How we can introduce our country
After I saw the Troy Movie, I was surprised that how a fantastic movie can leave an impression on the viewers. I saw this movie two times, first time I went with my Persian friends here and the seconds time with my friends in my course. Most of my colleagues have been graduated with a first class degree from their countries so they are good representatives of their countries and all of us are proud of our nationality. When we went to see Troy, we were 8 people from Iran, India, Greece, Pakistan, and Kenya. One of the reasons that I went to watch this movie for a second time was that Harry (my friend who is from Greece) came with us and I wanted to understand different parts of this movie since it is related to Greek culture. After the movie, Harry described different parts of the movie explicitly (such as why they put coins on the eyes of the guys who were killed in the war). I was shocked that this movie had encouraged all of my friends to understand more about the Greek culture. Most of us know who is Achilles but after the movie all of us adored Achilles. I do not think that any political activity and religious activity can stimulate people to know more about Greece as good as this movie. On the other hand, I saw a problem that most of us called Achilles as Brad Pitt. For example we told Harry that "why Brad Pitt draged Hector on the ground?" And suddenly he answered aggressively: "guys! The guy who dragged Hector on the ground was Achilles not Brad Pitt!!" Can you get my point? Now can you perceive the effect of this movie? In this movie Achilles' mother told him: "if you go to this war, people in subsequent centuries will remember your name as a hero". But after this movie the people who have seen this movie call Achilles as Brad Pitt and they do not pay attention to Achilles name.
By the way, if you are living in foreign country you can perceive the lack of this kind of movie regarding Iran since we have much of this heros in our country. Unfortunately, most of the people know Iran wrongly and they think that Persian people are same as Iranian politicians, and they are a strict, close mind, conservative and not sociable people. Moreover, some Iranians in foreign countries have forgotten who are they since they had so many problems when they were in Iran. They have been dissolved in foreign culture and also they are not proud of their nationality. I don't want to say that they are doing wrongly since I perceive them. But, by the way, this concept is one of the most important obsessions that we have here. How can we introduce our country properly? Think about it! I will talk about it more.
Well I have a simple answer for your main question: Greek history and specifically the story of Troy is very well-known in the west and actually the world, so turning this known story to a film (and adding some romance spice) will be profitable for hollywood and film making companies. If someone decides to make a film about Rostam, how much EXTRA money do they need to put into advertisement?
Moreover, we (iranians) have been very lazy in introducing our culture to the world. Take Rostam as an example again: how many people around you know about him? I have not met a single non-Iranian who knows about him.
(at June 4, 2004 12:47 PM)
Well, I watched Troy as well, it really impressed me.I liked Hector's character more than Achilles though, simply because I found him patriot and open-minded.
I still don’t understand why people adore Achilles since he was more like a person who is after fame rather than a true hero like hector who fought and died for his country and his people.
(at June 4, 2004 02:38 PM)
I think I like Achilles because of the way he fought intelligently. In one-to-one battles he really used his mind as well as techniques, remember how he killed the monster in his first battle?
Regarding Mehdi's post, firstly in this film Greeks were shown as war mongers and invaders, while Trojans such as Hector where the wise good guys. Secondly as one other commentator said, our fellow countrymen have done very little research about our own history. Most of the classified history of the Persian empire was the work of European and American archaeologists and scientists.
Last but not least, all of us individually are representatives of our country and culture. The impression that we leave on other people is stronger than the impression of Media. The lies of media is a very important subject and requires a separate post.
(at June 4, 2004 03:16 PM)
Is your Greek friend really called Harry? That's such an unusual name for a Greek guy!
(at June 4, 2004 03:31 PM)
I think once i've heard a director is making a film about Darious or Cyrus, don't know if it was right or wrong?! but I believe first we need to encourage foreigners to come and visit Iran, then step by step introduce our heroes to them, it needs time and plan and....hope we see that day :)
(at June 4, 2004 05:05 PM)
Yes actually you were right Nazli. Here is the link to the news:
http://ancienthistory.about.com/b/a/044969.htm
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