2014 was a great year. There was the Olympics Games in Sochi, Russia, the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, and the unbelievable but expected takeover of the hit Disney movies Frozen. Then there was the bad Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the ISIS situation in Syria and Iraq, the Boko Haram situation in Nigeria and the North Korean predicament, specifically, the Seth Rogan and James Franco film The Interview.
This movie is about two journalists tasked with assassinating Kim Jong-un while interviewing him. Now, though intended to be a funny movie to end off a fabulous 2014, this caused a whole lot of controversy with the North Koreans. They threatened to bomb any movie theatres in North America that screened this movie on opening day, December 25, 2014. This led to movie theatres planning to not show the movies at all. But because of a few brave souls and North American pride, came Christmas day the movie was available in some 300 independent movie theatres in America as well as available to all online when purchased. On Friday, January 2, 2015, the movie is too coming to independent Canadian theatres.
Now, North Korea is blaming Obama for the decision to have Sony have a belated release of The Interview. One unidentified spokesperson said this of Obama following the release of the movie: “Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest.” Many believe this could possibly be a racial remark, something North Korea is known for doing. What do I think of this comment? I find it highly offensive in many ways as others too would expect but I can also take pride in this statement, not only for Obama but for all black races.
Now, Obama was being called a monkey for convincing Sony to release the movie despite the North Korean hackers’ threats for disaster. If Obama is indeed a “monkey”, then maybe the situation could be taken lightly. After all, in the animal kingdom, monkeys, specifically the apes are the second smartest animals alive behind humans. They are capable of learning a lot of things we humans can learn like communication and mathematics. For further exploration into the vast awesomeness of the ape species, I highly recommend the Planet of Apes movies, a fascinating series all about the apes taking over the human race.
But less talk about apes and monkeys and more talk about this pressing issue in hand. Obama, if you could pleasure me with the honor of reading this article, you do not need to be mad at the Koreans. If anything, you can interpret the spokesman’s words as a compliment for it is like he is calling you one of the smartest beings, if the whole world population was to be animals, and not humans. If anything, the North Koreans who are threatening peace are like alligators. They roam the lakes with a scary look in their eyes and sharp piercing teeth to annihilate us. But when hell breaks loose and the alligators lose, they will shed their fake alligator tears to trick us of their surrendering. The monkey, Obama, at that moment will not fall for the alligators’ tricks being as smart as he is.
Is it wrong for a movie meant for entertainment to be released for the viewing of all, no matter how brutal it is? I mean, if the North Koreans were to release a movie about the assassination of President Barack Obama or Prime Minister Steven Harper, I don’t believe we would see the United States and Canada threatening North Korea with bombs or missiles or whatever. Besides, I doubt anyone is really going to assassinate Kim Jong-un anytime soon unless he asks for it. And is anyone in Korea actually going to watch the movie? (Ah yes, maybe the South Koreans maybe HAHA!)
So I believe the comment was not the kindest, but given the situation, I can kind of understand the feelings that were going through the North Koreans minds at the time. Of course, Obama promised retaliation for the threats to his people and the past several days in North Korea were not the best for them. There were internet disturbances in North Korea, of a nearly nine hour complete internet outage. I guess they got it coming for them. Never mess with a monkey or you’re gonna get bit…. or tripped with a banana peel…. or whatever monkeys do nowadays.
Boyson-Angelous