300: Rise Of An Empire, another anti-Iranian movie - History Forum ~ All Empires

It is virtual story Cyrus like most of them that come from Hollywood!Even if agree about it,that all of

them have had hidden message inside!Regards!

beorna, what do you think about a movie which depicts your nation as demons? Xerxes was one of the greatest men in our history, you can't compare him to Mickey Mouse, Superman or other fictional characters, you certainly insult to a nation by demonising or mocking their heroes.

http://www.avclub.com/review/even-more-so-part-one-300-rise-empire-rotten-power-201838
By Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
Mar 6, 2014 12:00 AM

Those who can look past the fact that 300: Rise Of An Empire depicts a war between white people (technically orange people, per the movie’s color scheme) who “don’t negotiate with tyrants” and the brown people who hate their freedom may be able to enjoy it as a slice of bronzed and bloody beefcake kitsch. An awkward spin-off of Zack Snyder’s macho death fantasy 300, Rise Of An Empire retains the earlier film’s hyper-stylized, digital backlot slickness, but without the Spartan rah-rah-rah that has ensured 300’s enduring popularity. In its place is uninspiring jingoism, pitting the blue-cloaked Athenians, upholders of democracy, against the evil Achaemenid Empire, made up of Persians—and therefore Iranians—who wear anachronistic turbans. It’s a movie viewers are supposed to get off to, though anyone who just wants to watch waxed, ripped guys running, jumping, and thrusting (this is one of those cases where a sword isn’t just a sword) while wearing leather briefs may find their enjoyment soured by the perverse political power fantasies which are the film’s raison d’être.

Led by Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton), the outnumbered Athenians disembowel their way through the faceless (literally—the villains wear balaclavas and metal masks) Achaemenid horde, occasionally stopping to look off into the distance while thinking aloud about the brutality of war. About half of the film is in slow motion, with blood—thick, strawberry-jam-like, resembling the gore in a Build engine game—spurting out in all directions. The Athenians are merciless because they represent a higher ideal; the Achaemenid are merciless because they are the bad guys. During the naval battles, which make up most of the movie, the Achaemenids cruelly lash their galley slaves, while Athenian triremes are powered by the democratic values of young men who have chosen to row of their own free will.

There’s an irony here: Out of all the Ancient Greek city-states, Athens depended the most on slave labor, while the real-life Achaemenid Empire did not practice slavery. Athens also distinguished itself from its neighbors by granting women absolutely no legal rights. Even by the standards of the time, Athenian society was notoriously xenophobic. Their legal system was a joke and their foreign policy was brutal. In fact, aside from practicing a political system called “democracy”—open to only a small portion of the population and empowered by widespread slavery—Athens was hardly a model society. The Achaemenids, in the meantime, built roads and infrastructure, ensured religious freedom, established a postal service, and generally set the standard for large governments for centuries to come.

Why quibble with the historical details of a movie like Rise Of An Empire? Because, the way in which the movie—which is based on an unpublished Frank Miller comic—lionizes the Athenians reveals its values. Athenian misogyny is passed over, because the movie conveniently features only two female characters, neither of whom is Athenian: the Spartan queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) and the Carian commander Artemisia (Eva Green, wearing history’s first pair of hidden wedges). Visually, the Achaemenids are associated with black leather and gold, a look that’s half space-Nazi, half Yeezus tour. The diversity of their empire is underscored—perhaps as a way of avoiding accusations of vilifying one particular ethnic group—while the Athenians look so alike that it becomes difficult to tell characters apart.

The Achaemenids are a flashy, gold-chain-wearing group, composed of assorted peoples of color in baggy clothes and led by a treacherous, sexually aggressive woman. The Athenians are protecting the core values of modern Western society, and, as it happens, are composed entirely of white men without body hair or pants. Director Noam Murro and co-writers Snyder and Kurt Johnstad are probably not racists, misogynists, or xenophobes. However, not being a bigot doesn’t preclude acting like one. Actions, not intentions, hold value.

Greeks

Persians