On December 24, Sony made the film available for online rental and limited release at selected cinemas on December 25. However, all of their arguments, for and against the film’s release, have for the most part completely ignored the voices of Koreans and the Korean diaspora... Let me explain what would’ve happened had the film been released: South Korea’s current ultraconservative and majority right-leaning government, headed by Park Geun-Hye (Korea’s first female President, whom a lot of people on the internet praised without actually researching ANYTHING about her politics, or the fact that she also happens to be the daughter of a terrible dictator), would have increased government oppression of South Koreans with left-leaning political opinions to avoid military confrontation from North Korea. You see, whenever North Korea gets paranoid and releases threats out into the world, it’s not some joke. According to the IISS, North Korea happens to be the world’s largest military organization in the world, controlling 1,106,000 active and 8,389,000 reserve and paramilitary troops. Not only does the South have to start getting ready with its own military in defense whenever the North threatens the South*(see edit for detail), there is also always a huge drop in foreign investments in South Korea’s economy as a result, due to fears that the money they’ve put in might not make a profit because of a potentially devastating war. So to the people who still want to go and watch it: go ahead and get angry that you can’t watch another white-guy douchebag comedian’s politically incorrect movie with a box of overpriced greasy popcorn and rant on and on about free speech and government censorship from behind your computer screen, but your support for the film could potentially limit free speech for many South Koreans and directly put people’s lives in danger. Not only that, but you are also supporting a film that makes money by parodying the struggles of real people, in this case - North Koreans and North Korean refugees. Don’t pretend to care about human rights, free speech, or government censorship if you don’t know what you’re talking about. I leave you with this quote: “The day will soon come when North Koreans are finally free, and liberated concentration camp survivors will have to learn that the world was more interested in the oddities of the oppressors than the torment of the oppressed. -Adrian Hong, North Korea Is Not Funny myeongwol.tumblr/post/106174284887
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 23:33:33 +0000
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