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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Movie review: "300" gets panned by the critics |
| 2007-03-12 |
| Once again U.S propaganda machine raid another attack against Iran, its culture and civilization through a hateful movie:"300" "300" is the name of an irresponsible, unethical and unscientific movie which portraits Persian Empire kings and soldiers as monsters and animals with body-piercing, armors, facial features and demonic behavior that seem to have sprung out from the dungeons of hell. The inaccurate and derogatory depiction of ancient Persians that according to all historical data conducted warfare with mastery and dignity, and looked nothing like science-fictional monsters, is a depiction of how movie studios and authors sacrifice historical accuracy for would-be profits. It is a proven scholarly fact that the Persian Empire in 480 B.C was the most magnificent and civilized empire. Established by the Cyrus the great, the writer of the first human right declaration, Persians ruled over significant portions of Greater Iran, the east modern Afghanistan and beyond into central Asia; in the north and west all of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), the upper Balkans peninsula (Thrace), and most of the Black Sea coastal regions; in the west and southwest the territories of modern Iraq, northern Saudi-Arabia, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, all significant population centers of ancient Egypt and as far west as portions of Libya. Having twenty nations under control, encompassing approximately 7.5 million square kilometers, unquestionably the Achaemenid Empire was territorially the largest empire of classical antiquity. Based on the Zoroastrian doctrine, it was the strong emphasis on honesty and integrity that gave the ancient Persians credibility to rule the world, even in the eyes of the people belonging to the conquered nations (Herodotus, mid 5th century B.C). Truth for the sake of truth was the universal motto and the very core of the Persian culture that was followed not only by the great kings, but even the ordinary Persians made it a point to adhere to this code of conduct. Some Iranians have written 2 petitions against that movie and Warner Brothers Studios (Here and here). In 2005, Oliver stone, famous American director directed "Alexander" movie and insulted Persian Empire the same way. Iranian Cyber counter-attack, Smart Google Bombing! It is obvious that signing petition never force Americans to change their irresponsible behaviors. So an Iranian blogger suggests an interesting idea: Let's bomb the film through Google, in a different and smart way. In his recent post, He writes down: 300 open today, and like many comic book fans I can't wait to see it for its stunning art. However, like many Persians I'm not thrilled with its portrayal of the great Persian army as barbaric snarling beasts. In recent days some have talked about different forms of protest to this movie. A better idea (one which I have already proposed on my Persian weblog) might be doing a collaborative art project: 300 from a Persian perspective. Basically I have called upon all Persian artists to submit art with the theme of "ancient Persia", so we can gather all of these in one site and show the world (and comic fans) the face of ancient Persians from our own perspective. And to make sure that the world does really see it, I've orchestrated a campaign to bring up our gallery page to the top of search results (you can call it another Google bombing). The site is 300themovie.info. If you are an artist, or just think the idea is cool you can participate by either submitting your art (email it to submit@300themovie.info), or by helping to bring the page to the top of the rankings by linking to that page on your blog or website. Make sure you ONLY use the phrase "300 the movie" to link to it, like this: 300 the movie. So, let's shake our body and show the world that Iranians never let anybody in the globe to insult them and falsify the history. |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #18 A better idea (one which I have already proposed on my Persian weblog) might be doing a collaborative art project: 300 from a Persian perspective. Basically I have called upon all Persian artists to submit art with the theme of "ancient Persia", so we can gather all of these in one site and show the world (and comic fans) the face of ancient Persians from our own perspective. You know, having a comic-book-art-war with the Iranians doesn't sound all that bad to me. Western, even. |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2007-03-12 23:59 |
