The Sony Hack and the Law of War: Coming to a Theater Near You
The summer blockbuster season presents the perfect opportunity to reflect on one of Hollywood’s biggest off-screen hits from 2014: North Korea’s alleged hack of Sony in response to The Interview, a buddy comedy about the assassination of Kim Jung-un. Because of the Sony hack, The Interview was ultimately given a limited theatrical release and made available through online streaming, grossing some $40 million to less than kind reviews. However, a Hollywood studio executive may one day convene a pitch session to consider turning the real-life events of this “movie within a headline”— Sony initially pulling the release of The Interview in response to North Korea’s threats for this act of cinematic lèse-majesté — into a sequel of sorts. That pitch session would likely revolve around the one thing missing from this story: a hero.
All feature films require at least three things: a protagonist, an antagonist and conflict. The Sony hack had an antagonist (the Guardians of Peace, who allegedly carried out the hack, and the North Korean government, who was allegedly behind it) and conflict (Sony’s initial refusal to release The Interview after the Guardians of Peace leaked sensitive corporate information and North Korea vowing to attack movie theaters if the film were to show). As for a protagonist? Well, there were certainly victims (Sony), bystanders (George Clooney, aghast that a Hollywood studio would cave to such pressure) and supporting characters (President Obama, who chastised Sony and vowed retaliation for this act of “cyber vandalism”). But no hero.
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