300 "psychological warfare" against Iran?
A BBC news article calls the movie 300 a "historical war epic" and brings to light the Iranian outrage over the film. The Hollywood picture shows a small Greek force resisting a Persian army.Javad Shamaqdari, a cultural adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said it is "plundering Iran's historic past and insulting this civilization" and called the movie "psychological warfare" against the people and city of Tehran.
He went on to say, "Following the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Hollywood and cultural authorities in the US initiated studies to figure out how to attack Iranian culture.
"Certainly, the recent movie is a product of such studies."
Although my knowledge of factual history on the matter is sadly lacking, the flick is intended to be based on Frank Miller's graphic novel, not the actual events that unfolded during the battles. While I don't know Miller's intentions for depicting the story as he did, I would bet most of the way the book was drawn and written was to enhance its entertainment value, not insult the people of Iran. There is no doubt a strong theme of freedom running throughout most likely because the film is targeted to an American audience. Iran should simply come back with their own movie, done in a way that is favorable to their culture. Newslok.com puts it this way:
On the other hand, Iranians see the matter very differently. The We are hypocrite blog has an Iranian view point:
Calling this as ‘Hollywood’s war on Iraninas’ may be far fetched to many. When “300” depicts Persians as ‘demons, without culture, feeling or humanity’, it is just being truthful to the vision of a Graphic Novelist, not history. Second, not many in Hollywood toe George Bush’s line.What the Iranians can do is make a movie of their own, depicting a heroic chapter in their Nation and let the culture wars bloom, instead of bullets and misiles coming at you for all sides.
Top officials and parliament have scorned the film as though it were a matter of state, and for the first time in a long while, taxi drivers are shaking their fists in agreement when the state news comes on. Agreeing that 300 is egregious drivel is fairly easy. I'm relatively mellow as Iranian nationalists go, and even I found myself applauding when the government spokesman described the film as fabrication and insult. Iranians view the Achaemenid empire as a particularly noble page in their history and cannot understand why it has been singled out for such shoddy cinematic treatment, as the populace here perceives it, with the Persians in rags and its Great King practically naked. The Achaemenid kings, who built their majestic capital at Persepolis, were exceptionally munificent for their time. They wrote the world's earliest recorded human rights declaration, and were opposed to slavery. Cuneiform plates show that Persepolis was built by paid staff rather than slaves And any Iranian child who has visited Persepolis can tell you that its preserved reliefs depict court dress of velvet robes, and that if anyone was wearing rags around 500 B.C., it wasn't the Persians.It would probably be beneficial for both Americans and Iranians to read some unbiased history on the matter preferably from an outside source. If anybody knows of such, please post something in the comments.
-Dippold
Political Online Reputation
1 Comments:
I think what needs to be kept in mind is that this film is not about history, but rather telling a story. Frank Miller writes and illustrates graphic novels. With the success of Sin City and Batman Begins (although he didn't have anything to do with the film, many of its ideas are taken from the graphic novel he penned, Batman: Year One)he became a hot commodity in Hollywood and more of his books have been translated to film. Dippold is right, this film isn't about history, its about entertainment.
I would also like to say, that although the film depicts the Persians as villains and slave drivers, there is evidence to show that Spartans are not all so noble. The Ephorate in the film are a group of inbred priests, concerned only with money (although I've no idea, how/where they spend it) and sex with "oracles" (read: drugged up sacrificial girls). In reality, this group of five men did most of the governing in Sparta, deciding on policy pertaining to military, education, and had veto power over all decisions made by the lower council. They even had power to oust the king. There's also Theron, played by one of my favorite actors, Dominic West (the lovable screwup, McNulty, of HBO's The Wire). He attempts to sell out Sparta and nearly succeeds, even after tricking Queen Gorgo to have sex with him. The crowd in the theater cheered when she sticks a sword in his gut. Lastly, consider the freak that is Ephialtes. In the comic, Leonidas unmercifully kicks him off a cliff to his death, instead of letting him join his army. Both the book and the film, entertaining as they are, are not historically accurate.
Who the hell even equates the Persians with the Iranians? Not me.
Check out these pages for more information concerning the history of the Persians, the Persian Wars, and the Spartans. Guess what, the Spartans used serf labor in order to feed their people. Too bad that didn't make it into the film.
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