Imagining North Korea

Mason Zivotovsky

On Tuesday, August 8th, 2017, in response to threats from the North Korean government, President Donald Trump declared to the American public that North Korea would “be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”^[1] That same week, on Last Week Tonight, John Oliver brought on comedian/musician Weird Al Yankovich to crack jokes about Kim Jung-un’s height and demeanor.^[2] To Westerners, North Korea has been the punching bag of the world. From its fascist showmanship, to its tyrannical leaders, North Korea has attracted the attention of the world and its many screenwriters. The topic of North Korea has become sensationalized, and so modern day cognition of the country is a strange jovial antagonism. The bastardization of North Korea has lead to real world consequences. People make light of a real modern day Cold War and by eliciting constant harmful stereotypes, we are further and further away from making peace.

To know America’s enemies, one only needs to go to the movies. The villains of Hollywood have always been a reflection of cultural fears. In the 80’s Soviets, in the 90’s it was people from the Middle East, and now it is North Koreans.^[3] From action dramas like the 2012 remake of Red Dawn, to dark comedies like Team America World Police and The Interview, America’s perception of the country becomes clear. There are two types of North Korean portrayals. In Olympus Has Fallen, a North Korean attack on the White House results in an American hero saving the president and pushing back the Korean terrorists off of the White House. In this case, North Korea is shown to be a terrifying threat, but not so powerful as to stand against American adversity.^[4] In fact, they are seemingly copy and paste villans, and in the 2012 remake of Red Dawn, they really are. The original plot of Red Dawn had China invade America, but later in development, the invading force was switched to be North Korea.^[5] To the vast populace, the country of North Korea is two-bit Hollywood villain. Cartoonish evil isn’t the only role North Korea serves for Hollywood. In many other blockbusters, North Korea, and its leader, is portrayed as a comical oddity. In the movie Team America World Police, Kim Jung-un is a vile, yet comical Asian man who pronounces all of his l’s as r’s. The movie is a musical hybrid, so in the second half of the movie, he gets his own solo, “I’m So Ronrey.”  In this song he paints himself as a pitiable man who is misunderstood by all of the world’s leaders.^[6] The Interview is a mix between both of these types of movies. Not only is the Korean dictator a jovial idiot, but he is also taken down by two American spies.^[7] It is no wonder why the American public views it the way it does. All entertainment reinforces the idea that they are the scary, yet fallible oddity of the East.

Bibliography

Macnab, Geoffrey. “And Hollywood’s Latest Bad Guys Are… the North Koreans.” The Independent, March 28, 2013, https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/and-hollywoods-latest-bad-guys-are-the-north-koreans-8553970.html.

Pramuk, Jacob. “Trump Warns North Korea Threats Will Be Met with Fire and Fury,” CNBC, Aug. 8, 2017, https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/08/trump-warns-north-korea-threats-will-be-met-with-fire-and-fury.html.

Oliver, John, “North Korea”, in Last Week Tonight, August 14, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrS0uNBuG9c.

Olympus Has Fallen. Dir. by Antoine Fuqua, Culver City, California: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2013.

Red Dawn. Dir. by Dan Bradley, Santa Monica, CA: MGM/UA Home Video, 2012.

Team America: World Police. Dir. by Trey Parker, Paramount, 2005.

The Interview. Dir. by Seth Rogan, 1918; CA, Columbia Pictures 2014.