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The Interview
Movie

The Interview

2014 • Action, Adventure, Comedy

Woke Score
4
out of 10

Plot

In the action-comedy The Interview, Dave Skylark (James Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapoport (Seth Rogen) run the popular celebrity tabloid TV show "Skylark Tonight." When they discover that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is a fan of the show, they land an interview with him in an attempt to legitimize themselves as journalists. As Dave and Aaron prepare to travel to Pyongyang, their plans change when the CIA recruits them, perhaps the two least-qualified men imaginable, to assassinate Kim Jong-un.

Overall Series Review

The Interview is a political action-comedy that satirizes the totalitarian regime of North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong-un. The film features two bumbling white male leads, a celebrity talk show host and his producer, who are recruited by the CIA to carry out an assassination mission. The narrative's primary conflict is anti-totalitarian, targeting the deification and human rights abuses of a non-Western communist state. The film is criticized for relying heavily on crude humor, including Asian stereotypes, which frames the conflict in terms of "orientalism" and the "White Man's Burden," where the white protagonists must save the non-white people. Female characters, such as the competent CIA Agent Lacey, are portrayed as professional and strategically superior, taking on a 'Girl Boss' role while the male leads are depicted as incompetent, buffoonish figures. The humor is noted to include elements that are sexist and homophobic, but these jokes serve as crude humor rather than a vehicle for explicit political or sexual identity ideology. The film’s moral arc, driven by a North Korean female character, pivots away from a simple assassination toward igniting a popular revolution, offering a brief critique of American foreign policy but ultimately upholding the values of liberty against tyranny. Its strongest themes are its high reliance on gender tropes and ethnic stereotypes for comedy, while its defense of political freedom keeps the Oikophobia and Anti-Theism scores very low.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics7/10

The movie is criticized for relying on "cliché Asian stereotypes," "fabricated accents," and "orientalism." The premise is framed by some as a "White Man's Burden" fantasy where two white male protagonists must save a non-white population from their non-white leader, utilizing race and immutable characteristics for comedic effect rather than character merit. The humor includes one-dimensional and sexualized tropes of Asian women. The vilification of the North Korean culture and its people through lazy stereotyping drives a high score.

Oikophobia2/10

The film's primary target for satire and condemnation is a totalitarian communist regime (North Korea), which is ideologically antithetical to Western values. The criticism of systems opposed to liberty, democracy, and freedom does not constitute self-hatred. A minor moral pivot by a North Korean character critiques the specific American foreign policy of killing leaders, but this is a nuance and not an attack on core Western institutions, resulting in a very low score.

Feminism8/10

Gender dynamics are defined by the emasculation of the male leads, who are portrayed as two bumbling, incompetent buffoons, one a 'sleazy asshole' and the other an 'underperforming schlub.' The two main female characters, CIA Agent Lacey and North Korean official Sook, are the highly competent, authoritative, and morally superior figures who set the mission's strategy and moral compass, fitting the 'Girl Boss' trope that elevates women at the expense of male competence.

LGBTQ+3/10

The film features 'heh heh it's funny because it's gay jokes' and is noted as containing homophobic elements, but these are used as sources of crude, non-ideological comedy. The narrative does not center alternative sexualities, deconstruct the nuclear family as an oppressive structure, or engage in political lecturing on gender theory. The jokes are a part of the film's overall raunchy style and not an explicit promotion of a 'Queer Theory Lens.'

Anti-Theism1/10

The film satirizes the totalitarian, cult-of-personality regime in North Korea, where the leader is deified in a quasi-religious sense (Juche philosophy). The narrative's goal is to expose this deification as a lie, championing objective reality and freedom against a state-enforced spiritual vacuum. This is a critique of a secular/communist 'state religion,' not an attack on traditional, transcendent Western faith, resulting in a low score.