A rebranded Hollywood sign sums up the sad place to where we are headed
Depots, hackers and terrorists should never be allowed to win. This week, despite shows of defiance in Australia and Pakistan, it was Hollywood that caved in when Sony pulled the comedy action film The Interview in response to threats from hackers with links to North Korea.
This morning, President Obama remarked of the decision:
“I think (Sony) made a mistake… I wish they’d spoken to me first. I would have told them, ‘Do not get into a pattern in which you’re intimidated by these kinds of criminal attacks’.
Michael Lynton, Sony’s chief executive officer responded:
“We had no choice… I would be fibbing to say I wasn’t disappointed by what the President said… The President and I haven’t spoken. I don’t know exactly whether he understands the sequence of events that led up to the movie’s not being shown in theaters”.
“I mean, I understand on the one hand that my fellow CEOs and everybody else have their own commercial concerns and they themselves were worried about becoming a target. And it did make this entire enterprise to be a very, very lonely affair. But on the other hand, this is a moment when you’d expect the industry to rally around and support you”.
Our Picture of the Week, shared with us by the writer, poet and producer Amanda Eliasch, shows a Photoshopped version of the Hollywood Sign adapted to read North Korea. It sums up the disappointing sell-out that has happened perfectly.
The basic purpose of the real Hollywood Sign was meant to be aspirational and its message was: “This is a place where magic is possible, where dreams can come true”. This week, the entertainment industry gave up on that. In giving into criminality, they killed that dream.
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