Feature films and television shows notoriously play fast-and-loose with the facts. When prologues proclaim “Based on a True Story,” they’re gracefully implying that what follows is mostly fiction.
Awards shows and moviegoers seem to have few problems distinguishing narrative films from documentaries—and assign different editorial standards accordingly. Case in point: last year’s box office behemoth Gravity was rife with scientific inaccuracies, large and small—and took home seven Academy Awards.
Foreign governments are another story. No matter if films are purported to be fact or fiction, governments care how their countries are being portrayed. And though some may think of the media as immune to foreign influence, history—along with my personal experience—tell a different story.
Foreign PR Campaigns Have Been Waged for Decades
Last month, North Korea conducted a now-infamous cyberterrorism campaign against Sony Pictures in an attempt to block the company from releasing The Interview.
North Korea may have lost the war, but they did win one censorship battle: before Sony distributed the film overseas, its rattled producers decided to tone down the gore in Kim Jung Un’s death scene.
