MEMRI’s Steven Stalinsky on the Iranian response to the film ‘300′:

Over the past few years, the Iranian government has produced films, TV movies, and music videos about Israelis stealing the eyeballs of Palestinian Arab children, the Statue of Liberty as Satan, and President Bush as the reincarnation of Hitler, among countless others in the same vein.

Hollywood is another popular target of Iranian state-controlled films. A recent notable example was a special on the “Tom and Jerry” cartoons as a Zionist conspiracy.

The Iranian News Channel on July 27 did a report on Hollywood as a “weapon” of the Zionist lobby, with Disney being its leader. The report cited “Pirates of the Caribbean” as an example.

Other Iranian government programs about Hollywood have been devoted to the “reality” of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” as well as claims that “The Diary of Anne Frank,” “Schindler’s List,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” and “The Matrix” are Zionist propaganda. Steven Spielberg is a frequent subject, as are what the government calls the “ugly Jewish actress Barbra Streisand” and the “deceptive Woody Allen, who confuses people about the Jews.”

Therefore, Iran’s response to the recent Hollywood film “300″ — an adaptation of Frank Miller’s comic book account of the Battle of Thermopylae between the Greeks and the Persians, 480 years before the common era — was interesting, to say the least.

The criticism is more of the same, but as I noted previously, this one at least has some merit to it.  The Persians in the film ‘300′ are non-human demons if you will, but that’s the entire method on how the story is told which is essentially a Greek tale told in comic-book style.

Not mentioned by Stalinsky is the Iranian reaction to 9/11 where an Iranian movie critic said the film ‘Independence Day’ mimmicked the World Trade Center collapse.  Yes, I fully realize in the film ‘Independence Day’ it was the Empire State Building that was attacked, but it was presented that 9/11 was Hollywood theatrics designed to push the United States into war.

Most Iranian claims on the films made in the United States are ridiculous at face value, yet more so when you look more in depth at these claims.  But as Stalinsky notes, they are laughable when put in context with what Iranian state-run television produces and runs.