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Tehran condemns 'anti-Iranian' movie 300
Mar 12, 2007, 16:20 GMT
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Older Talkback
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I'm not sure how it was a US political plot when the original comic book was written in 1998! Almost 10 years ago. Way before 9-11 and several years before George W. Bush was even in office.
I'm no fan of Bush, but I think it's insulting to Frank Miller to insinuate that he is a puppet of the US govt.
Had the Persians not sat around whining, like they're doing now, they may have won the battle sooner and have conquered Greece. Instead, Xerxes was out fought, out thought, and outright got his ass kicked.
Hey, Iran, you can make your own film version of events at Thermopylae, but no matter how you spin Thermopylae, the truth is that Xerxes got his ass handed to him by the combined city states of Greece. A group that hated each other just slightly less than they hated Persia.
No one likes a whiner!
I can see their point. I don't think it is a deliberate attack on them but this movie is total BS from a historical perspective. Most movies are for dramatic reasons but if you are the ones being cast as a villain then maybe you wouldn't be too excited about it either.
I also agree that this movie is essential the violent equivalent to porn. Its 'vorn'.
Most of the people who saw '300' over the weekend were probably unaware of that fact that Iran used to be the Persian Empire and, lest Hollywood decide to revisit the Greco-Persian Wars in more detail, they might want to keep it that way. Let's face it, Iran's going to look pretty bad after the general public learns about the failed campaigns of Darius and Xerxes. Rather than risk the 'From Marathon to Salamis' series, Iran would be better off letting this one go. Besides, I don't recall any uproar over 'Alexander', do you?
Is Zack Jewish? I bet he is.... American Jews keep doing this - using Hollywood for mass propaganda reasons... making Islam, Persia, Arabs and Germans our enemies.
WE ARE NOT AT WAR WITH ISLAM>>>> JEWS ARE!! REmember that..
They hide their ethnicity and manipulate opinion with impunity. They are an enemy within and we won't have peace with the rest of the world until we face the enemy within.
It is both preposterous and ironic that officials of Iran, with its state-run media, would criticize the free and predominately politically liberal Hollywood of assisting the Bush administration with an alleged anti-Iranian propaganda campaign. I don't doubt that most Iranian citizens under the age of 40 are mortified by yet another misguided government PR stunt.
WOW,
Now that's what I can racism! Jews are the enemy within? Are you freakin kidding me.
And Frank Miller is no Government stooge.
It's not meant to be 'Historically accurate', It's a COMIC BOOK!
Iran is really taking this too far.
Hey Julia; Why not start your own site where you can post your hate messages all the time without looking for flimsy excuses to do so on every other site on the internet. (Folks, do a quick Google on her.)
Meantime as it relates to the actual topic at hand... the Persians were out- generaled and out-fought and they're trying to politically correct history.
And finally, there are plenty of people in Iran today who would love to recreate the old Persian empire in the guise of Islam.
WB to Iran. Thanks for the publicity. I am also insulted about the way that hunchbacks are protrayed.
Sounds like Julia might have a 'solution' in mind, if you know what I mean.
Say, did anybody else notice that '300' was conveniently released the weekend before the PS2's swansong 'God of War II'? Isn't Kratos a Spartan? If you ask me, Julia, it's not anti-Iranian but rather pro-Greek propaganda. Watch out! They might be bearing gifts!
This is a laugh, when the De Vinci Code came out the church went crazy, making the producers install a disclaimer to the movie to express it was fictional. I am an American but I am constantly amazed at the double standards we apply to others. And for those of you who discount concerns about Israel having undue influence in our nation, you can do what you always do and yell “racism” or you can look at the facts. Many movies that Hollywood makes do cast dispersions upon Germans, Russian...et al. Does any one doubt this? It is also true that Hollywood is run by groups and individuals that are by far of the Jewish faith. Many of the largest most powerful lobbying firms are Jewish /pro-Israel( if their cause is so just why do they need the largest most powerful lobbying organizations to make there points/sway policy?). Many of the groups individuals that pushed up into a conflict with Iraq were Jewish, Richard Pearl, Douglas Fieth, William Crystal, Paul Wolfowitz(all Jewish, all pushed hard behind the senses for the war and now are pushing for it again against Iran)…. Please those of you who choose to ignorant the truth, that is to say doubt that we are manipulated by our mass media to conform to a pro-Israel anti Muslim mind set, don’t post attacks upon those who are trying to confront such biases just keep your heads in the sand and leave the rest of us to deal with reality.
