Jong-un Should Employ Dale Peck to Review Anti-DPRK Blockbuster

Kim Jong-un is apparently upset about an a forthcoming Hollywood blockbuster which attempts to make an assassination attempt on him the stuff of comedy. The Times recently reported on the uproar in Pyongyang surrounding the film, The Interview, starring James Franco and Seth Rogen (“North Korea Warns U.S. Over Film Mocking Its Leader,” 6/25/14). The Times reported on the fact that this isn’t the first time the North Korean royal family have been the subject of parody. Team America: World Police took a shot at Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un’s father. And if the North Koreans really want to stay at the top of their game of huffing and puffing they’d best be advised that the genesis of this kind of comedy actually emanates from two sources: There's The Great Dictator, with the famous scene where a Hitler look-a-like played by Charlie Chaplin bounces his globe around like a ball and the character of Oddjob (Harold Sakata) from Goldfinger, who actually bears a striking resemblance to Mr. Jong-un. But when talking about retaliation one wonders  if the North Koreans wouldn’t do well to drag some of America’s most acerbic critics out of the woodwork. Dale Peck, for instance, is more known for his literary than film criticism, but he's capable of eviscerating writers in the way that a good butcher can extract the innards from a cow or pig. Peck is like a pit bull.  He’d be a great attack dog to set on a pair of rowdy filmmakers. The North Koreans should start by setting him on Franco and Rogen, who also directed. When he is done with them he can go after Columbia Pictures which is releasing the film, Sony who own Columbia and American audiences who devour this kind of comedy.

Goldfinger Starring Kim Jong-un as Oddjob

Pedro Ugarte/Agence France Presse--Getty Images

“The White House has urged media organizations not to overdo their coverage, saying it would give Pyongyang, a propaganda victory. The satellite, one official said, was a ‘dishwasher wrapped in tinfoil.’ But that has not stopped news organizations from sending correspondents to Pyongyang, where they have filed frequent reports on preparations,” the Times’s Mark Landler and Jane Perlez wrote in a front page piece ("Few U.S. Options as North Korea Readies Missile Launching,"NYT, 4/11/12). Has anyone considered the idea that the purpose of the now ill-fated missile launching was in all likelihood micro-economic, ie to attract a flood of journalists who would prop up Pyongyang’s listless tourism and hotel industry?  Remember Oddjob from Goldfinger? Harold Sakata, the actor and wrestler, who played him was Japanese, but he was supposed to render the part of Goldfinger’s Korean jack of all trades, an Asian butler with a killer derby. Now 48 years later, it looks like North Korea has caught up to the third of the Bond movies. Kim Jong-un, the newly appointed “Supreme Leader” (“As Rocket Launching Nears, North Korea Continues Shift to New ‘Supreme Leader,’” NYT, 4/11/12) displays an uncanny likeness to Oddjob that would make him a candidate to take on Sakata’s part if a remake of the movie were ever envisioned. However, what was most astonishing about Landler and Perlez piece about the rocket launching was Pedro Ugarte’s accompanying photo, in the print edition of the paper. Ugarte’s shot of a bank of eight computer stations, each manned by two technicians facing a huge screen with accompanying data displays, showed that the rocket launch center would be the perfect set for any prospective Goldfinger remake. Remember too that Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un’s recently deceased father loved movies and you begin to see another rationale for both the launch and the eye-catching technology. It’s the old notion that any publicity, however bad, is good--a formula that’s been used and is continuing to be used by other bankrupt dictatorships all over the world.