"The Interview"

The other area I’d like to address is the film, The Interview, which Sony is supposed to open in theaters in the U.S. on Christmas Day. In case you are unfamiliar with what this film is about, the following official description will fill you in: 

Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapoport (Seth Rogen) are the team behind the popular tabloid-TV show Skylark Tonight. After learning that North Korea's Kim Jong Un (Randall Park) is a huge fan of the show, they successfully set up an interview with him, hoping to legitimize themselves as actual journalists. However, as Dave and Aaron prepare for their journey to Pyongyang, the CIA steps in, recruits them, and assigns them an incredible mission: Assassinate the dictator. 

The dictator they mean is the actual current dictator Kim Jong Un. Now, the reason the film isn’t opening is that days ago Sony’s files were hacked, and the hacking has been traced back to the regime in North Korea, as have the threats to pull a 9/11 at theaters where the film is shown. The theaters pulled the film. President Obama, in an interview with Candy Crowley on CNN Sunday morning, said that he thought Sony had made a mistake, referring to freedom of speech, the right of the arts to tell a story that not everybody agrees with, and the fact that we've fought wars to make sure we enjoy these rights. He also said he wished Sony had called him, which it turns out they had, but the call never make it up the White House Staff chain. He also said that he was unwilling to let North Korea dictate to the United States what films we can and cannot show, and that when the United States is attacked, cyber or otherwise, the attacker will come to rue the day. I was thinking that if I were President Obama, I would have immediately arranged to do a screening of the film at the White House for the First Family and the leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as well as other appropriate committee heads, before heading to Hawaii for a family holiday. 

What We Can Do: 

1. Let your local theater know that censorship is not your thing. 
2. Write to Sony immediately and ask them to televise the film or make it available on YouTube.
3. Remind both Sony and theaters near you that The Last Temptation of Christ was too smart a film to garner a big audience until the Catholic Church mounted huge protests against it and created a great audience for the film. You can't buy advertising like The Interview is getting. 
4. If you end up seeing the film at home, why not make it a movie event and enjoy some popcorn along with the show? 
5. Add your voice to the 'comments' section below.