Although Mr. Miller may have written the comic book in 1988, the film is certainly exploiting anti-Iranian hysteria in the states. Insofar as the theme is a movie now, it serves the purposes of the Neoconservatives who want war with Iran. By portraying the Persians as invaders, the film makes it a little easier for the west to invade them.
The Iranians have a point in their assertion that Hollywood has always demonized the current perceived political enemies with stock stereotypes.
The average American movie fan accepts as truth whatever he sees in the darkness of the cinema. And why not? He has empirical evidence, since he saw it with his own eyes (Plato's allegory of the cave).
I guess America has to bomb Iran now since Persia invaded Greece in the fifth century BCE. Won't those Persians ever learn?
The popularity of the film does not bode well for our future.
Julia, here's your 'enemy within'. Right here. Now what are you going to do with me?
Typical Zionist propaganda. Jews are nuts.
The director just wanted to adapt a comic book written in the 1980's by a good artist onto the silver screen, but now movie is starting to function like a rorschach test where people are projecting their biases and prejudices onto it and ascribing to it political overtones that none exist.
To 3 enlightened commentators - Julia Glifford, artsandminds, and Xerxes.
Why don't you make an appointment with David Duke and get fitted for your brown shirts. Here's another thought, how about arranging for a symposium on the authenticity of the battle of Thermoopylae. Finally, get back on your medication. The 3 of you are one of a kind.....Idiots.
If I neglected to acknowledge any other neglected wing nuts. I apologize.
Boy is this a PC world. Apocaplyto gets the Mayans riled because it depicts them as blood thirsty savages. Uh, if I'm not mistaken they WERE blood thirsty savages. Not that the rest of the world wasn't - they were burning folks alive in Europe at the time too. Now Iran is put out that an action movie depicts them as losers. Uh, they lost. Seems impossible to produce any kind of art these days without getting somebody's dander up. Teletubbies are gay, the tomb of jesus is anti-christian and on and on ad nauseum. Mullah dude, get over it.
As usual, it's much simpler--and more innocuous--than everyone wants to make it...
The film expresses how the Spartans perceived their enemy (much as you all seem to be doing right now), rather than any objective reality. It doesn't intend to show how the Persians really were, but attempts to communicate the feeling experienced by the Spartans (who were, historically, a horrorshow themselves). AMADEUS does the same with the character of Mozart, as seen through Salieri's filter .
Hmmm... And I thought that the movie was antiamerican.
Biggest, baddest empire on the world assembles an invincible army from all over the map to attack little reduct of proud free men. A few brave men of said reduct stand in front of that army, and by using their willingness to sacrifice their lives, against all odds, find a way of neutralizing the enemy's numbers to give the rest of their compatriots an example and some time to organize.
If you wanted to peel off all the sadistic homofilic comicbook imagery and dig for some supposed moral lesson from this movie, I would say that you would find that A) war is a bad thing, B) sucking up to the great power is not always to your advantage, C) just because you look omnipotent does not mean you are, D) sacrificing yourself for what you love is a good thing and you might end up saving it.
Hardly the message that President Bush would want to peddle. If I was OBL, I would make 300 a compulsory view for new recruits.
It is funny how USAns would immediately think that the good ones in the movie always stand for them.
Oh, and I loved the movie. Even though I do not agree with the morals...
Can we have a brief discussion on the fact that Black actors played the part of the Persians. I would have to say that Black people and Persian/Iranian's don't really resemble each other. Also, why did Xerxes have to be flaming queen? Just food for thought.
