I would like to list a recent article written by one of my friends, Mehr “Jay” Shaidi. Jay has been very active in local and global politics in the past decades from his base in Minnesota. He has been active in many fronts from his early Student Activist days as the head of Iranian-American Society of Minnesota, to his activities and involvements with Minnesota Institute for Talented Youth (MITY), Citizens for Global Solutions, American Refugee Committee, International Student Services, Amnesty International USA, Land Mine Committee of the United Nations Association, and many other organizations, just to name a few. If you Google “Jay Shahidi”, you will see the number of organizations, and many lectures and other volunteer activities he has been involved with over the years. He's also a board member of several organizations. With Running two successful businesses, I wonder where he finds the time.
I am very honored to have him as a friend. Although I have a great appreciation and respect for him, I don’t quite share all his views on this subject, but I’m compelled to support him and list his article here. My initial response was the same, but I don’t quite see it that way. Although I won’t put this propoganda pass the current administration, I fail to see a deliberate act between Hollywood and the warmongers in Washington. I also give the American people much more credit. Please judge for yourself. Here is his article:
The New Movie "300", A Call For War
Though a masterful production, "300" is a slick, conniving and equally masterful attempt on character assassination. Filled with historical inaccuracies, the movie is deftly intended to portray the Persians, today's Iranians, as barbaric monsters even when, by 480 B.C., they had formed “the first true empire before that of Rome," according to P.R.S. Moorey of Oxford University. This distorted plot justifies mythology as history and fiction as fact. It is crafty intended to brainwash the audience.
Yes, Hollywood has always taken advantage of public mood of the time to make profit. The desire for monetary reward is fine but malicious intent is another. This flick is clearly designed to sway the young Westerners into warfare against Iran at a time war hawks are feverishly lobbying for military attack on Iran. It might as well be a promotional video for Neo-Cons. It glorifies militarism and bloodletting as great virtues while depicting the Persians of 2500 years ago as the "Dark Force". It implies that the Persians of today are equally devious.
Firstly, the Persian royalty and military commanders of that era were Aryan and white, of the same stock as the Spartans, Macedonians and Greeks. When Cyrus founded the Persian Empire in 559 B.C., he established the first official code of human and civil rights. The kingdoms of the Empire were mandated to allow religious and racial freedom. After conquering Babylon, Cyrus's first official act was to free the Jews from bondage. Persian monarchs of his dynasty never claimed divinity. This film is an insult to the non-white people of the world (the entire Persian army is black). It is a malicious attempt to influence specially the younger male viewers into embracing warfare as a way of life (the theater was full of teenagers). It clearly pounds on you the notion that white European is superior to others.
300…Kittens, is another informative and interesting take on this from one of my favorites, PhDiav, the conservative American archeologist, Dorothy King in UK. There is also an interesting video of the “300” with added "stuff."
Related Links:
Hollywood Propaganda
A Nintendo view on 300!
6 comments:
OK, given that the movie is completely inaccurate, and that the Persians are demonized to comic book proportions, let me ask you this; isn't it cool to see them on the screen, all formidable and scary?
This post reminds me of two things:
1) I once went to see a Rambo movie, and behind me in the theater were some Vietnamese teenagers from the class I taught. I was uncomfortable when Sylvester Stallone and his friends talked about how much they hated the "Vietcong," but to my surprise, the kids all cheered when Rambo blew all the bad guys up. It was just a bonus to hear their own language spoken in a movie.
2) Last night I caught the last half of South Park on Comedy Central. Kyle, Cartman, et al. all went to Afghanistan for some reason, where all the cartoon characters spoke ACTUAL FARSI! They also met bin Ladin, who spoke some fake Arabic jibberish. The thing is this, I'm pretty sure that student visa-holders in universities across this land were jumping up and down with delight with the shock of hearing Farsi on South Park, no matter what was being said.
You’re absolutely right. I agree with you 100%. If you want to hear my true feeling, read my THREE comments on this side: Hollywood Propaganda Even my initial feeling was against that kinda of reaction and I went and saw it so I can access it for myself.
I’m sorry I didn’t know or watch South Park. I bet that was a great episode. Again, I agree with you.
