I really wasn't going to see the movie 300, mainly because the thought of a spartan screaming "for freedom!' made me gag a little when I considered that the spartan state kept an entire people, the helots, as slaves for generations.

But now I may have to.

It seems that Iran, or at least it's state owned media, is claiming that the movie 300 is an insult to Iran, pro war propaganda and an incitement to hate iran.

Links:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17704847/site/newsweek/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17599641/

Hey, if this movie offends Iran, then great! After all, the iranian state controlled media makes movies and TV shows featuring jews stealing the eyes of blue eyes muslim children to seel in new york and tel aviv, it routinely makes "informational" programs that closesly resemble "the eternal jew" and even condemns the movie 300 for being made "by jews".

I have friends who are jewish, and I respect a lot of jewish people, like Einstein, so I find their attacks on jews to be "offensive" and am glad that they find 300 to be offensive.

As to the movie 300 making people hate iran, hey, I don't need no stinkin' movie to make me hate iran! I hate iran because it's an islamofascist state that oppresses women, persecutes jews, has vowed to exterminate israel, imposes religious death sentences on authors and supports terrorism against israel and the west, in addition to wanting to impose their system of government on the world. After all that, a movie is hardly going to alter my views.

So yeah, I may go see the 300 now. Hell, I only went to see "superman returns" (great movie) because neocons were bitching over it. So I may go see 300 bacause iran's bitching over it.

Right thing, wrong reasons.

It's not like "unstoppable army bent on the inevitable destruction of the west" is exactly in opposition to how Iran wants to be seen anyway, as Mr. Stewart reminded us all in relation to this.

But seriously, see 300 anyway. I absolutely refused to pay for a movie since the LotR trilogy in response to commercials during the previews, but I was willing to pay to see 300. Twice.

Nox, I find it incredibly saddening, yet so appropriate, that your entire perspective on movie watching and enjoyment is entirely based on other people's percieved dislike of a given movie.

See 300 because you like seeing 300 half naked men whoping much ass and shouting everything because they are so bad-ass.  Don't see 300 because you don't like violence and gore for it's own sake.

But chosing to watch it becasue the Iranians (or at least their loudest most outspoken leaders) condemn it sight unseen?

Lame.

Ditto Superman. See it for the flying dude bouncing bullets off his eyeball, not because some politician who hasn't had an original thought in 30 years dismisses it as mindless fluff from a left leaning Hollywood.


Learn to think for yourself.

And try to keep up with the times. Iran hating 300 is the week before last's news.

But to be slightly on topic: yes, Iran hating 300 is stupid. It's got mutants, fat guys with swords for arms, an 8' tall god king, and 600 six packs of abs squeezed into 300 men. Hating it for making historical blunders is like hating Planet of the Apes for letting gorillas talk.

Hell, even if it were an anti-Iranian conspiracy it's lost on the viewers. Unless you run a brief documentary explaining the ties between Persia and Iran, most Americans aren't going to have any idea that the two are linked. Hell, between Arabians Nights, Prince of Persia, and 300 you could probably find a large chunk of the population that would believe you if you told them Persia was a mythical land like Asgard and Camelot.

Quote from: James McMurrayBut to be slightly on topic: yes, Iran hating 300 is stupid. It's got mutants, fat guys with swords for arms, an 8' tall god king, and 600 six packs of abs squeezed into 300 men. Hating it for making historical blunders is like hating Planet of the Apes for letting gorillas talk.

Hell, even if it were an anti-Iranian conspiracy it's lost on the viewers. Unless you run a brief documentary explaining the ties between Persia and Iran, most Americans aren't going to have any idea that the two are linked. Hell, between Arabians Nights, Prince of Persia, and 300 you could probably find a large chunk of the population that would believe you if you told them Persia was a mythical land like Asgard and Camelot.

A lot more probably know now that Iran has complained about it than ever would have otherwise.

But that's always the way with these things, Spycatcher didn't sell before it was banned, the fatwa sold Satanic Verses in droves and previously it was barely moving, Relax went to number one after Radio One banned it.

If you really want to promote something, complaining about it publicly is a great way to go about it.

My guess is Iran has bought stock in the studio behind the movie and was worried about its return on investment...

Maybe they paid Ackmenininininininijhad to promote the movie.

Well, I saw it. Not too bad, for a historical fantasy. I wonder if the iraniacs were pissed off because the persian king, Xerxes, came off as kinda AC/DC in addition to everything else.

I think there were like maybe 6 scenes in the movie that weren't either totally CGI or at least computer enhanced. Really, I was looking for scenes that didn't look artificial, and found few, but that's not a complaint, just an observation.

I was kind of going "Yeah, right" at one scene. Not the fantasy battles because I knew it was a fantasy, but at the scene where  SPOILER>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>















the queen stabs the bastard in the gut, he drops his coin purse and persian goldpieces spill out all over the floor of the senate. I mean, is this yutz really stupid enough to carry around a whole sackfull of heavy, shiny,  jingling evidence of his treason? Oh well....


All in all I'm not disappointed I saw it, I would have liied to have seen a silver surfer or transformer preview along with it, but that wasn't the movie's fault.

Quote from: Dominus NoxI think there were like maybe 6 scenes in the movie that weren't either totally CGI or at least computer enhanced. Really, I was looking for scenes that didn't look artificial, and found few, but that's not a complaint, just an observation.

Had you seen the previews? There weren't any scenes in them that weren't modified somehow, if only to give them the "Sin City" texture.

Quotethe queen stabs the bastard in the gut, he drops his coin purse and persian goldpieces spill out all over the floor of the senate. I mean, is this yutz really stupid enough to carry around a whole sackfull of heavy, shiny,  jingling evidence of his treason? Oh well....

I thought the same thing, but didn't care much. I hadn't come for the politics.

Quote from: Dominus Noxthe queen stabs the bastard in the gut, he drops his coin purse and persian goldpieces spill out all over the floor of the senate. I mean, is this yutz really stupid enough to carry around a whole sackfull of heavy, shiny,  jingling evidence of his treason? Oh well....

That was 2500 years ago - they weren't as sophisticated at covering up chicanery back then.

Not to mention an utter lack of bank deposite boxes, door locks or anything else. The safest place TOO carry money was on your person.   Just do like I did and tell yourself she yanked his purse off after stabbing him to reveal the treachery she suspected or something.... It's cinematic!

From what I've seen of the behind the scenes, the entire thing was shot in front of a green screen. That wheat field is like 10 feet wide and 60 feet long. The sandy fight scene section is about....three times that size.

They could have filmed that whole thing in a high school gym, man. Which I happen to think is awesome; at no point was I convinced they were really ramming spears into dudes, so why does the scenery need to be real?

They weren't really ramming swords into people? I WANT MY MONEY BACK!

Quote from: James McMurrayThey weren't really ramming swords into people? I WANT MY MONEY BACK!

Oh ramming the swords in was totally real, it was ramming the spears in that was fake. Didn't you read CA's post?

-clash

Oh, that's ok then. Thanks!