You no mess with Supreme Leader!

[213374U]

So, after (allegedly) North Korean leet haxxors broke into Sony's computers and leaked juicy bits such as some producer accusing Angelina Jolie of being a big poo-poo head, the studio decided to pull an upcoming movie, The Interview. Some cinemas protested and offered screenings of what probably is one of the worst movies ever made, Team America. But now, in a proverbial exercise of doing the right thing for the wrong reason, Paramount have decided to pull Team America too!

 

*puts on tinfoil hat*

 

Anyone else think this is just an elaborate publicity stunt?

[Valsuelm]

Might be a publicity stunt, might be some kind of false flag, might be just some hackers screwing with Sony et al for fun or to get a little vengeance for the actions of the MPAA, RIAA, etc, might be corporate warfare, might be something else, but It's more than likely not actually the North Korean government doing this.

Based on all the info out so far, I'm leaning towards the publicity stunt. If some folks actually start having 'accidents' maybe I'll change my mind.

Edited December 19, 2014 by Valsuelm

[Gromnir]

hmmm. am not thinking it is just a publicity stunt. christmas week is one of the most significant weeks for movie attendance during the entire year. the threat o' a north korean terror attack on randomn theatres in retaliation for the movie in question strikes us as laughable. however, if even one percent o' people avoid any movie theatre where the interview were set to play 'tween christmas and the first week in january, that would be a substantial amount o' lost revenue.

 

so, how does one attempt to make a positive outta a negative? in the entertainment business, apparently you turn a minor little side-show into a three-ring circus. all the publicity is generating enormous attention for what looked to be a kinda silly movie.  how many movies get free advertising from every major network in the US? some folks will eventual see the movie 'cause o' curiosity... is a natural reaction when you see everybody around you looking up to do the same, no? some folks will see the movie just as a kinda FU to the north koreans. *snort* some folks will see the movie just so they can then complain about how terribad the movie actually were; no doubt you has seen this effect with bioware games. 

 

*shrug*

 

am not seeing a conspiracy, but we do see a movie studio and distributor making the most outta a less than ideal situation.

 

HA! Good Fun! 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Anyone else think this is just an elaborate publicity stunt?

Possibly, or rather Sony attempting to capitalize on the hack. The attention the movie has garnered because of this affair is certainly going to help it's performance if it is ever released to theaters(an extremely likely scenario), particularly if in a time frame free of notable competition.

 

As to Team America.....once was enough.

Edited December 19, 2014 by KaineParker

[Wrath of Dagon]

Retreat and surrender are daily occurrence under our Dear Leader Obola.

[Orogun01]

I'm I the only person that liked Team America?

[Hurlshort]

Retreat and surrender are daily occurrence under our Dear Leader Obola.

 

Yeah, thanks Obama!

[Valsuelm]

I'm I the only person that liked Team America?

 

A legion of stoners did too.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I'm I the only person that liked Team America?

You don't qualify as a person, gamer scum.

[Barothmuk]

The "America: **** Yeah" song was pretty funny.

[Volourn]

Pure cowardice.

[Zoraptor]

I'm I the only person that liked Team America?

 

Team America was OK. The skewering of the Mike Moore/ bandwagon celebrity culture was pretty good (as was the supermarionation overall), but unlike SP: BC&U they rather ducked the reciprocal skewering of gung ho militarism. Should have been better.

 

Don't really know what to think about Sony though. On one hand I tend to think that doing a movie about assassinating a real world head of state of another country is generally bad taste, even as a comedy, on the other that's not enough reason to want things banned. In the end I don't really feel sympathy for either the DPRK or Sony.

 

The DPRK could have at least gone after the egregiously bad Red Dawn remake though.

[Luridis]

I try not to watch television. But, I caught a bit of that on a fleeting glimpse of Fox News. What was most interesting was this...

 

So, our power grid may not be safe?

 

I work on computer systems and have this to say: Only a foolish person connects anything essential to the internet that does not require access to it. I'm willing to bet the people running power plants weren't too keen on the idea of connecting grid controls to a public network, which makes Fox's statement dubious or ignorant at the very least.

[Volourn]

Of course, it's bad taste. But, big deal.

[Oerwinde]

I'm I the only person that liked Team America?

I'm a fan, the song are all fantastic, and overall it was just hilarious.

[Walsingham]

You don't release people's personal banking and social security details for a publicity stunt.

 

Personally I don't believe that the Norks have sufficiently experienced hackers to pull this off. I put Chinese or Iranian mercs in the frame.

[HoonDing]

Not too surprised to see a Japanese company giving in at a time when Abe is lobbying to get Japanese citizens abducted by NK back.

Edited December 19, 2014 by HoonDing

[Blarghagh]

Hackers from North Korea? They've got two computers! That still use punch cards!

