Time to burn down an embassy? Iranians upset about "300"...

[moez]

'300' has Iranians up in arms
By Howard Gensler

"300" may have made Hollywood happy with its $70 million opening weekend, but it's made Iranians furious.

In Tehran folks are saying the Greeks-vs.-Persians action flick insults their ancient culture and provokes animosity against Iran.

"Hollywood declares war on Iranians," blared an over-the-top headline in yesterday's independent Ayende-No newspaper.

(Actually, if anyone declares war on Iranians, Hollywood will almost assuredly protest it.)

For those unfamiliar with fantasy/history, "300" is based on a comic-book version of the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., in which a force of 300 Spartans held off a massive Persian army at a mountain pass in Greece.

In Iran, the movie hasn't opened and probably never will, given the government's restrictions on Western films. One paper said bootleg DVDs were already available.

Javad Shamghadri, cultural adviser to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said the U.S. tries to "humiliate" Iran in order to reverse historical reality and "compensate for its wrongdoings in order to provoke American soldiers and warmongers" against Iran.

Interesting, since Frank Miller wrote "300" in 1999.

But aside from politics and warmongering, the film is being seen as an attack on Persian history - granted it's pre-Islamic Persian history from nearly 2,500 years ago, but... .

Jumping on the bandwagon, Iranian state-run television has run several commentaries the past two days calling the film insulting and has brought on Iranian film directors to point out its historical inaccuracies.

Inaccurate? How could that be? It's based on a comic book......

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/16899246.htm

[GoddessOfGuinness]

1. Historical inaccuracy can be annoying

but I don't see why they have to get their panties in a twist about it; unless that's just the way they really want their butts to feel.

[Cobalt-60]

2. Sour Grapes

If the Persians want to feel good, let them produce a flick about Xerxes buring Athens to the ground later.