Iranians, Historians objects to ‘300’
Critics disappointed with skewering of historic events
ADRIAN MA CUP ONTARIO BUREAU CHIEF
WATERLOO, Ont. (CUP) — Caroline Falkner, a classics professor at Queen’s University, didn’t dare brave the long queues at the movie theatre when the epic battle film 300 opened last weekend. But she plans to go with some colleagues very soon — as it turns out, this ancient history expert considers the film required course material.
“Oh, I have to see it because I know my students will want to know more about it in the fall,” Falkner said.
Falkner believes any interest generated in learning about ancient cultures is a positive thing, but said adaptations are often rife with historical inaccuracies that, left unexamined, can leave people with the wrong impression.
“Whenever I see these kinds of films, the history side of me is dissatisfied,” Falkner said. “Sometimes it’s the result of trying to compress so much into two or two-and-a-half hours. Sometimes it’s an artistic thing — that’s the nature of movie-making.”
Or perhaps it’s something much more sinister. The movie is very loosely based on the historic Battle of Thermopylae, when a small contingent of Spartan and Greek soldiers clashed with a Persian army of far greater size. In one scene from the movie, King Leonidas of the Spartans (played by Gerard Butler of The Phantom of the Opera fame) rallies his troops by declaring “a new age has come, an age of freedom. And all will know that 300 Spartans gave their last breath to defend it.”
Iranians around the world are extremely upset over the portrayal of the Persians as evil and tyrannical.
In an editorial in the Toronto Star, University of Toronto Hellenistic history professor Ephraim Lytle agreed that 300 unfairly idealizes Spartan society in a “problematic, even disturbing” way.
The movie’s Persians are “ahistorical monsters and freaks,” wrote Lytle. “Xerxes [king of Persia] is eight feet tall, clad chiefly in body piercings and garishly made up, but not disfigured. No need — it is strongly implied Xerxes is homosexual which, in the moral universe of 300 qualifies him for special freakhood.”
The film is further straining political relations between the U.S. and Iran, which have been at odds over the Iraq war and Iran’s nuclear program. Javad Shamghadri, the cultural adviser to the president of Iran, accused the American-produced movie of trying to reverse historical reality and provoking “American soldiers and warmongers” against Iran.
Nathan Sapelak, a third-year student at Wilfrid Laurier University, saw 300 on its opening night, and believes the movie has no political agenda.
“People go to movies for entertainment value, not for any historical education,” said Sapelak, who enjoyed the movie’s graphic fight scenes but cared little for its plot. “I don’t think there’s any attempt to portray what happened [in the movie] as how modern Iranians are.”
Movie-goers may see 300 as merely an action flick, but York University professor and sociologist Haideh Moghissi — an Iranian herself — says the concern about how Westerners will now perceive Iranian culture is legitimate.
“I’m no friend of the Iranian government, but I think they have every right to object to this movie, particularly at this time,” she said. “I definitely think [the film] serves a political purpose, whether the producers had any intentions or not.
“This is exactly the opposite direction of creating understanding between cultures.”
Golta Shahidi, chair of the Political Federation of Iranian Students, says her organization has boycotted 300. She hasn’t seen the film, but has watched some of the trailers available on the web, and believes it’s a subtle attack on Iranian culture and heritage.
“A lot of the rhetoric pronounced within the movie is the same kind of thing we hear everyday — about fighting tyranny,” she said. “Even if people [are seeing the film] for the graphics — and watching the trailer, the graphics look amazing — people who go see it have to know they’re supporting [a negative view of Iranians].”
Maryam Nikkhou, a representative of the Iranian Students’ Association of York, says members of the group are working with executives to develop a formal petition against the movie.
Shahidi said her own organization would be “100 per cent” behind such a protest.
Falkner has been teaching ancient Greek and Roman history for over 14 years at Queen’s, and she can say with certainty that a few more students will be in her classes thanks to the success of 300. The same thing happened after Gladiator in 2000. What she’s heard from her current students about the movie has been encouraging, however — she says many of them were disappointed with film’s skewering of historical details.
“I’m hoping that in the end, these movies will help to train [students] to think critically . . . to generate discussion and inspire them to go back to the sources,” she said.
