Why Seth Rogen and James Franco think killing Kim Jong-un is funny
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By S.E. Smith
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It’s hard to tell whether the
terrorists
or Sony have won here: The studio has
canceled
The Interview
in the midst of terrorist threats, thus turning a movie that likely would have been mediocre at best into a national martyr. You can’t buy that kind of publicity, and Sony is milking it for all it’s worth, as the national conversation becomes about the suppression of free speech. The Alamo Drafthouse really brought it home with their pledge to run
Team America
on the planned release date of The Interview,
though
Paramount
pulled the plug
on that particular plan.
What fewer people seem to be talking about, though, is that while the terrorists might not be right tactics-wise, they’re right on a critical level:
The Interview
is pretty
racist.
As pitched, the film revolved around two “journalists” recruited by the
CIA
to assassinate Kim Jong-un, the currently very much alive leader of
North Korea. In what would have undoubtedly been a slapstick, rolling-in-the-aisles comedy, the two eventually succeed with a
fiery on-screen death
for the Korean dictator. We all like to see a notorious foreign leader get his due, but The Interview
is somewhat unique when it comes to films taking on foreign powers. And it's hard to believe that the film could have been made about any country other than North Korea.
The movie does something unprecedented with the use of live-action characters to act out the death of a sitting world leader (Team America’s
puppetry made for a very different presentation, although comparing Kim Jong-il to
an alien cockroach
wasn’t exactly a humanizing move). The fact that the producers picked North Korea isn’t a coincidence—imagine the same kind of film being made about Iran, Idi Amin, Bashar al-Hassad, Manuel Noriega, or even Hitler, who was mocked in propaganda films while he was alive, but never put to death. What's the difference between those men and Jong-un and his father, Kim Jong-il, the subject of Team America? Both men are
Asian, and that plays a large role in why they’re considered fair game by studios like Sony and Paramount.
The demasculinization of Asian men is a recurrent theme in American society, from the very early roots of
anti-Asian racism
along the West Coast of the United States in the mid-1800s, when Chinese laborers began arriving in large numbers in search of Gold Rush fortunes. Instead, they found themselves working in a limited number of positions as camp cooks and launderers, denied citizenship and equal rights, forced to live in the United States without their families and squeezed into cramped conditions in squalid “Chinatowns.”
They were also the subject of broad racist campaigns, including the infamous “yellow peril,” which suggested the Chinese population had evil designs on whites, like the prospect of
white slavery
(forced prostitution) for innocent white women. Under the guise of protecting vulnerable white communities, Chinese immigrants were persecuted, hung, beaten, and refused the right to own property or even marry. Along the way, a mythology about Chinese and other Asian men arose, starting with the belief that “they”
all looked alike, a sea of yellow faces, carrying the risk of a perilous revolt.
Asian men were also cast as submissive, beaten down, and feminized—in California, where this myth originated, the image of the tame Chinese man contrasted sharply with the icon of the well-built, masculine, white miner. California was a nation filled with rough, rugged, manly white men, in sharp contrast to the soft, meek Asian men who did the cooking and the laundry—women’s tasks—because they weren’t allowed other jobs.
The attitude that Asian men are feminine and lesser than their white counterparts persists to this day, along with
slurs, harassment, and other unpleasantries for the Asian community. Myths about the reduced size of their penises endure and they’re considered
undesirable dating prospects; one need only look to the
racist responses
to Lorde’s rumoured boyfriend, James Lowe, to see evidence of that. While Asian women are exoticized and commodified, Asian men are perpetually regarded as less-than. People still assume that Asian men are meek and submissive and success, for Asian men, often means
assimilation into white culture.
Kim Jong-un in
The Interview
is funny to American audiences in the same way that a puffed up, angry rooster is funny to the casual observer; he’s reduced to a small, unimportant man by virtue of his race, with audiences laughing at the idea that he’d be one of the most terrifying living political figures. He’s painted with a Napoleon complex—though for the record, Napoleon was
average in height—and mocked by American audiences not because he’s a
dictator
and satire
is a form of political commentary, but because he’s an Asian
dictator. Killing someone in an almost cartoonishly violent fashion is the ultimate denial of masculinity, and that’s exactly what happens at the end of
The Interview
as our heroic leads diminish Jong-un to a pile of ashes.
