Iranian Artists Response To The Movie '300'

[gole_hayahou]

Islam does say things about Zoroastrians....they describe it as the Religion of the Angels....

That's what I have been told.

[AAL]

Just to say, I am Greek but I totally understand how offended you must be.

OK, some people say "it's just a comic turned to a movie", which is true, but that's no excuse. The "comic book" character explains the aesthetics of the film, which is quite spectacular and enjoyable I must say; it's deliberately unrealistic, and that's not a bad thing. Things like the sky colour etc are totally unrealistic, but that's an artistic choice and does not harm anyone.

BUT, this does not explain or justify the way Persians are shown. I can think of only two ways to explain it:

First is, the director did not realize who offensive it would be, which is careless (not to say rather silly) of him.
Second, it might have been deliberately done, in view of the bad relations between the current Iranian goverment and the US. But that's also ridiculous. The current state of affairs is but a very very small part of your country's history which spans so many thousands of years.

Anyway, popular culture and the media today are so silly in every respect, that nothing surprises me anymore!!!

Best regards from Athens

[FreeToLove]

Thank you my fellow Greek Brother!

P.s: I hope we dont burn each other cities lol

[persian]

Well said AAL.

[orlistat]

I completly was forcing my self not to sleep while watching 300 in the cenima. I thought at that time that this is another example of Hollywood's racism. Yes Hollywood is racist, just look how it portrays asians , indians, arabs, persians and anyone who is differnt.I think it was not a mistake that persians were portrayed in that way, it is no secret that politics did affect , affects and will affect the US film industry. However, objectivity seems to be lacked in many if not most of the political-oriented movies and that's reflected in the way history, culture and even the way "the others" look. This loss of objectivity does more harm to the US reputation outside the US and gives very little credibility to the US.

[nimrooo]

Originally Posted by Kuwaiti

Those are really beautiful Im very proud that my ancestors were part of the Persian culture. I love the text about what Darius told his son Xerxes: dont destroy cities. Its very true, when Persians conquered lands they hardly ever destroyed cities or committed any genocides. They loved to preserve cultures, even if it didnt belong to the Persian heritage. Unlike Mongols unfortunately lol.

AhuraMazda, is that the word for God in Zoroastrianism? I wonder why Islam never said anything about Zoroastrianism, considering it was a monotheistic religion?

Maybe b/c Islam was at was at war with persia!!!!?? duh!

[AAL]

Very impressive video! I had no idea about this letter.

[shugs]

It exists and it is in the London Museum...

I have been wanting to see it for myself for quite a while now, I don't trust any of the internet translations... Too many blind nationalists with racist agendas have added bits to it that are not legit to the original text... I don't know what parts but I know it has been done for sure.

[AAL]

Yes, I suspected that, some bits of the tranlation sound too "modern"! But anyway, I am sure the essence is there, and it's still impressive.

[Hawa Beirut]

still discussing the 300 movie
so much exxageration in it
velesh kon dige

[Joel que]

Most of the history about Greek Persian war,come Greek vew point specially from Herodotus, is there any ancient written record from the iranian side ?

[antovador]

Hi all
Any news about the documentary of the Parse Pasargadae Research Center ?

[socrates#1fan]

Oh good grief.
Welcome to the world of movies!
It's a movie set in a historic background, not a documentary!
It's not real!
Hell, if I got angry everytime they portrayed 19th century America as cowboys, big dresses, and horses I would lose my mind.
Movies pay little attention to the historical facts when they make them, which is why most movies bug me!
It isn't worth getting all upset about. Most people watching this movie were more interested in the graphics and action than they were with the history.
Spartans also wore more than just a strap of leather!

[eduardo90]

Why was the movie so offensive to Iranians?

[Shapoor]

Because:

. Xerxes the great and his soldiers looked nothing like what they really look like. They made them look like dark skinned arabs with weird masks and black clothes.


Xerxes the great


. Persians worked against slavery and brutality, but the stupid director shows them as savages. Millions of people watched this movie, without any knowledge about Persians or Iran, what do you expect them to learn? That is WHY this movie matters and we have the right to protest about it.

Overall there are many idiots who worship TV and movies and believe what they see on the screen, so we don't care about "It's a movie set in a historic background, not a documentary!" and anything similar. We care about the media impact on people, especially the ones who never knew anything about Persia before. The movie gives a bad impression about Persians, their history, culture, and appearance.

I also find it offensive to portray Greeks as shouting men killing like savages while they had done many better things than that. But that's not the case, because the world already know how the Greeks were different.

[socrates#1fan]

Yes, I am aware of these false notions in the movie.
Yes, they got the ethnicity wrong. I wouldn't be offended by it(regardless of how obvious and extremely incorrect it was.), however, it really shows the director was not paying attention to facts and data.
I was upset when they portrayed Spartans as half-naked crazy people, when in reality they wore armor and were not all buffed.
However, I wouldn't get that upset about it. Movies constantly lack facts and falsly represent something, or someone. It gets annoying, but that is movie business I suppose.
However, there are many films that are very true to history.
Like Titanic, had a few mistakes here and there, but the over all setting was very well done!

BTW, due to 'wild west' movies many people have the false idea of cowboys and Indians(which is offensive to our native populations that were dominantly wiped out) in 19th century western America. It wasn't until recently that new movies were made that were more accurate, like Deadwood.

[shugs]

It's a rubbish film that is simply out to offend (not only Iranians)... The kind of mentality it ensues is reflected nicely in groups of drunken yobs yelling 'spartaaa' in city centres at 2am.

Also the film came across as a promo reel for the US Marines...

[socrates#1fan]

Originally Posted by shugs

It's a rubbish film that is simply out to offend (not only Iranians)... The kind of mentality it ensues is reflected nicely in groups of drunken yobs yelling 'spartaaa' in city centres at 2am.

Also the film came across as a promo reel for the US Marines...

0_o
I didn't get that. How was it a promo for the marines?
I found the graphics to be the thing that interested me. The movie itself was not historically accurate, yes. In the world of movies, you have to have a thicker skin than that.
Movies pull out bull shit all the time.
But there are many movies that are well done!

[Persiancat]

awsome threat

[noonghandi]

Originally Posted by socrates#1fan

0_o
I didn't get that. How was it a promo for the marines?
I found the graphics to be the thing that interested me. The movie itself was not historically accurate, yes. In the world of movies, you have to have a thicker skin than that.
Movies pull out bull shit all the time.
But there are many movies that are well done!

well done bullshit >= bullshit.