300... kittens? 2funny. But seriously now... everyone's heard of "Persian" cats, not Spartan cats. I mean, c'mon.
My highfalutin'& humble opinion: The Iranian gov't can be excused for its lack of appreciation for American pop culture irony, and also the fact that Hollywood executives, rather than political leaders, are responsible for movie productions. The whole thing is pretty comic and absurd. Obviously.
However, I also think that for folks with short term memories longer than the length of a movie trailer, the lessons and the distortios (and the consequences thereof) of history are difficult to ignore. In fact, they're painful.
Your friend has eloquently articulated the ugly consequences -- both past and present -- of the distortions of our history and culture. His indignation is not unjustified. However, equally painful is the need to acknowledge one's own hubris -- both past and present....
And one more thing, while I'm feeling so sincere and indignant. There's no pride in forgetting about serious issues simply because the dominant culture has deigned to broadcast our language on TV! What are we? Peasants?!
Thanks for this post, Bijan. :)
Hey fellow bloggers,
Number 1 in this week's Box Office is a sports comedy directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon.
"Blade of Glory" was released last week, on March 30. All the flash lights are on Chazz Michael Michaels, who is the star of the ice skating arena. His only competitor seems to be the former wonder kid, Jimmy MacElroy.
The two "sports heroes" meet each other face to face at the World Championships and their rivalry erupts into a big fight. Three years latter we find Michael skating, dressed as a clown or an evil wizard and drunk almost all the time and MacElroy working into a shoe store. In the end the two rivals join their forces and talent and they compete as the first skating pair in history of sports composed by two men.
Also released on March 30, "Meet the Robinsons" is a 3D animation fantasy directed by Stephen J. Anderson. The animation also known as "A Day with Wilbur Robinson" is a relaxing movie based on a science fiction story. A twelve-year-old, Lewis, meets Wilbur Robinson, a boy from the future, who takes him forward in the future by means of a time machine.
Traveling into the future, Lewis finds out the big secret of the Robinson family. Lewis is not an ordinary kid, instead of playing like most children of his age, he prefers reading and studying, having already a large number of inventions. His latest research was focused on creating a Memory Scanner device in order to recover his mother's thoughts when she gave him for adoption. Unfortunately, Bowler Hat Guy and his evil hat, Doris, are stealing Lewis' invention. Lewis discovers a new mysterious world with floating cities and manages to save the future and to help his future family.
The movie "300" lies on the 3rd place in this week's Box Office. Released on March 9, and directed by Zack Snyder with a $129,165,656 budget, the historical drama had a great impact on the audience. The filming location was Montreal, Canada and the movie is based on the legendary story of the Battle of Thermopylae, which took place in 480 B.C., when King Leonidas, his 300 Spartans and some other Greeks entered the war against the huge invading Persian army. The story is simple but intense and the film is great to watch and to listen to. Gerard Butler stars as King Leonidas, who runs an insignificant army from a numerical point of view. Rodrigo Santoro plays the Persian invasion leader, Xerxes.
The main actors were required to work out a lot for this movie, as the personages had to look strong, healthy, with sculpted bodies. The film special effects look great, the chromatics tend to impress more due to the sepia tones, or the violent red of the blood. Reviewers agree that "300" is a great movie based on a legendary moment and stylized with a lot of visual work. Taking into consideration the positive impact of the movie, perhaps "300" fans will get the chance in the future to play video games based on this movie.
Michael S.
For more new movie reviews and old movies like 100 Girls or Along Came Polly please visit my blog.
Dear Tamara,
Goo goo gaa gaa (lol )But seriously, I don't know what to say. Five languages and +++ all! I was so impressed with your eloquent your comment (actually, I already was impressed by visiting your blog a couple of months ago (I also ended up googling you and I found you mentioned in Dave’s blog – The 5 things tag… You know who I’m talking about.) I'm so impressed by you I don't really know what to say except thank you for gracing my blog :) I mean all that.
I just wished I had known about you sooner. May be we could have met or something! Anyways, nice to meet you and thanks for the great comment. 1981 also signifies a life changing event for me.
W2e: Thanks for visting and leaving comments.
Post a Comment