Hollywood Strikes!
No kidding! Another big Hollywood blockbuster. Plenty of action, lots of bare physiques, some semblance of actual ancient history in there somewhere. The film is showing to sell-out crowds, enthusiastically grossing millions in revenue for its producers. Don't we all love those action-packed, ancient history re-written for the big screen blow-outs! Hollywood entertains. Not instructs, not informs, not educates. This is the American entertainment industry at its, um, well at its core, all right? That's what it does.And, if in the process of entertaining, of unleashing buzz about its latest release they can somehow anticipate a little bit of denial here and there, some disagreement from various quarters, why all the better. There is that fond old quip that there is no such thing as "bad publicity". In fact the more furore a movie can evoke from special interest groups whose toes have been stepped upon the greater the glee of the movie studios. Nothing gets those addicted film crowds out like a little bit of controversy.
The Catholic church has attempted in vain in the past to lobby against the release of certain films, and so have Jewish lobby groups in the more recent past. They just forgot for the moment that nothing stops the determined earning power of a public entertainment that heaps scorn or praise on a subject not ordinarily treated in such a casual manner. Take religion, for example, take ethnicities, take historical accuracy, take a peoples' pride. Well, Hollywood has taken them all, confronted them and corrupted them for mass entertainment. It's what Hollywood does.
Hollywood has offended Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Oh the sheer exquisite ecstasy of it. We owe Hollywood a debt. A grave debt: no longer will I think of it with such unalloyed scorn as the worst type of low-grade, gutter-style, violence-prone, gender-offensive garbage as I have in the past. Hollywood has redeemed itself. It is now its own reason for existence. It has performed in the most stellar manner in producing a film, titled "300" which purports - oops, sorry - which illuminates a historical event of great moment.
The battle at Thermopylae where 300 Greeks of the city-state of Sparta fought and bested a huge invasion of thousands of Persians led by Xerxes (the Great, who wasn't all that great, now was he?). Iranian president Ahmadinejad's cultural advisor claims the film is part of a U.S.-led conspiracy to villify Iran. Oh, precious! "American cultural officials thought they could get mental satisfaction by plundering Iran's historic past and insulting this civilization" intoned Javad Shamqadri.
Yup, yup, yup. What a dastardly plot. Bring it on, there should be a sequel of some kind in the planning stages, shouldn't there?
"Following the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Hollywood and cultural authorities in the U.S. initiated studies to figure out how to attack Iranian culture. Certainly the recent movie is a product of such studies" said the outraged Shamqadri. He must know of what he speaks, since his country led the way in hosting its most illuminating and entertaining Holocaust Denial conference, no?
An on-line petition states: "300 ... is fraudulent and distorted, and its broadcast guarantees the violation of undeniable international legal rights". Oh. A Hollywood film does all of that. Not the repeated statements of the president of Iran that it is the intention of that country to eradicate another UN official presence in the geography.
Undeniable international legal rights don't apply to the right of survival of a country, but do apply to the entertainment industry developing an unhistorically-accurate film plot. Well, it all came out right in the end, didn't it?
"It is a proven scholarly fact that the Persian Empire in 480 B.C. was the most magnificent and civilized empire." True. Isn't it a dire shame that it has collapsed into the meagre and uncivilized state it now represents itself as, a threat not only to the sole Jewish state in the geography but also to other Islamic regimes who have good reason to fear its sweeping intent for the area. The UN Security Council isn't too dreadfully fond of the regime, either.
What's happened to its magnificence, it's scientific, philosophical, artistic and political heritage? Poof!
Labels: Viewpoint
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, March 22, 2007
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