Posted on 03/12/2007 12:51:43 PM PDT by timsbella
Iran on Monday strongly condemned the US film company Warner Bros. over the allegedly "anti-Iranian" blockbuster film 300.
Javad Shamqadri, art advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, told Fars news agency that the film was an insult to Persian culture and in line with the American "psychological war" against Iran.
Zack Snyder's film, based on a comic book by Frank Miller, tells the story of the battle of Thermopylae in Greek history in which 300 Spartan warriors led by King Leonidas heroically fought a massive Persian army attack, delaying an invasion by King Xerxes' forces and giving Greeks time for a counterattack.
Iran's has called foul over what it calls "deviation of history" but also because the Persians in the film were shown as "ugly and violent creatures rather than human beings."
The news network Khabar organised a special programme in which the film was evaluated from several angles by film critics who argued that the film's alleged efforts to expose Persians as violent was a US political plot implemented through Hollywood and the Warner Bros. company.
The state-run network also linked the film to ongoing political differences between Washington and Tehran such as the nuclear dispute.
The film critics further said that after Germans, Japanese, Russians and Arabs, Iranians seem to become the new "villian" in Hollywood productions.
A large number of Iranians abroad have already started a worldwide email campaign to send protest missives to Warner Bros. for having insulted Persian culture and history.
The film reportedly made 70 million dollars over its opening weekend, making it the first official blockbuster of the year.
(Excerpt) Read more at playfuls.com ...
I went and looked at that book on Amazon, and sure enough, the lefties are posting negative reviews of the MOVIE underneath the book.
Sounds like you need to move to a civilized.
What is so difficult for people to understand about Spartan soliders. They were hevily armored infantry fighting in a phalanx. As far as I can tell, the only correct thing there is the "lambda" on the shield for "Lacadonia".
True enough. The Spartan phalanx would have been immediately cut down by Presian archers had they not been encased in full bronze armour, to include greaves or ocreaum on their legs and ankles [which helpfully made a kick to a downed opponent particularly lethal] and full upper-body and arm/shoulder armour. But I think either Miller figured his audience would want mostly bare male skin, or that his audience would.
If they want a homosexual element, then show barracks life for the Spartans. Heck, show how the Spartan men "captured" their brides on their wedding day, with the women made to look like a boy!
Then there's that ancient Grecian sport of naked bull-jumping....
The Iranian/Persians feigning outrage and upset over this makes about as much sense as the USA getting upset over a filmed depiction of The War of the Roses, or the Battle of Hastings, or somesuch other irrelevancy. The fact is, some of the leadership still LIVES emotionally in the time of the battle of Thermopylae.
This guy must be using the same proofreader I use.
We should fire that idiot.
The lack of armor on the soldiers isn't for homo-anything, it's for Greek heroic style. When the Greeks did artistic representations of battles they tended to depict the good guys in the "heroic nude", with the only armor or clothing being iconic in nature (stuff that really symbolized the person or culture to the artist). When Frank did the comic book he decided to use that style, the stuff he decided was iconic was the "classic" Greek helmets, the big red capes and the lambda shields. I think the only reason he gave them pants at all was he didn't feel like drawing hundreds of penises.
Fairly unclothed guys don't necessarily make something gay. None of the Spartan men get "friendly" with each other. And there's even a derogatory line about Athenians being boy lovers.
Platea. Where 40,000 Greeks [including 9,000+ Spartans], ANNIHILATED the Persian Army Xerxes left in Greece, and killed their commander, Xerxes' relative [brother/ uncle/ cousin?] Mardonius.
And we're supposed to care, why?
Well, the trolls and the Kabuki Immortals were a bit much.
That was after his leisurely tour of Assasin strongholds in the mountains.
Hooyah! Let the bedwetters find out what Leonidas meant by "Molon Labe" - but I bet they're gonna make me check my spear at the door...
In beautiful New York, it cost $9.00 to see it.
I'd pay it just to piss off Iran....
Interesting. I just read a history that said it was the sea battle of Salamis. Ah well, either way it works for me.
Who wasn't violent back then? How could anyone be king, and not violent?
Not at all. An armed society is a polite society.
I like it here fine, and graduated high school hereabouts. I've got mostly good memories of the place, it just needs a little cleaning up.
This guy must be using the same proofreader I use.
He was just a second-rate copy of the original King Xerxes....

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