Recently released, a movie that has sparked much controversy, the Interview takes us where no American has gone before. Seth Rogen and James Franco set out to take on Kim Jong Un in an exclusive "Skylark Tonight" interview. But the masterminds behind the film had something to say in their mockery of the North Korean government.
The movie, while amusing its viewers with many comical acts, also touches on many deeper points. In the same way Mark Twain uses humor to make a point, the Interview highlights some flaws in North Korea. This method has the viewer laughing, then drops in a heavy point, such that Huck Finn is beaten by his father. In the Interview, this is shown when Kim reaches a breaking point, angrily shouting about all of the citizens he puts through harsh work camp conditions. The movie is generally light hearted and funny up until this point, when we realize that this actually happens. Another point the movie brings up is the point that a lot of the propaganda that the North Korean government sends out to itself and other countries, should not be believed. Now many people in the U.S. would not have a difficult time figuring out that North Korea fakes its harmonious state, but perhaps the film was intended to reach larger audiences.
Now this is satire because the movie's point is that the North Korean government is very flawed, and pokes fun at the way Kim Jong Un is treated as a deity (people believe he neither defecates nor urinates, and can speak to dolphins). Whatever the motives behind making the film were, this form of satire was so powerful, it actually did invoke a strong response in many of its viewers.
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