First lady Michelle Obama awards Argo the Academy Award for best
picture: Was it a plot to embarrass Iran and burnish
America's image?
Mrs. Obama's dress was digitally altered (right) by Iranian censors
to show less skin.
'Politicized Hollywood'
Gives Anti-Iran Film Argo 'Best
Picture' Prize (Kayhan, Islamic Republic of Iran)
Is first lady Michelle Obama part of Hollywood's latest 'plot'? According to the Iranian leadership and its state-run Kayhan newspaper, the awarding of the best picture Oscar to Argo, a depiction of how U.S. Embassy staff escaped being held captive during the 1979 Iranian Revolution, reflects how Hollywood continues to be a tool of the U.S. political class. The fact that it was chosen over Lincoln, according to the state-run Mehr News Agency, is further proof that Hollywood 'is not based on objective reality, but on a one-sided and distorted picture of the world.'
TEHRAN: On Monday, Iranians dismissed Oscar-winning film Argo as a CIA advertisement, calling the
award an American political statement to paper over the unflattering reputation
it gained in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Ben Affleck's Argo,
which recounts the secret mission of several American diplomats during the 1979
Tehran hostage crisis, won the Academy Award for best picture on Sunday.
The politically-motivated choice was re-enforced by the
surprise presenter: Michelle Obama.
According to the FARS
News Agency, In a rare event for Oscar history, the first lady announced
the winner of the award for best picture: the anti-Iran Film Argo, which is produced by Zionist
company Warner Bros.
Others criticized Affleck's reference to the Islamic Republic
in his acceptance speech: I want to thank our friends in Iran who live under
terrible circumstances.
By distorting history, Ben Affleck continues to depict a bleak
Iran, i.e.: Iranians living under terrible circumstances, the Mehr News Agency said. "During an era in
which Hollywood is already extremely politicized, and every Hollywood award and
festival has been paying great attention to the anti-Iran film Argo, the 85th Academy Awards reveled
the rawest politicization of Hollywood yet."
The U.S. broke off diplomatic relations with Iran over the
hostage incident, and tensions between the two countries continues to be high.
Tehran City Councilwoman MasoomehEbtekar, who was one of the students that occupied the U.S.
Embassy and acted as their spokeswoman, says the film exaggerates the passion
among the crowds that stormed the compound in November 1979.
Fifty-two Americans were held hostage for 444 days, while a
handful of Embassy staffers were sheltered by the Canadian ambassador. Their
escape, using a fake movie as a cover story, is recounted in Argo.
Actor-director Affleck "shows scenes of a very violent
and angry mob throughout the film," Ebtekbar
said. "The fact that this was just a group of students is never mentioned."
Iran Culture Minister Muhammad Husseini
said Hollywood has "distorted history" as part of a "soft war" to culturally undermine Iran. Others say Argo also shows the need for Iranian
filmmakers to focus more on issues surrounding the Revolution.
The newspaper Hamshahri said the movie "targeted the culture and
civilization of Iran," but that nevertheless, it is worthwhile for
Iranians to see a different perspective on the events that led to the collapse
of relations between the U.S. and Iran.
"Iranian audiences are seeing another version of events
for the first time," said a commentary in the newspaper. "This has
been a shortcoming of our TV and cinema industry, which has produced nothing
about the storming of the U.S. Embassy for more than three decades."
Mehr
cited movie critics saying that Lincoln
was the most worthy of winning the Oscar for best movie.
"Awarding the Oscar for best picture to Argo reveals how Hollywood insiders are
sacrificing quality and artistry for the sake of political slogans and
distortions," it said.
It also noted that Hollywood has long been "an
instrument of the American political class, and is not based on objective
reality, but on a one-sided and distorted picture of the world."
Last Wednesday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah
Seyyed Ali Khamenei criticized Hollywood as a "thoroughly political
machine" that propagates policies brewed in Washington.
"Hollywood is thoroughly political. Otherwise it would let
our anti-Zionist movies participate in its film festivals," the leader
said. "Producing anti-Iranian movies and awarding anti-Iranian films is a
clear sign that politics and art in the U.S. are combined," said Ayatollah
Khamenei, alluding to Argo.
In 2007, Hollywood also drew the wrath of Iranians for its
Spartan war epic 300, a gory tale of
the Greco-Persian wars which depicted Iranians as bloodthirsty, and which was a
smash hit in the United States.
