't the same. One has been proven to get your ass killed....one was a theoretical threat that would be impossible to follow through on (kill anyone that goes to see the movie).

 

Christmas Day is usually reserved for high class films. Does anyone think that maybe this is a really bad movie and Sony doesn't want to be slandered for releasing this on a day when prestigious films like American Sniper is being released?

 

So why schedule it for Christmas in the first place? Is Sony incapable of reviewing the dailies? Did someone mistakenly tell them this was the much-anticipated sequel to Citizen Kane? Was someone gonna give them nougies if they pushed the release date out?

 

But that's a different thought than what you originally said about Christmas being a day for "prestigious" films. Whatever Sony thought "The Interview" would be, they surely never believed it would be "prestigious"...

 

The Interview seems more like a summer film than any other season. Christmas Day.....assassination.....

 

The Interview was both directed by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg. Their last film, This Is The End made over 100 million dollars against a 30 million dollar budget. Since, most release dates are reserved in advance, Sony probably had faith that this would be another blockbuster. Once they saw the finished product, they hopes dwindled. I may be wrong. It's just a thought.

 

Why can't The Interview be seen as prestigious? Maybe Sony thought it would be. The point I'm trying to make is Unbroken, Into The Woods, The Gambler, Selma, American Sniper and Big Eyes are all scheduled to be released on Christmas Day. Sony releases The Interview and it flops because it's not any good. Not only are they ridiculed for releasing a terrible movie but a terrible movie that didn't make any money.

 

American Sniper on X-mas day. Now that's the spirit! Fa-la-la-la laaaa-la-la-la-la.

 

And I would have assumed that you would get your chronology right. Mohammad was shown uncensored in the ending song in sesaon 7's I'm a Little Bit Country (2003). He is also visible in the opening crowd shot in season 6, and also in the last clip shown. He's visible in the crowd shot in the episodes Smug Alert! to The List.

I recall at the time even Jon Steward was critical of the decision to censor episode 201. Indeed, there was an event held on May 20, 2010 called "Draw Mohammed Day" in support of free speech and freedom of artistic expression of those threatened with violence for drawing representations of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It began as a protest against South Park's "201" episode by its distributor, Comedy Central.

You might even say that South Park set the precedent to which Sony et al have drawn from to pull the movie from distribution. It's giving in to terrorists and is not a good precedent to set.

 

I seriously doubt Sony thought "The Interview" would be "prestigious". They might've thought it'd make them money, but I can't believe anyone at the studio thought "man, this one's gonna get some Oscar nominations!"

It's a broad comedy about 2 dopes who try to assassinate a leader. It comes with a big joke about one character shoving a large technological device up his own butt. None of this screams "prestigious"...

 

It's a comedy...not an action movie. I see no attachment to any Season, Holiday, etc... Christmas day has nothing to do with. IMO, of course.

 

Oatsdad, you're alright!! You had me laughing so hard I sounded like a lunatic.

 

Well it seems the pussies at Paramount have now forced cancellation of the planned Team America screenings:
'Team America: World Police' screenings canceled in wake of Sony hack

 

Author Paulo Coelho, whose book The Alchemist has sold in excess of 165 million copies, has just offered to buy the rights to The Interview from Sony and that it would go straight on BitTorrent, for free.

 

Agreed. These guys need to realize that just because an idea is funny when you're high doesn't mean that it actually is. I can't believe this got greenlighted in the first place.

 

You might...nobody else does. Your insistence that the two threats are similar is still not proven. Theo Van Gogh proves that the threat to someone portraying Mohammad is real and someone can be killed for doing it....the threat you seem to view as equal by your north korean death squads wandering around from theater to theater is complete fiction.

Here I'll throw you a bone..I'll come around to your view that the threats are equal if a single American gets even a hang-nail as a result of the North Korean cyber threat of unleashing "911" on people. I will keep checking CNN to see if it happens.

 

Right, so now you speak for everyone else?

I have merely pointed out the similarities and negated your previous argument with counter examples. Proof is not achievable when it comes to social mood and opinion.

Unwarranted hyperbole (death squads, really?). If you'd read all of my comments on this matter you would know that I didn't jump on the NK bandwagon (arguing for more evidence).

Keep your bone and get some perspective,

 

No but I haven't seen your "South Park set the precedent" theory floated about in the media or on here by anyone but you. Sorry if you're feeling lonely out on that limb.

 

I'll make a wild out of the box prediction. Voting for the 2015 Academy Awards starts with initial voting for nominees in less than two weeks with voting for the winners in each category shortly thereafter. If this turns into a big freedom of expression and don't let the terrorists win circus over the next few weeks I can actually see a protest vote develop with Seth Rogan bringing home an Oscar.