UCLA students react to controversy surrounding film ‘The Interview’

This post was updated at 12:10 a.m. on Dec. 22.

UCLA students are some of the only people in the world that have ever seen the controversial film “The Interview” on the big screen.

A comedy starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, “The Interview” revolves around two creators of a celebrity gossip television show, Dave Skylark (Franco) and Aaron Rapaport (Rogen). In the film, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is a fan of the show, and the two comedians hope to add a political and serious aspect to their program by interviewing him. When Kim agrees to meet the two men, the CIA asks Skylark and Rapaport to use their intimate access to Kim to assassinate him.

Sony Pictures Entertainment decided to pull the movie on Dec. 17 after their computers were hacked to gain information on thousands of employees’ private emails, salary amounts and unreleased material. North Koreans were allegedly linked to the cyber hackings and threats behind the movie’s release. “The Interview” was scheduled to release on Christmas Day, but the hackers, who call themselves the Guardians of Peace, warned, “Remember the 11th of September 2001,” as they threatened to terrorize theaters scheduled to show the film.

However, “The Interview” was prescreened at UCLA on Dec. 8 at the James Bridges Theater as a free sneak from the Campus Events Commission, meaning that about 278 Bruins already saw this film in theaters.

Fourth-year neuroscience student Priyanka Tripuraneni, who attended the screening at UCLA, said that at the beginning of the film, Kim is portrayed as a controlling dictator, but later the character shows his sensitive side by taking Skylark under his wing, even giving him a beloved puppy.

“They portray him as this huge party guy who just likes to have fun,” Tripuraneni said. “He’s lonely, really sensitive.”

In fact, Tripuraneni said that Skylark gets so attached to Kim that he debates whether or not to follow through with the assassination.

Campus Events Commissioner Greg Kalfayan, a fourth-year political science student, organized the screening at UCLA. Since there is now danger surrounding the film, he said he is happy and excited that at least a couple hundred students watched the movie before it was pulled. Between the film and the T-shirts, posters and other merchandise that Sony donated, he said everybody seemed pleased with the event.

After seeing “The Interview,” Kalfayan said he thinks the material did not merit a cancellation, but was silly, funny and accomplished what it set out to do.

“It’s offensive, sure, but it makes light of a bad situation. The whole point of comedy is to satirize,” Kalfayan said. “It’s not going to win any Oscars, but it’s dumb humor.”

Tripuraneni also said that she didn’t think Sony made the right choice in canceling the movie. It was enjoyable, she said, and had her laughing the whole time along with the majority of other students in the theater.

“It shows the film industry is susceptible, kind of weak to that pressure,” Tripuraneni said.

Not everyone at the screening thought it was tame, however. Sam Ye, a second-year electrical engineering student who attended the screening, said that Sony made the right choice in pulling the movie. He said it was ironic that a fictional movie about conflict between the two nations actually led to real conflict.

“At the end of the day, it’s a national security problem,” Ye said. “I think it’s the right choice, because security is always priority.”

Although it was funny at first, Ye said the humor of “The Interview” became stale and overused. He compared it to “22 Jump Street,” as both feature two well-known male comedians that embark on an adventure together.

Ye said “The Interview” could be seen as offensive because the North Koreans were depicted as stereotypical and exaggerated with terrible Korean accents. For example, the opening scene depicted a little girl singing patriotic North Korean songs and then calling for the United States’ destruction.

Though Ye said he thinks the film’s insulting portrayal of the country merited the cancellation, he does not believe it will set a precedent for future movies – rather, it was a one-time issue because of North Korea’s exclusivity.

“There’s so little we really know about North Korea, and there’s so little contact in general,” Ye said. “If it were a story about some other country, if we wanted an accurate portrayal, people could actually go there and experience it.”

Ye said he still feels special to be potentially one of the only people to see the film in theaters.

“The group of friends that I went with, we all feel super privileged,” Ye said. “Everyone else regrets it now who didn’t go – it’s just cool.”

Franco and Rogen have canceled their upcoming media appearances for “The Interview.” On Dec. 19, President Barack Obama responded during his annual year-end news conference that Sony “made a mistake” by pulling the movie. Sony has been considering releasing the movie digitally and is planning to release it on Crackle.

“(It’s) just harmless and innocent,” Tripuraneni said. “I don’t think it should stop anyone from trying to make any movies that are similar.”