MERGED--> 300

[deep]

Originally posted by Irvine511
no, it's all the gayness, that's why it's so popular.

i'd be way hesitant to read too much into the success of the movie beyond the visuals.

here is a painting of the "Battle" done in 1812 (from Wiki)

[Dalton]

All I know is that after seeing this movie, I have WAY more respect for George W Bush than I used to.

I didn't think he was capable of writing a descent sentence and now he's written a pretty good movie....

[LJT]

I find it funny the Greeks found the Persians effeminate because they wore 'trousers'

The Persian army was made up of a whole horde of different races brought together by Xerxes as a show of his might, from the Saka (asiatic peoples), Ionians (Greeks from modern day Turkey), people from Northern India....it wouldn't surprise if the Greeks did view the people assembled before them as monsters in their weird armour and weaponry.

It annoys me that people are trying to attach alterior motives to this film when really there isn't none.

[ntalwar]

An Iranian official on Sunday lashed out at the Hollywood movie "300" for insulting the Persian civilization, local Fars News Agency reported.

Javad Shamqadri, an art advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, accused the new movie of being "part of a comprehensive U.S. psychological war aimed at Iranian culture", said the report.

Shamqadri was quoted as saying "following the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Hollywood and cultural authorities in the U.S. initiated studies to figure out how to attack Iranian culture," adding "certainly, the recent movie is a product of such studies."

The movie's effort wound be fruitless, because "values in Iranian culture and the Islamic Revolution are too strongly seated to be damaged by such plans", said the Iranin official.

Shamqadri, who is also a filmmaker, said that production of more domestic and artistic films which portray Iranian achievements is a proper response to movies like "300".

I think he's a bit overboard.

[Irvine511]

Originally posted by deep


here is a painting of the "Battle" done in 1812 (from Wiki)

why, that looks just like a typical saturday night on 17th street in DC!

[MrsSpringsteen]

(Reuters)Iran calls Hollywood blockbuster cultural "warfare"

By Fredrik DahlTue Mar 13, 12:46 PM ET

Iran denounced Hollywood's latest blockbuster film, depicting the 480 B.C. battle between the Persian army and a band of Greeks, as "hostile behavior which is the result of cultural and psychological warfare."

Last week's North American opening of "300," while Tehran is embroiled in a standoff with Western nations over its nuclear program, led Iran and its film fans to see the movie as a Western effort to vilify their nation through history.

The film sold an estimated $70 million 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.

But Iranians were clearly offended at the way their ancestors were portrayed in the film, inspired by the tale of 300 Spartans under King Leonidas who held out at Thermopylae against a Persian invasion led by Xerxes in 480 B.C.

The government, lawmakers and Iranian Web logs (blogs) denounced the movie, which depicts the huge Persian army as ruthless but repeatedly outsmarted by the Greeks who are only defeated in the end by treachery.

Even though the film by U.S. director Zack Snyder has only just hit theatres in the United States, poor quality pirated copies are already available in the Iranian capital.

Government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham branded it an insult against Iran, where the first Persian empire emerged to become the world's most powerful in the sixth century B.C. before it was conquered by Alexander the Great two centuries later.

"Not only would no nation or government accept this...but it would also consider it as hostile behavior which is the result of cultural and psychological warfare," he told a regular press briefing on Tuesday.

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.

Iranians take great pride in their history and the empire they founded, and any perceived slight against that heritage often sparks criticism across the political and social spectrum.

An Iranian circulated a petition against the film on the Internet, saying the film was both "fraudulent and distorted."

"It is a proven scholarly fact that the Persian Empire in 480 B.C. was the most magnificent and civilized empire," the protest letter to the filmmakers said.

Western historians have often said the battle was the first major conflict between the East and the ancient Greek city states, seen as the cradle for Western values.

In contrast to the angry reaction in Iran, "300" has earned largely positive reviews in North America, despite or because of its decapitations and battlefield carnage.