“Kim Jong-un’s heft and his babyface play directly into pre-existing stereotypes about Asian men and their (lack of) masculinity, making him an even easier target for ridicule,”
write Claire Groden and Elaine Teng
at the New Republic. “Many think of him as a giant baby rather than the leader of one of the world’s most brutal police states.” Seanna Pan at
Mother Jones
made a similar point
about how we view Asian masculinity, this time in the case of PSY: “Are we laughing with PSY as he takes his rightful place in pop cultural history? Or at him…?”
The very idea of making a film about the death, let alone a violent one, of a world leader is one that most producers, directors, and studios would shrink from. If the subject were taken on, it would likely be in the form of a drama that handled it like the hot potato that it is, or it might happen off-screen. In
The West Wing,
for example, President Nimbala plays a minor role in the season two episode “In This White House,” where he’s summarily executed in an airport parking lot—and he’s the fictional leader of a fictional nation, with a death very much played for dramatic effect, not laughs.
The Interview’s
choice of Kim Jong-un was no accident. The producers were well aware that the movie would have been inflammatory both in the United States and internationally had any other world leader been selected as the target of a “hilarious” assassination. What Sony didn’t expect was that North Korea might fight back.
Nothing about Kim Jong-un’s iron-fisted rule over North Korea is funny. The nation has a horrific rate of child poverty and malnutrition, while an approximate 100,000 citizens are imprisoned in political internment camps, and the country lies behind an iron curtain that makes it virtually impenetrable. Punishments are swift and harsh for those who speak up against the regime, and North Korea is considered one of the
top human rights violators in the world.
Clive Crook, the man behind the Economist’s
famous “Greetings, earthlings” cover, expressed
stark regrets
about it when he reflected on how there’s little to mock about the Kims: “You don't make jokes about concentration camps and you don't make jokes about torture, I thought as I read the report [on human rights violations in North Korea]. It was a memorable cover, but there's nothing funny about North Korea.” As he noted, North Korea is a land of untold horrors for its residents, no matter how distant it feels from the life of the West.
That makes North Korea very much fair game for political commentary, including satire that makes biting observations about dictatorships—as
Charlie Chaplin
did in The Great Dictator.
The 1940 film didn’t just poke fun at Hitler and Mussolini; it also took on the very concept of what it meant to be a dictator, and Chaplin made a risky political move with the film by releasing it when he did.
The Great Dictator
was a bold, dramatic political statement.
This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen
was a sardonic, bleak, melancholy commentary on life in the concentration camps and another sharp political statement.
The Interview,
though, isn't really about North Korea. It's about how we view Asian culture, and while
The Interview
attempts to show how ridiculous dictatorship is, it doesn't make us look good, either.
Photo via
mister addd/Flickr (CC BY N.D.-2.0)
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@sesmithwrites
As an Asian man, I totally agree 10000% with your article!! It's true, everything u wrote. All Asian men agree with it.
@RamonGlazov
right, how could anyone not think that a film glorifying the idea of us-friendly regime change in a target country is funny
@realsubtle
It's piece's utter squeamishness I take issue with. The Interview is FAR from the darkest of dark comedies.
@realsubtle
What would the author think of Kind Hearts And Coronets? "We shouldn't joke about killing nasty British aristocrats!"
@realsubtle
And a tinpot dictator shouldn't be mocked because he's Asian and... like, white privilege...?
S.E. Smith decided to block me on Twitter because she can't handle the reality of the situation: she's utterly ignorant about the film. Has she seen it? No. Yet she declares that it is "racist" because...Kim Jong-un is Asian. This is absurd--depicting any Asian, even the absolute worst, is apparently "racist" all of a sudden. Perhaps she would prefer that KJU be portrayed in a very positive light? Or perhaps she would prefer Asians not be in film at all, lest her white guilt at seeing someone of color being portrayed as a human get to her.
Her statement of "imagine the same kind of film being made about Iran, Idi Amin, Bashar al-Hassad, Manuel Noriega, or even Hitler, who was mocked in propaganda films while he was alive, but never put to death" is equally absurd. She blocked me because I dared to correct her. "Inglorious Basterds" is a recent film about the fictional assassination of Adolf Hitler, a dictatorial madman like Kim Jong-un. Yet she ignores this example because it doesn't fit her narrative.
