A little more than a month ago, Iranian embassies began lobbying their hosts to ban 300, the highly-stylized and fictionalized account of the battle of Thermopylae. The Uzbek government has agreed to the Iranian request.
Official Tashkent agreed with Iran’s arguments and the country has been withdrawing the film from cinemas and shops for two weeks.
A keeper of a DVD shop in Jizak said that when he started to sell the film last week he had been approached by officials from the regional cinema department who ordered that he should hand over all discs with 300 to them, explaining that the Culture and Sport Ministry in Tashkent banned the film.
A young Ravshan of Jizzax says in the report that he likes the movie, but that he thought it did contain anti-Iranian propaganda. The important thing though is that he liked it. Bans aside, I still suspect the market will find ways to meet demand.
This post was written by...
Nathan Hamm – author of 2974 posts on Registan.net.
Nathan is the Founding Editor and Publisher of Registan.net, which he launched in 2003. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan 2000-2001 and received his MA in Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington in 2007. Since 2007, he has worked full-time as an analyst, consulting with private and government clients on Central Asian affairs, specializing in how socio-cultural and political factors shape risks and opportunities and how organizations can adjust their strategic and operational plans to account for these variables. Nathan is currently seeking research, analysis, and consulting opportunities. He can be contacted via Twitter or email.
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{ 2 comments }
You know, there are lies, bigger lies and mass-media lies.
I do not believe US astronauts landing on the Moon. How could the flag flutter when there’s no wind on the moon?
I do not believe Osama Ben Laden and 9/11 BS. There are many pieces of puzzle which point out it was special op (CIA?) to lay hands on arab oil. I do not believe in Al Kaeda, I believe in OIL Kaeda.
The “300 Spartans” movie is full off historical misconceptions and lies also ….
You know, if you leave it at just the last part, you don’t seem like such a kook. Had we left it there, we could have had a normal exchange… all you sayin’ 300 is full of lies, and me respondin’ that it never claimed to be a historical account; on the contrary, it is a highly stylized account that takes incredible license with history.
But dude, really, science and reason are your friends.