Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 2:03 am
Iranians outraged over hit movie ˜300™
TEHRAN, Iran - The hit American movie œ300 has angered Iranians who say the Greeks-vs-Persians action flick insults their ancient culture and provokes animosity against Iran.
œHollywood 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 œhumiliate Iran in order to reverse historical reality and œcompensate 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.
œThe 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.
œIt 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 œ300 is œserving the policy of the U.S. leadership and predicted it will œprompt a wave of protest in the world. ... Iranians living in the U.S. and Europe will not be indifferent about this obvious insult.
Source
TEHRAN, Iran - The hit American movie œ300 has angered Iranians who say the Greeks-vs-Persians action flick insults their ancient culture and provokes animosity against Iran.
œHollywood 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 œhumiliate Iran in order to reverse historical reality and œcompensate 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.
œThe 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.
œIt 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 œ300 is œserving the policy of the U.S. leadership and predicted it will œprompt a wave of protest in the world. ... Iranians living in the U.S. and Europe will not be indifferent about this obvious insult.
Source