Do you think 300 (movie) is racist towards Persians(Iranians)?

Question

Well i just saw it and i frankly thought it was. It made them seem savage-like and.. gruesome. I checked a few history books and found that actually Persians freed all the slaves and were not as cruel as they were portrayed. I signed this petition and you guys can if you want to as well. : http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/Stopmovie300

Answer 1

No, I don't, and history is whatever you want to make of it.

In any case, the Spartan stand is a dramatic battle

Answer 2

Firstly, this movie IS based on a historical event. It highlights a battle between the Spartans and Persians. The problem isn't that the movie sides with the Greeks and presents them as heroes. The issue is that the makers of the movie took certain liberties in relation to historical fact which give into possible prejudices and racist views they may hold.

Consider:
Persians were the first Civilisation in history to create Human Rights for all its citizens. Spartans on the other hand treated their slaves terribly, and young Spartans in a test of manhood were made to fight and kill a young slave. In the movie, Spartans appear to be fighting for free men while the Persians to enslave all men.

Persians are depicted as demon like, deformed, ugly, homosexual, lacking Honor and integrity while the Greeks look like they belong in a male model magazine, virtuous, brave, Honourable, family oriented.

I feel sorry for Persians - today's Iranians. This is a moment in their history and they are completely dehumanised in it. Many young people do not know anything about history or the Persians, sad that this distortion will be their first impression of the Persians.

Answer 3

First of all, I would like to apologize to some of you for the failings of our education system. This movie was not historical, but a cartoon based on an idea of something that may have happened.

Second for those who say "who cares if something is racist its just entertainment", I'm scared that those same people may find lynching black people entertainment too.

Because something is meant to be entertaining does not make it exempted from being racist. You may want to check out some cartoons from most of The 20th century for this.

It scares me that people don't see how bad the context of alot of this movie was. Don't get me wrong the movie had great fight scenes, but the way the movie characterized not just Persians, but the whole world other then Europe was appalling.

If you want to find out about how the spartans and Persians really were, then read a few books. They both had down falls and both contributed to the world in a few ways, but neither one was heroes or saints, and in no way savages. The Persian empire contributed enormous contributions to science and art. The way this movie depicted the world other then europe was really offensive and I think it's a step back from where we have come as a nation.

Answer 4

The whole time watching the movie I was thinking about Edward Said's book "Orientalism." The books theory is that the Occident (west) always have to depict the "Oriental" (east) as hyper-mystical, savage, irrational, supersexual, and brutal. Basically the depiction of the "other" always. If the story had a least one counterpart positive character that was Persian it would be different. Instead you have the SAME old depictions of dark, scary,hypersexual beings which is all you see of Persians. Throughout the movie the would see and hear the contrast between the good (READ: Spartans) rational fights and the bad (READ: Persians) feral beasts. This is seen in pictures through European museums of Persians.
The definition of "racism" is when you think one race or ethnic group is superior to another. This movie does have that in spades so it does fullfill the dictionary defination of racism.

On the other side it is a myth the whole story and Franks Miller graphic novel so you can take everyone as a comic book character in another sense.

Answer 5

It is true that the West always likes to portray the East as barbaric and savage. Oh, and, of course, they love to portray brown/black people in the same way. Anyone who doesn't think so is kidding themselves.

Anyways, regardless of whether or not the movie is good or historically correct, the timing couldn't be worse. The last thing we need right now is more friction with the Middle East, especially because of a dumb movie. I'm betting the release was timed as such just because of that fact. More publicity for them to incite hatred against the perceived "enemy".

As for those who said Iranians didn't even exist then, factually you are correct, but as someone who has several Iranian-American friends I can tell you that they usually refer to themselves as Persian.

And as for violent cultures, the Greeks are certainly not innocent either. Was any culture in that day? And who was more brutal than the Romans?

Answer 6

No it wasn't and it's ludacrous to think so. Iran wasn't even in existance at that time in history. Rulers back then were no less tyrannical than they are today in that part of the world. Times were alot rougher then too so people were more "savage" and "barbaric" than today, but many people have not changed. They simply modernized their methods of killing.

Also, history books throughout the years have been adapted to make some groups look good and others look bad even if that was not the case in real life.

Answer 7

Well, for those that haven't seen this yet, they should definitely only see it for the 'entertainment value' (unless you're a nazi, then you'll love this **** for all its worth). I think the only reason it's a bit controversial is because it's rather extreme, but then you have to keep in mind that it's not aimed to be historically accurate at all (e.g. Spartans encouraged homosexuality, and their lifestyles depended on slave labor), it's based on a comic book, that was based on a 1962 movie, that was partly sponsored by the Greek government themselves. Anyone who would take this to be historically accurate is a moron. Period.

Answer 8

Anything White people do is racist, the best and easiest excuse in the book. Here is a history lesson to my Non-European friends:

Though Persia was an advanced civilization, they were brutal, and enslaved, raped, pillaged as much as other ancient empires. They had a fierce, advanced army and the Greek army, weakened and demoralized, managed to defeat them. This is what 300 is about. 300 Makes me proud.

Persia, Islam, the Moors, Arabs... have never been innocent. Starting in 780AD they raped the entire Mediterranean for close to1000 years. Where’s my 40 acres and a mule? ...Being of Southern Italian/Sicilian background, I know what I am talking about. The Saracens have always been brutal and vile. Every White person, particularly Whites of Southern Europe should embrace the film '300'!

Answer 9

It seems to me that:

It is not the first time the cinema is abused to convince people to go to a war. I mean the war US gov wants to start against Persians (Iranians). Warner Bros has not been an ethical company and it was abused once another time.

Answer 10

First movie I have ever seen to depict an entire civilsation (persians) as subhuman. Way to go guys! As if Shock and Awe wasnt enough...

You know what this warmongering movie needed.
This scrolling at the bottom
"Terror Alert: High"

Answer 11

Absolutely not.

Leave the Iranians out of it since they weren't even around at that time. Why do people like you feel the need to get so offended over things that aren't even offensive to begin with?