[Walsingham]

Hackers from North Korea? They've got two computers! That still use punch cards!

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Norks have hit South Korea several times. But this was a premier division hack.

 

I also now understand that demands for money were made first.

 

To me it sounds like a criminal group that is dividing the investigation by the incredibly simple expedient of saying they are from North Korea.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Making a film about a dictator in full swing is complicated move for a movie company and the actors and all others involved.

 

A little historical comparison (taken from War Is Boring, P. Jacobs):

In 1938, Charlie Chaplin  decided to take on the role of Adolf Hitler. When The Great Dictator came out two years later, it was the first time Chaplin spoke on film.

In the The Great Dictator, Chaplin played his trademark Tramp character, re-imagined as a Jewish barber in the fictional country Tomania. Chaplin also played Tomania’s autocrat Adenoid Hynkel, a parody of Hitler.

In 1939 and 1940, Nazi Germany captured much of Europe and began bombing Great Britain. But America was not formally at war. And many Hollywood executives were reluctant to criticize Hitler. Some Jewish film producers in the U.S. feared a parody film might anger the Nazis and expose Jews in Europe to even harsher treatment.

Others were sympathetic to the Nazis. In the 1930s, MGM’s Louis B. Meyer had consulted with German authorities and had given them veto over some films’ contents in order to ensure easy access to the German film market. The 51-year-old Chaplin, then one of the world’s greatest celebrities, decided to produce The Great Dictator with his own money. He wrote, directed and starred in the film.

 

But Chaplin himself almost nixed The Great Dictator as the extent of German atrocities in Europe became clearer. The film star feared there was simply nothing funny about Nazis. He also worried that many countries might simply ban the flick. President Franklin Roosevelt heard of Chaplin’s intention to scrap the film. The president sent an aide to deliver a message to Chaplin. “Make this film,” the president advised. Roosevelt promised he would use his influence to ensure none of America’s allies banned the movie.

Filming began in 1939 and lasted more than a year.

 

Chaplin released the movie in October 1940.

Hitler demanded a copy—and screened it in his private theater twice.

Hitler once had extolled Chaplin as one of the greatest performers of all time. There were rumours that Hitler was heartbroken to see Chaplin’s impersonation of him. In one key scene, Chaplin’s Hynkel character bursts into tears after his balloon globe pops.

But according to a member of Hitler’s circle named Reinhard Spitzy, the real-life Nazi leader found the film amusing. Spitzy even suggested that Chaplin had inspired Hitler’s toothbrush mustache. The other explanation for the Führer’s ’stache is that Hitler shaved it that way when he was a soldier in World War I in order to get a good seal on his gas mask.

Hitler screened Chaplin’s films even though Germany had banned the actor’s works owing to his alleged Jewishness. The propaganda book "The Jews Are Watching You" had labelled Chaplin a “disgusting Jew acrobat.”

 

The Great Dictator was a commercial success. Later, Chaplin regretted it being so funny. He insisted that had he known about the Nazi’s industrialized murder of the Jews, he “wouldn’t have made the film.”

 

“I should like to help everyone if possible—Jew, Gentile, black man, white,” Chaplain said as the Tramp. “We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another.”

“Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate and has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed,” he continued. “We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind.” “We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.”

 

After the war, someone asked Chaplin if he was in fact Jewish. “I'm afraid I don't have that honour," Chaplin said.

Edited December 19, 2014 by IndiraLightfoot

[HoonDing]

Did Saddam ever watch Hot Shots 2?

[IndiraLightfoot]

You bet, he did!

[kirottu]

[Enoch]

You don't release people's personal banking and social security details for a publicity stunt.

 

Personally I don't believe that the Norks have sufficiently experienced hackers to pull this off. I put Chinese or Iranian mercs in the frame.

 

The leaks, if not the underlying hack, have reportedly been traced to the network of a fancy hotel in Bangkok. 

 

 

It's a weird sort of mentality all over the web these days that first suspects some kind of false-flag attack for, well, everything.  I suspect it originates from the 'chan universe (where such suspicions are usually quite justified), but it is very rarely justified elsewhere.

Edited December 19, 2014 by Enoch

[Orogun01]

 

You don't release people's personal banking and social security details for a publicity stunt.

 

Personally I don't believe that the Norks have sufficiently experienced hackers to pull this off. I put Chinese or Iranian mercs in the frame.

 

The leaks, if not the underlying hack, have reportedly been traced to the network of a fancy hotel in Bangkok. 

 

 

It's a weird sort of mentality all over the web these days that first suspects some kind of false-flag attack for, well, everything.  I suspect it originates from the 'chan universe (where such suspicions are usually quite justified), but it is very rarely justified elsewhere.

 

Bangkok, that's in N.K. right? America to the rescue....some days I wonder if WWIV will be started by the American's complete lack of geographical knowledge.