OK, just want to sort some things out.
I haven't seen the movie, just the adverts, but i know the story from long ago.
So, to put it into a more american perspective, i'm changing thermopylae to the Alamo.
IF in a movie about the Alamo, from the American perspective, the Mexican army were all nasty evil dirty little backstabbing weasels, that would be pretty much right, as far as the people INSIDE the alamo were concerned.
But, should you tell the story from the Mexican perspective, a bunch of gringo invaders come in and try to take over a big chunk of your country, put up a stiff fight, but are eventually routed by the glorious Mexican army, Of course, the Mexican army will be all nice clean straight backed men and the americans in the alamo will be a bunch of violent rabble wiping their noses on their sleeves.
That TOO would be accurate FROM the mexican perpective.
SO, IS this movie REALLY trying to show the Persians as evil TODAY, or are they trying to show them as they were seen by the ancient Spartans, or BOTH?
It would be really easy if the first part was true, to make it appear that the second part is also true.But, lacking further evidence, i don't know that we can do that.
Now ,as far as the comic book being evil racism, i don't think that's even an issue. It's all about putting the FACE of EVIL onto other people in order to demonize them, and legitimate an attack upon them, and that can ALL be done in post production, without ANY imput from authors.
So, mull that over, and see what you think.
I would have no problem with the movie if we did see the other side like you say, if we did in fact see the Persians as organized and civilized ( which they were ), and the Greeks as unorganized, dirty and ugly, but we do not see this. Americans always see Persians from the same perspective and I'm sure you agree that people do believe these depictations to be reality.
The Persian king in the movie is shown as a 'flamboyant' man with lots of piercing ( no persian king ever had percing!) that thought himself to be God. there even is a scene where Ephialtes goes to see the king, Xerxes. There you see deformed men and women engaging in large orgies. Even if the artist had no political motivation , this movie is just plain insulting to any Persian that watches this movie.
You mean Xerces didn't have a giant pig man with axes for hands? No bordello of deformed women to tempt a lonely hunchback troll?
I thought this movie was tiresome and was rooting against the Greeks at the end. It reminded me of that absurd scene at the end of the last Matrix where Neo was fighting an army of Agents Smiths. Why was I being asked to admire a culture that threw its weakling babies off a cliff?
This movie is totally bull shit and that is what stupid western people deserve to see. You people in west are so bastard to be honest with history and truth. Do you people in west eat dog soup every day that make you to produce these total junk? spit to your face you rootless bastards. Persia always defeated Greek and Romans.
Listen the event may have been true but spinning it around or showing a monster and dictator instead of an angry king whom just lost 120'000 troops is another thing.
and why all the Persian are evil, ugly, gay, lesbian, handicapped or stupid and all the Greeks are cute smart and brave. I mean come on.
and the only reason they lost that many soldiers is because they had to pass a narrow passage and the Greeks had the better land.
MR. Frank miller you should read some history before writing a novel.
I must take exception to the comment that the Persians always defeated the Greeks and Romans. Ten years before thermopylae, there was the battle of Marathon. A short time after thermopylae there was the sea battle at salamis. The Greeks won two and whilst defeated at thermopylae wnet on to defeat teh Persian army at Plataea once again routed on an open field and the Persian general Mardonius killed.
I would agree with the various comments thatthis is a film and not history. Itis entertainment. You cannot however get over the fact that the battle was a strategic defeat for the Persians gaining the Greek objective of delaying teh Persians so the main greeek force could gather.
As an aside whilst the Spartans are generally reknowned for holding the pass which tehy did to the end, they were part of a force of 3000 inclusing Thebans Phocians and Thesbians along with other nations. Herodotus indicates that the Thebans and Thesbians reamined with the Spartans at teh end, although teh Thebans surrendered.
That is history the film is not nor should it be. Both sides of this argument are incorrect in approach
I myself felt that the movie was a modern day political, 'birth of a nation' along with the propaganda.
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