Iranians Call for Muslims to Ban “300”
Is the Film Art or Pro-War Propaganda?
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Actor Rodrigo Santoro plays the Persian Xerxes. |
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Formula “300”: Spartans good, Persians bad. |
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Historical Advisory: It’s based on a comic book. |
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Actor Gerard Butler plays Leonidas in the film. |
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The Persian army invades Sparta in the film. |
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Iranians speak Persian and the Persians in the film are deviant, devious, and devilish. |
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Iranian government officials are calling for Muslim countries to ban the film “300” because of the way it depicts Persians.
The movie was just released in the U.S. and grossed $70 million over the weekend (March 8-10, 2007). But it is also available in Iran on bootleg DVDs, according to press reports. Iran is under growing pressure from the West about its nuclear program. Highly respected publications, such as the New Yorker and the Economist Magazine, report that the U.S. is preparing for war with Iran.
In this atmosphere, the Iranians are a little touchy about how Persians are shown as deviant, devious and devilish in the film “300.” The movie
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is based on the graphic novels of Frank Miller. “300” recounts a battle in 480 B.C. between a small Spartan force and a huge Persian army.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s top cultural advisor, Javad Shamqadri, called the movie an attack on Iranian culture.
"American cultural officials thought they could get mental satisfaction by plundering Iran's historic past and insulting this civilization," Shamqadri said. “Following the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Hollywood and cultural authorities in the U.S. initiated studies to figure out how to attack Iranian culture. Certainly, the recent movie is a product of such studies.”
The Ottawa Citizen newspaper reported Wednesday (March 14, 2007) that Iranian Parliament members have called for a boycott of the movie in Muslim countries, Iranian bloggers have started a protest petition they plan to send to Warner Brothers Pictures studio, and a top Iranian government spokesman said the movie was a U.S. provocation.
“Not only would no nation or government accept this … but it would consider it as hostile behavior, which is the result of cultural and psychological warfare,” Iranian spokesman Gholamhossein Elham said during a press conference.
Even in the U.S., “300” is being criticized for how it glorifies war. In a March 8, 2007, column, Newsday columnist James P. Pinkerton likened the film to military propaganda.
“Every young man who sees this movie - and movies are mostly targeted at the young - is going to get a triple dose of adrenaline, male-bonding and macho pageantry. Words such as "duty," "honor" and "glory" are heard constantly through the film. Indeed, if spears and shields were replaced by M16s and Humvees, "300" could be a military recruitment film,” Pinkerton wrote.
U.S. Marines based at Camp Pendleton in California were quoted as saying the movie reminded them of how they feel outnumbered in Iraq. Their story and how they cheered the movie was featured on the front of the entertainment section of the Los Angeles Times Wednesday (March 14, 2007).
"I barked and cheered my way through '300' with two fellow Marine infantry officers who have shed blood and tears in the back alleys of Iraq,” the Los Angeles Times quoted former Marine Ilario G. Pantano as saying. Pantano was charged with the murders of two Iraqis, but was exonerated. He is now a sheriff’s deputy in New Hanover County, North Carolina, the Times reported.
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Joshua B. Good’s email: editor@bannedmagazine.com
