This week, a rather silly looking movie became the center of a very serious (albeit petty) international conflict. For those not up to speed on the Sony Pictures hack and the terrorist threats made in particular towards its movie “The Interview” you should really start reading a headline or two now and then…and you can get the gist of the situation here: The Sony Pictures hack, explained.
The long and short of it is, the hackers known as the GOP (Guardians of Peace) threatened to attack any theaters that showed this movie. Sony eventually decided to cancel the release of the movie (for now). The reactions were many to say the least. There are many sides to this story, and not one of them is entirely correct (although we can make a pretty strong argument for the hackers being completely wrong).
For the sake of our format we’re giving you both sides, and shining a light on the valid points made by both parties.
It is after all the final Sunday before Christmas, what better time for a debate on international relations? We’re just preparing you for family time, really.
So, without further ado, and in no particular order, here goes nothing:
Opinion: Sony should have gone forward with the scheduled film release.
It’s a fact of life that not everyone will always agree with you. This is especially true if you’re a Hollywood Studio. No matter how innocuous a film might seem, odds are, someone will be offended by it. Granted, this film very blatantly goes after a specific target, but it’s satire. More importantly, seeing how we live in a country where freedom of speech still supposedly exists, it should be allowed to exist, whether it’s everyone’s cup of tea or not. By giving into the demands of these hackers, Sony has cleared the way for other groups to do the same. It’s a slippery slope, and will have a lasting impact on the film industry.
Opinion: Sony should have cancelled the film’s release.
Putting business aside for a moment, no movie is worth risking the kind of attack this group was threatening. Putting business back into the mix, had they delivered on those threats, it would have destroyed Sony.
So, was there a right or a wrong response? That’s debatable, but as far as we can tell it wasn’t an easy call to make. At the end of the day, this was Sony’s decision to make. All we can do is find a way to fill that gap in our holiday film viewing.
…just for fun:
