rotten bananas

I saw 300 last weekend, and I thought it was great. Sure, the dialog was just what you would expect from a cheesy action flick, and it was absurdly gory, but this is what’s to be expected. I was totally into the dramatic lines. The “This is Sparta!” scene rocked my world.

In addition to the classic action movie features that you’d expect, there was also some great imagination put into the story. Everything was very extravagant, similar to Miller’s Sin City. The insane man-creatures that joined the battles and the way over-the-top Persian king totally had my attention.

The problem.

An Iranian official condemned the movie, saying it was attacking their culture, referring to it as “psychological warfare”. Now, I’m not one to say what they’re really thinking, but this seems like a stretch to me for a number of reasons.

• It’s based off of a real story. Though very loosely, it’s not like someone wrote it specifically to make a political statement.
• It’s completely over the top. If someone was actually trying to attack some part of the middle-eastern culture, I don’t think they would have included all the ridiculous fantasy creatures and action sequences. This doesn’t lend much reliability to a film attempting to make a political statement.
• And lastly, are they serious? This is just a poorly hidden attempt at public anti-Americanism. The claims are so baseless that it sounds more like a joke than legitimate politics.

This is just another case of someone creating their own enemy. If the Iranians want something to complain about, they have more than enough real examples to feed off of. Watch Fox News for a few hours and you’re bound to here someone spouting off some anti-Muslim rhetoric that’s not at all shielded behind a complicated web of story lines and special effects.

I’m not trying to say that that sentiment doesn’t exist in American culture. I think that’s more than relevant, unfortunately, but, if you want to find it, you don’t have to dig into some Hollywood blockbuster that’s created for little more result than padding a handful of already stuffed pockets. Complain about something that deserves complaining about and you’ll have a much better chance of being taken seriously.