“Hollywood declares war on Iranians,” read a headline in the Iranian newspaper, Ayende-No, on Tuesday.“The film depicts Iranians as demons, cultureless and without feeling or humanity, who think of nothing except attacking other nations and killing people,” Ayende-No said in its Tuesday article.
“It 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
“The film sold an estimated 70 million USD worth of tickets in its first three days, setting a new record for a March release,” the film's distributor Warner Bros. Pictures said on Sunday.
This pro-Greek movie has twisted the story the other way round, and therefore lacks any historical credibility. The movie pictures the ancient Persians as a cruel, blood-thirsty nation, despite the historical fact that they have been very modest, friendly and culturally very rich.
Iran's officials described the Hollywood's blockbuster movie as “a hostile behaviour which is the result of cultural and psychological warfare.”
According to Time magazine's website, “Some Iranians believe that the movie was secretly funded by the US government to prepare Americans for going to war against Iran.”
A cultural adviser to Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, Javad Shamqadri, said: “300 is part of a comprehensive U.S. psychological warfare aimed at Iranian culture. Following the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Hollywood and cultural authorities in the U.S. initiated studies to figure out how to attack the Iranian culture. Certainly, the recent movie is a product of such studies.”
Government spokesman, Gholamhossein Elham, Told a news conference on Tuesday that, “Not only would no nation or government accept this, but it would also consider it as hostile behaviour which is the result of cultural and psychological warfare. Cultural intrusion is among the tactics always used by the aliens and calling such a fabrication of culture and insult unacceptable and hostile.”
“Four MPs urged Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi to ask other Muslim countries not to show ‘this anti Iranian Hollywood movie,’” ISNA news agency said.
But the struggle over the movie 300 is not limited to the world of politicians and many of the Iranian angry citizens have so far reacted to this story in their own special way.
Among them, is an Iranian who published a petition against the movie 300 on the Internet saying that, “It is a proven scholarly fact that the Persian Empire in 480 B.C. was the most magnificent and civilised empire.”
This Internet petition refers to the recent Warner Bros.' blockbuster movie as “irresponsible, unethical and unscientific.” 35,000 signatures have shown up on the petition so far.
Interestingly, the state owned/dependent news agencies have reacted most severely to the story, attacking Holywood and the Warner Bros. in particular, over their blockbuster movie. That is while the Iranian government normally is not at all concerned about or even happy with the persian ancient herritage, and only seems to be using this situation as an opportunity to criticize the old enemy.
The governmental Iranian news agency IRNA reported that, “Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham termed the new film 300 part of the extensive cultural aggression aiming to degenerate cultures of world states, and added that the Iranian nation and those involved in cultural activities will respond to such a cultural aggression.”
IRNA added that, “The film has fabricated history in depicting a war between Iran and Greece, whereas no Greek king dared to stand up to the Persian Empire or the Emperor Xerxes.”
An Iranian news agency, Fars, reports that, “the movie 300 has angered the Iranian people due to its insults to the country's ancient culture and is being viewed by many, even non-Iranians, as ignorant and untruthful.”
Fars added that, “The Iranian state television had already aired several commentaries calling the film insulting, and had hosted Iranian film directors to point out its historical inaccuracies.”
The story has become nationally so important that even an archaeologist, Hamed Vahdati-Nasab, is leading a protest against Warner Bros. and the movie. “Announcing our disgust at such a heresy, we demand an immediate historical review and quick apology from the responsible people,” he said.
“What would people say if they made a film about Martin Luther King, showed him as a monster, and tried to defend it as a fiction? You can't do that. It's unethical. This is a national matter for all Iranians,” Vahdati-Nasab continued.
In a written complaint to Koichiro Matsuura, a group of Iranian cinematic figures including Dariush Mehrjuee, Majid Majidi, Mohammad-Ali Najafi, Mohammad-Mehdi Heidarian, and Mojtaba Raei, have suggested that, “Since UNESCO has previously complained against the threatening and demolition of historical documents and monuments belonging to various nations throughout the world, we expect the organization to prevent the cinema industry from humiliating and obliterating the historical identity which definitely leads to international cultural and social consequences.”
What no one seems to be paying attention to is the Warner Bros.’ continuous statements, underlining the entertaining side of the fictional story which the movie has been created based on, and rejecting any accusations of cultural confrontation with Iran.
A Warner Bros. spokesman has made an statement, saying to the Iranians that, “The studio developed this film purely as a fictional work with the sole purpose of entertaining audiences. It is not meant to disparage an ethnicity or culture or make any sort of political statement. The film 300 is a work of fiction inspired by the Frank Miller graphic novel and loosely based on an historical event.”
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