TEHRAN, Iran - The hit American movie “300” has angered Iranians who say the Greeks-vs-Persians action flick insults their ancient culture and provokes animosity against Iran.
“Hollywood declares war on Iranians,” blared a headline in Tuesday’s edition of the independent Ayende-No newspaper.
The movie, which raked in $70 million in its opening weekend, is based on a comic-book fantasy version of the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., in which a force of 300 Spartans held off a massive Persian army at a mountain pass in Greece for three days.
Even some American reviewers noted the political overtones of the West-against-Iran story line — and the way Persians are depicted as decadent, sexually flamboyant and evil in contrast to the noble Greeks.
In Iran, the movie hasn’t opened and probably never will, given the government’s restrictions on Western films, though one paper said bootleg DVDs were already available.
Still, it touched a sensitive nerve. Javad Shamghadri, cultural adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said the United States tries to “humiliate” Iran in order to reverse historical reality and “compensate for its wrongdoings in order to provoke American soldiers and warmongers” against Iran.
The movie comes at a time of increased tensions between the United States and Iran over the Persian nation’s nuclear program and the Iraq war.
But aside from politics, the film was seen as an attack on Persian history, a source of pride for Iranians across the political spectrum, including critics of the current Islamic regime.
State-run television has run several commentaries the past two days calling the film insulting and has brought on Iranian film directors to point out its historical inaccuracies.
“The film depicts Iranians as demons, without culture, feeling or humanity, who think of nothing except attacking other nations and killing people,” Ayende-No said in its article Tuesday.
“It is a new effort to slander the Iranian people and civilization before world public opinion at a time of increasing American threats against Iran,” it said.
Iran’s biggest circulation newspaper, Hamshahri, said “300” is “serving the policy of the U.S. leadership” and predicted it will “prompt a wave of protest in the world. ... Iranians living in the U.S. and Europe will not be indifferent about this obvious insult.”
I've heard a rumor that '300' is actually a propaganda movie and it's complete bull. It's nothing more than entertainment. We need not see this movie to have animosity towards Iran, and many other Muslim nations for that matter.
I've heard a rumor that '300' is actually a propaganda movie and it's complete bull. It's nothing more than entertainment. We need not see this movie to have animosity towards Iran, and many other Muslim nations for that matter.
The movie is about persions, who weren't even muslims.Go do your homework
I've heard a rumor that '300' is actually a propaganda movie and it's complete bull. It's nothing more than entertainment. We need not see this movie to have animosity towards Iran, and many other Muslim nations for that matter.
The movie is about persions, who weren't even muslims.Go do your homework
Persians aren't Muslims!? lmao!. Get a clue, guy. Anyway, the controversy is that the Iranians think this put MUSLIMS in a bad light. Since we don't called Iranians Persians anymore, unless you didn't know that? Don't try to show me up, I probably know more on this entire Middle East conflict than everyone on here combined, especially you.
I've heard a rumor that '300' is actually a propaganda movie and it's complete bull. It's nothing more than entertainment. We need not see this movie to have animosity towards Iran, and many other Muslim nations for that matter.
The movie is about persions, who weren't even muslims.Go do your homework
Persians aren't Muslims!? lmao!. Get a clue, guy. Anyway, the controversy is that the Iranians think this put MUSLIMS in a bad light. Since we don't called Iranians Persians anymore, unless you didn't know that? Don't try to show me up, I probably know more on this entire Middle East conflict than everyone on here combined, especially you.
Just a little show-off? He does not talk about Iranians, he talks about persians .... he´s speaking about the past when the movie plays.....
The second trailer for 300 is one of the best movie trailers ever made IMO. One reviewer even suggested skipping the film and just watching that trailer over and over.
As for the Iranians, they're obviously over-reacting but not without some reason. http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/ ... onbat&only
Frank Miller sounds more than a little rabid himself and there's no question his mindset is one of a "clash of civilizations" with Iran and Arabs meshing together to form one congealed, confused mess of an enemy. He even claims Iraq declared war on the US as justification for the invasion...