Go back to Tumblr, SE.
Her statement of "imagine the same kind of film being made about Iran, Idi Amin, Bashar al-Hassad, Manuel Noriega, or even Hitler, who was mocked in propaganda films while he was alive, but never put to death" is equally absurd. She blocked me because I dared to correct her. "Inglorious Basterds" is a recent film about the fictional assassination of Adolf Hitler, a dictatorial madman like Kim Jong-un. Yet she ignores this example because it doesn't fit her narrative.
Go back to Tumblr, SE.
P.S.: The killing of any dictator would be hilarious to me. They are undeserving of protection from ridicule.
I'm Mexican-American, and I think killing anyone like him (Hitler, Hussein, Lord Voldemort) is pretty funny.
@sesmithwrites
imagine the same kind of film...about...Hitler "Inglorious Basterds?" White liberals know better than us about what to watch?
I wouldn't say it's because he's Asian, I'd say it's because the Kim-Jong Il/Un regime has a history of rather...'hilarious' statements, making them almost a comedy in themselves.
Think about the fact that on his first time golfing, kim jong un said he got 5 hole in ones, or that he bowled several perfect games in a row his first time bowling, or that he said he competed in the olympics and won every gold medal. It's not just that it's outrageous, it's that it's almost a comedy in itself.
Hitler simply isn't funny. Stalin isn't. Hell, even the North Korean situation isn't. But if there's anyone able to be made 'fun of', it's the person who set himself up to be in that position with all the ridiculous claims Kim Jong Un has made.
I don't think it's about a mockery of Asian culture, it simply is, on the most basic level, a mockery of the Dictator himself. No other Dictator, as far as I'm concerned, could be quite parodied as well as him.
What exactly is this "Asian" culture you're talking about? There are plenty of countries with different cultures in Asia. There are significant differences in culture and language. There is no "Asian culture", just like there is no "European culture". You ignorant crackers just don't get it. For you all Asians are the same. YOU are the real racists.
And Kim Jong-un is a brutal dictator, just like his dear daddy, Kim Jong-il, and his daddy, Kim-Il sung. They have murdered tens of thousands of people, they have installed a dictatorship that is on the same level as Nazi Germany, they even have a "bloody and country" ideology that mirrors the Nazis' nonsense. They have abducted dozens of Japanese citizens, one of them a 13 year old girl.
But hey, go back to crying about Kim Jong-un and how unfair everything is you stupid Americans.
YANKEE GO HOME
Dailydot has become very slandering, pushing racism on people. I saw this movie as poking fun at the dictator, but it has been taken to the new level Dailydot like to reach- if you breathe, you are racist
@Danielleri
2/2: Hitler, Ahmadinejad, Saddam, Kim Jung Il/ Un all mocked in comedy movies and on SNL. It's punching up, not punching down.
@tigertigerbear
I think the point they're making is that it's easier to make fun of him based on a long, gross history of stereotyping Asian
@tigertigerbear
men, not that this one specific movie is making fun of one specific thing. That it's part of a wider, more subtle trend.
@Danielleri
I love you Danielle, but I think DailyDot article is way off. They're mocking him because he's the worst dictator, not Asian.1/2
@Danielleri
BRAVO!! .. Asians and Black people have been MOCKED for yrs in "liberal Hollywood" via movies ..americans are regressing
@Danielleri
I would rather see "You Natzy Spy" with the Three Stooges than "The Interview."
@Nero
calling people racist is a childish way liberals demean others to give themselves a false sense of moral superiority.
@Nero
@witch_sniffer
It's dishonest and agenda-driven, but entirely common.
@Nero
classic projection. Not the type with movie projectors either
@Nero
i think i need to stop following you. My brain can't take it :(
@Nero
I want to know why this is a thing now considering there's several games dealing with killing North Koreans or toppling the NK regime.
@Nero
DailyDot? Aren't they the ones that called Gamergate a paedo ring? Excuse me while I ignore whatever drivel they're spouting this time
@Nero
It's not like the content of a movie would noticeably alter their criticism of it in any way.
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