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Film Review: Hollywood’s 300 Is a Call for War with Iran
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by M. J. Shahidi
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Though a masterful production, the recent film “300” is a slick, conniving, and equally masterful 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 a crafty attempt to brainwash the audience.
Yes, Hollywood has always taken advantage of the public mood of the time to make a profit. The desire for monetary reward is fine, but malicious intent is reprehensible. This movie is clearly designed to sway young Westerners into warfare against Iran at a time when the war hawks are feverishly lobbying for military attack on Iran. It might as well be a promotional video for the neoconservatives. 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.
First, 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 nonwhite people of the world (in the film, the entire Persian army is black). It is a malicious attempt to influence younger male viewers into embracing warfare as a way of life (the theater was full of teenagers). It clearly expounds the notion that white Europeans are superior to others.
It is true that the Persians invaded the Greek states and fought many wars with them. Unfortunately, this is what empires do. Persians themselves were repeatedly ruled by others before they became dominant. But that was centuries ago. What about the current “American Empire,” which only a few years ago invaded Iraq unilaterally and against the charter of the United Nations? Shall we indict the entire population of the U.S. as barbarian because of the actions of its leaders? Should the cruelty of Abu Ghraib and the slaughter of Vietnamese be used as justification to condemn the totality of American culture? What about Jefferson, who, incidentally, admired Cyrus? What about the Bill of Rights, the abolition of slavery, the Declaration of Human Rights, and the Marshall Plan? What about Abraham Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Martin Luther King, and Margaret Mead?
True, Xerxes was handed the greatest empire the world had seen. True, he was spoiled and corrupted. But he also managed a superpower with 200 main ethnic groups spread over thousands of miles. He was ruthless, yes, but not an androgynous sexual lunatic as the movie proclaims.
History tells the story of Spartans as being excellent warriors. And, as in other Greek societies, they had made great advances in art, science, social development, and political democracy. We know about Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. We have read about the one-man-one-vote in autonomous city-nations. Nevertheless, there was much warfare between them. They finally united as a reaction to the Persian invasions.
The telling of history is not, however, the purpose of this movie. The aim is to indoctrinate and herd the young into warfare, especially against Iranians. Otherwise, the writers and producers could have given fictitious names to nations and characters, as in the Star Wars series. So, following that skewed line of reasoning, let’s militarily attack the Germans, the Japanese, the Mexicans, the Spanish, the British, etc. because at one time they fought wars against America. Let’s call them all feebleminded and wicked because, in times past, their leaders told them to kill Americans.
Sometimes, violence for self-defense may be justified. History is filled with stories of battles against aggressors and invaders. World War II was waged by the Allies against Nazi tyranny even though, like all wars, it had its share of unnecessary cruelty. A war with Iran, at this time, would be an unprovoked war of aggression, similar to the Iraq invasion of 2003, being organized by a small group for greed, arrogance, and the theft of other people’s resources. It will bring long term devastation to the security and economic interests of the U.S. and its allies.
In 330 B.C., after destroying the Greek democracy, Alexander of Macedonia conquered Persia and ordered its destruction. Soon he learned what a vast, complex, and multicultural society he had acquired. He married the daughter of the last Persian king and forged the joint empire of Persia-Macedonia. His followers learned much about architecture, irrigation, road building, postal systems, governmental administration, and, yes, martial arts. The Persians of that period also loved their home and country, believed in loyalty and honesty, and displayed enormous courage. These great qualities were not the sole property of the Europeans.
Technology and travel have made all nationalities on this planet much more sophisticated. The days when Hollywood cast only stereotypes –Germans as stupid, American Indians as subhuman, and Arabs as termites in the desert – should be over. Instead of promoting understanding and peace, the film “300” spreads hatred and enmity. To imply that the multireligious Persians of then and the Islamic Persians of today are one monolithic horde is an insult to history. To create the notion that the soldiers of Xerxes and the terrorists of now are alter egos is outrageous. In short, the plot of “300” exploits the idealism and patriotism of its viewers in a sinister attempt to lay the groundwork necessary to start another unjustified and senseless war.
M. J. “Jay” Shahidi is a small business owner and consultant living in Minnetonka, Decorative Construction, Inc., a company he founded in 1977, promotes environmentally healthy building remodeling and construction. He has been a long-time human rights and peace activist since his high school days in Tehran, Iran in 1960s. Upon coming to the U.S. for college education, he became active and has had leadership roles in over 35 civic and charitable organizations.
Currently, he serves on the boards of the American Refugee Committee, United Nations Association, MN Division, MN Institute for Talented Youth, and is on an advisory board at MN State University, in Mankato, his alma mater. He engages in advocacy work on behalf of these and other groups such as Amnesty International and Population Connection, and is a regular speaker on the issues of landmines, refugee rights, the politics of oil, nuclear disarmament, the politics of poverty and population increase, U.S. - Iran relations, war and peace, and U.S. foreign policy. He co-founded and is the current President of the Iranian-American Society of MN. |
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Word UP
The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is a knowledge of our own ignorance.
—Benjamin Franklin
The most effective means of preventing tyranny is to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large, and more especially to give them knowledge of those facts.
—Thomas Jeffersone
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© 2007 Women Against Military Madness. All rights reserved.
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Complete May 2007 Index - click here
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