The Hunt for Censorship

Remember when the release of The Interview in 2014 had the world worried about North Korea going to war with the United States? Looking back it’s a bit humorous, but it was a moment. Theatre chains across the United States refused to show the film in fear of retaliation. Sony ended up delaying the film and re-edited it for a digital release and a small limited theater run on the same day. Even though it was just another comedy from Seth Rogen, it’s unfortunate when any creative material needs to be censored. Now, The Interview was a film that still came out and for the most part, it was handled as well as it could considering the pressures at the time. We should congratulate Sony for that at the very least because what Universal has just done is a joke.

In the last couple of weeks, people have begun rallying for greater gun control in the United States. Mass shootings are frequently happening and two have just gone down within twenty-four hours. The outcry is significant, but nothing is happening. The President is moving the conversation away from gun ownership and targeting video games and movies. This is a tired argument that needs to stop being used as the scapegoat. The President tweeted about Universal’s upcoming picture The Hunt indirectly as a movie that “is made in order to inflame and cause chaos”. Shortly afterward Universal decided to pull their film from next month’s release schedule. It is unclear when and how they may go about releasing it in the future.

The Hunt looks like a good movie from the trailer, nothing spectacular. The context we are given from the trailer also appears to be no different from many other films where the elite echelon of people are using real people as fodder. The idea is similar to The Hunger Games, or even The Cabin in the Woods, Gamer, and so forth. The Hunt is closer to a satire on the world today, but I fail to see how it should be made an example of because of the recent shootings. Hollywood is one of the most vocal groups lobbying against guns, so it seems bizarre that they would have to bow down in this fashion. It’s possible that the studio has a box office failure on their hands and know it. Therefore, they may be able to claim the insurance on it and just release it on a streaming service in the future. The thing is people haven’t seen it yet, although that doesn’t stop it from having critics sight unseen. People need to stop pointing blame where it doesn’t belong and censorship needs to be stopped, especially in this case.

Anyway, here’s the trailer of the movie we maybe will see someday…

Or not.

Robert Ring