There have been calls in Iran and amongst Iranian exiles (or diaspora) to ban screenings of the film “300” which is currently raking in money in the US.
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| The Film 300 Upset Iran |
Their complaint, it’s not historically accurate, and portrays Persians in a bad light…. Hmm.
As usual the peoples of the Iran (and the Middle East as a whole) miss the point about Freedom of Speech and Expression. It allows the good as well as the bad. It doesn't recognise the "special interests" of groups such as Muslims or Iranians to be "protected" from being portrayed unfavourably in a film or book. Once you start doing that, it's no longer freedom of speech but state controlled "New Speak".
I find it particularly ironic, that a part of the world where "Death to the US, Death to Zionists" is regularly used to close state broadcasts, and where the state president is pursuing inter continental missiles and nuclear warheads, after declaring that it would be better if Israel was ‘wiped from the map’, should have the nerve to complain about a cartoon style action movie based upon a comic book.
A lot of the calls for censorship have come from Iranians who live in the West (presumably because they are freer to speak their minds), and do so because the West is tolerant of cultural minorities in a way that many cultures, including the Iranian culture, are not, but that tolerance is supposed to work both ways. Only the extremely sensitive, or irony challenged, would get upset about this movie with its cartoon style violence, and no one in their right mind would associate it with the truth.
I do accept that it is playing to an audience who also thought that the "Da Vinci Code" was factual, so in that regard they may have something to concern them vis-a-vis the US audiences, but remember that the MTV generation have come through the US Public schooling system, so I doubt if most of them will
A) Know where Persia is/was ... most will think it’s got something to do with Aladdin or the Prince of Persia the game.
B) Make any association between Persia and Iran
Hollywood has a long and inglorious record of distorting history to suit a story, from "The Green Beret", in which John Wayne 'won the Vietnam war', with its shades of Errol Flynn winning the war in Burma; "The Patriot", with its one man American Revolution; "Brave Heart" which included characters who lived over a 100 years apart from each other, and distorted the whole history of Scotland to "make a better movie", right through to this latest "300", which only Iranians with a real confidence problem could think is based upon fact.
Confident cultures can stand being portrayed in many lights, those that are uncomfortable with their history, can not. The Brits are always the villains in US "historical" films, but we just laugh it off, so why don't the Iranians calling for censorship get a grip, and just enjoy the movie as a piece of hokum.
The whole world may not see Iranian culture in the light in which they may wish to be portrayed, why? Because actions speak louder than words, and all the 'culture' of Iran appears to bring to today’s world is a Theocracy straight out of the Middle Ages, suppression of minorities, backing for Shia militias in Iraq, and the 'legal' subjugation of women, with the added bonus that they threaten the existence of a smaller neighbour. It appears that somethings don't change in 3,000 yrs.
Those who call for censorship remember this, if you suppress one person’s freedom of speech, then who will protect yours?
I find it particularly ironic, that a part of the world where "Death to the US, Death to Zionists" is regularly used to close state broadcasts, and where the state president is pursuing inter continental missiles and nuclear warheads, after declaring that it would be better if Israel was ‘wiped from the map’, should have the nerve to complain about a cartoon style action movie based upon a comic book.
A lot of the calls for censorship have come from Iranians who live in the West (presumably because they are freer to speak their minds), and do so because the West is tolerant of cultural minorities in a way that many cultures, including the Iranian culture, are not, but that tolerance is supposed to work both ways. Only the extremely sensitive, or irony challenged, would get upset about this movie with its cartoon style violence, and no one in their right mind would associate it with the truth.
I do accept that it is playing to an audience who also thought that the "Da Vinci Code" was factual, so in that regard they may have something to concern them vis-a-vis the US audiences, but remember that the MTV generation have come through the US Public schooling system, so I doubt if most of them will
A) Know where Persia is/was ... most will think it’s got something to do with Aladdin or the Prince of Persia the game.
B) Make any association between Persia and Iran
Hollywood has a long and inglorious record of distorting history to suit a story, from "The Green Beret", in which John Wayne 'won the Vietnam war', with its shades of Errol Flynn winning the war in Burma; "The Patriot", with its one man American Revolution; "Brave Heart" which included characters who lived over a 100 years apart from each other, and distorted the whole history of Scotland to "make a better movie", right through to this latest "300", which only Iranians with a real confidence problem could think is based upon fact.
Confident cultures can stand being portrayed in many lights, those that are uncomfortable with their history, can not. The Brits are always the villains in US "historical" films, but we just laugh it off, so why don't the Iranians calling for censorship get a grip, and just enjoy the movie as a piece of hokum.
The whole world may not see Iranian culture in the light in which they may wish to be portrayed, why? Because actions speak louder than words, and all the 'culture' of Iran appears to bring to today’s world is a Theocracy straight out of the Middle Ages, suppression of minorities, backing for Shia militias in Iraq, and the 'legal' subjugation of women, with the added bonus that they threaten the existence of a smaller neighbour. It appears that somethings don't change in 3,000 yrs.
Those who call for censorship remember this, if you suppress one person’s freedom of speech, then who will protect yours?
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