| #17 In defense of Ollie Stone, the TROJANS were not PERSIANS. As per military history, XERXES' army at THERMOPYLAE included Greek contingents/ elements fighting on his side against other Greeks. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-03-12 21:52 |
| #16 Not many persians named Cyrus anymore. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2007-03-12 17:17 |
| #15 the Persian Empire in 480 B.C was the most magnificent and civilized empire Tsk, tsk. How things can go to hell in just a few short millennia! |
| Posted by: SteveS 2007-03-12 16:53 |
| #14 Revisionists, Noble Savages Elitists, Petty Killjoys, Putzes. Pathetic. "[Post Modernism]......is the belief that direction, evolution and progression have ended in social history, and society is based [now] instead upon the decline of absolute truths, and the rise of relativity..." Through a lens snarkly. |
| Posted by: LAX 2007-03-12 15:21 |
| #13 The movie is freakin' awesome. Yes, the Persians look deformed and scary... and there are monsters, but if you see why the director did it, it makes sense and works with the comic book style. He wanted the Persians and their animals to look as weird and scary to us as they did to the greeks. I definitely recommend seeing it. Especially on the IMAX. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-03-12 14:59 |
| #12 The inaccurate and derogatory depiction of ancient Persians The founding fathers of the meteorite worshippers. Go figure. |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2007-03-12 14:23 |
| #11 The graphic novel was written in the late 90s (before Americans realized they were at war) and most of the often quoted quotes proving politics in the movie are actual quotes from ancient Greek sources. I think the projection of reviewers current opinions onto this movie is very enlightening. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2007-03-12 12:58 |
| #10 Ive seen many reviews, that make the movie look pretty bad. Ive seen the trailer, and nothing in it contradicts them. But I agree, smearing pre-Islamic Persia is hardly the same thing as smearing Imnutjob and the mad mullahs, in fact its almost like the opposite. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2007-03-12 12:56 |
| #9 There were far moreb Greeks than the 300 Spartans and not all of theml were Spartans. It was when teh Greeks discovered that a traitor had led the Persians by another pass and that they were on the verge of being surrounded that most of the non-spartans retired leaving only the Spartans (and a few dozens of non-partans) for a delaying action. BTW, in Persian sites you will see very different explanations of Persian-Greek battles: Marathon was not a full scaled invasion but only a supporting force for an aristocratic coup at Athens (who failed). The episode where Greek infantry disperses the Persians atb Cunaxa was meraley a withdarwal (who led the hoplites more than amile from the main battle) and Alexander is not named the Gret between Persians but the Cursed. Also Greeks tell how a man had to see his son being quartered just because he had asked or more exactly humbly prayed the emperor of Persia not to send his only son to war. This contrast with what Persins say of Cyrus I (Darius fatehr or grand father) as "inventor of the concept of human rights". |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-03-12 12:14 |
| #8 Right ... the only critics who count are the ones forking over 10 bucks to see the film. It's a smash hit! |
| Posted by: doc 2007-03-12 11:45 |
| #7 I contributed to that 70M on Friday. Not a bad action flick, worth the price of the matinee if it's your kind of thing. Can't say I saw it as an attack on Iran and it's culture, but rather just a bloody good time... |
| Posted by: IG-88 2007-03-12 11:44 |
| #6 It would have been better to show the Persians as heavily perfumed fairy boys that the Spartans could massacre because they were hetero. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-03-12 11:38 |
| #5 The sad thing is the review itself looks just like the review I read in a liberal American paper: "Don't watch this! you might come out pro-American! EEEEK!!!" |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2007-03-12 11:35 |
| #4 One should think the Iranians would be happy to see pre-Islamic Persians shown as decadent and all. I think there is a bit of Persian pride peering out from beneath the Islamic veil. Seems the google bomb didn't work and 300 is making bank. Take that Johnny Persia! |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2007-03-12 11:19 |
| #3 Oooooooh, Smithers! The Iranians are angry! Oooooh, the Iranians! Hide me, Smithers! Hide me! |
| Posted by: Montgomery Burns 2007-03-12 10:59 |
| #2 Case closed. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-03-12 10:53 |
| #1 Panned by the critics, and made at least 70 million it's first weekend. |
| Posted by: Steve 2007-03-12 10:35 |