/* Fakhredin Blog: Reactions against the film "300" */
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The posts in this weblog are mainly about history, heritage, language, art, and culture of Persia (that is named Iran since 1934). Persia is, therefore, equal to Iran, and Persian is equal to Iranian. Note that Persian is a nationality not an ethnicity. Pars (or Fars) is the major ethnicity in Persia but there are also Persian Kurds or Arabs. Similarly, the official language in Persia is Persian (Farsi is the local name and may not be used internationally). For more details please read my posts.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007
  Reactions against the film "300"
* Also available in Persian language
I read in the BBCPersian news that many Persians (Iranians) considered the film "300" offensive, and reacted against it by signing petitions and creating a Google bomb. Instead of protesting against the film, I have another suggestion: please have look at these short films about "Engineering an Empire - the Persians" in YouTube. It would give you a better image of what the Persian Empire really was.

Nevertheless, I think that the reactions of Persians (Iranians) should be re-directed from the film "300" to some more important issues. Unfortunately at the moment Persian Empire is a "Forgotten Empire" in the sense that people do not directly connect it to the current country of Persia (Iran). Not many people know that Persia is the same as Iran. We are still suffering from the wrong decision of Reza Shah who changed the international name of the country. That decision in the last 70 years created much more serious consequences than a film like "300"; the name of the language, for instance. People do not see a direct connection between Persian language and Iran as a country anymore, while connection between Persian language and Persia is obvious. Many people in the West even think that Iran is an Arabic country with Arabic as the official language. That's also why the conflict about the name of Persian Gulf is not a big deal for the Western people, and introducing Persian scientists as Arabs does not wonder them. Gradually, a country named Persia, and everything associated to it, is vanishing from the present and stays solely in the history. These facts are more troublesome than a film such as "300." In a few years, nobody will remember the film, but the negative effects of the above mentioned problems are growing every day.

My suggestion is to re-direct the efforts. Let's try to introduce the fact that "the country should be officially named Persia (not Iran) in international conversations again," and that "the language should be officially named Persian (not Farsi) in international conversations." Please note that "Persian" is a nationality not an ethnicity; it simply means "native of Persia." In order to improve the international image of the country, Persians (natives of Persia) should first stop arguing between themselves. Turks, Kurds, Lurs, Pars, Arabs, Baluchs, and all the ethnic groups who live in Persia (Iran) are Persians. The same way that we have Iraqi Kurds and Turkish Kurds, we have Persian Kurds. The same way that we have Kuwaiti Arabs and Saudi Arabs, we have Persian Arabs.

Talking about the film, to my opinion the best way to react against the barbarian image of Persians in the film is not a direct reaction. Signing petitions or making a Google bomb against it will only make the film more popular, and people will remember the film not as a fiction anymore but as an image of Persians. On the contrary, the best way to defend the image of Persian Empire is to introduce the true beautiful image of it to the audience. It's already a long time that a film about Cyrus the Great is going to be made. Where is it? Why is the project not progressing? These are more important issues to take care of, much more important than the petitions against the film "300."

Again, I suggest re-directing these efforts. Let's sign petitions in favour of the film "Cyrus". If the project is suffering from lack of budget, let's make an international effort and collect a financial support for that. Let's make exhibitions, seminars, etc. to introduce the beauty of Persia to the world. For example, instead of getting upset that why Xerxes the Great is shown as a barbarian in the film, why Avicenna is being introduced as an Arab scientist in some international symposiums, or why Rumi is sometimes being introduced as a Turk poet, Persians, themselves, should start introducing the true image about their history, culture, and heritage to the world.

The last point that I like to mention about the film "300" is that the film is receiving an attention from the audience not because it is anti-Persian. Majority of people just go to this film because it is a fiction with nicely-made special effects. I do not deny that it gives the audience a negative feeling about Persians. I only say that people do not go to the film just because of that. Therefore, if the film "Cyrus" is going to be made, it would better be made with the best cast and crew. Most people will not go to that film because they are in love with Cyrus the Great. They just like to see a nice film, and hopefully it will also give them a positive image of Persians.

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Comments:
Here is a document about how Persian scientists are introduced as Arabs in some occasions:

BBC corrected on Iranian nationality of Avicenna
London, Jan 10, IRNA - The BBC has been politely reminded that the nationality of the great Islamic scholar, Avicenna, is Iranian and not Arab as claimed in one of its recent articles on chromo-therapy on its Arabic website.

"Avicenna's nationality, as well as his ethnicity from which he comes, is well known to every scholar all across the globe," the Iranian Embassy in London said in a letter to Britain's state-funded broadcaster.

"I think this error should be dealt with by making necessary amendments to the writer's story in order to firstly prevent any misunderstanding on the part of your readers and secondly avoiding some political impression in balanced reporting," said the letter signed by Hamid Babaei, first secretary of the embassy.

Avicenna, who was a philosopher, physician and scientist, advanced the art of healing using colors in both diagnosis and treatment.

Born in 980 AD, he authored some 450 books on a wide range of subjects, including amongst his most famous works, The Book of Healing and The Canon of Medicine, which for seven centuries were the standard medical texts at European universities.

For its information, the embassy told the BBC that besides his Persian writings, some of the books he wrote were in Arabic because of his mastery in that language and coincided with the popular era of Islamic scientific research.
 
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