Hollywood taps North Korea as its new go-to bad guy

Hollywood taps North Korea as its new go-to bad guy
By Jon Rabiroff and Yoo Kyong Chang
Stars and Stripes

Published: March 9, 2013

Hollywood has been embracing a villain as nightmarish as Freddy Krueger, as darkly mysterious as Darth Vader and more politically correct than the Russians and Mideast terrorists who had been the favored bad guys.

When the “Red Dawn” remake was released in November (it came out on DVD Tuesday), with North Korea in the invading enemy role that the Soviet Union filled in the 1984 original, it became the latest of a half-dozen Western-made feature films that have portrayed the provocative communist country as the heavy over the past decade.

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While China might seem to be an obvious choice, the bottom line is a factor, since Beijing controls what films make it to theaters in the world’s most populous country.

For example, when the “Red Dawn” remake was filmed, the invading army originally was Chinese. However, in postproduction, elaborate editing was reportedly done to change the invaders into North Koreans because the film’s backers feared China would not allow it to be shown there otherwise.

Simon Fowler, a British film critic who specializes in Asian cinema and runs a website devoted to North-made movies (northkoreanfilms.com), said North Korea is an easier choice.

"You’re unlikely to upset anybody’s feelings, like China (which is) now contributing to the production of a lot of Western movies,” he said.


http://www.stripes.com/military-life/hollywood-taps-north-korea-as-its-new-go-to-bad-guy-1.211075