Recently, representatives from the Islamic Republic of Iran expressed their outrage at Argo, the critically-acclaimed and Golden Globe-winning film directed by Ben Affleck. In an effort to respond to the film, the government seems to have hired a director to tell the other side of the story.

Even though I am 100% certain that the “response” film will be full of fallacies, inaccuracies, and an overall incorrect plot (due to its being backed by such a corrupt government), I do agree, as a member of the Iranian-American community, that Argo was anti-Iranian. Mr. Affleck is a magnificent actor and a talented director, and I don’t undermine his ability to create a strong film in the case of Argo. But his active choice to produce it and release it at a time like this frankly should be taken with offense.

I was ecstatic to read that Mr. Affleck is fully aware that Iran is probably by far the most pro-American country in the Middle East: “It’s a very unpopular regime. It stays in power by oppression. You have a titular, bullshit, civilian government that’s virtually meaningless. People say that they’re between 10 and 15 percent support in Iran. You got to understand, Iran thinks more positively of America than any other country in the Middle East. Our movies, our music, they read Rolling Stone. They’re fucking into it. They just have a government of assholes.” (Read more here.)

As reassuring as that is, it still doesn’t address his decision to go ahead and make this film today, on such a large scale. Audiences, on a general note, often have great difficulty reading between the lines (I’m not going to single out American audiences and their stereotype of loving explosions-and-sex-filled summer blockbusters). Even if Mr. Affleck’s intention was to simply tell a story that Hollywood had not touched on yet (which, in this day and age, I can applaud him for), any feature film that does the rounds for awards season and has political undertones (or overtones) like Argo will make a difference in people’s minds.

In most Hollywood films, there is the good guy (or good side), and the bad guy (or bad side). If the film is political, then violence is often involved and the bad guys simply must be infiltrated. This is always followed by an upbeat rock song played during the credits. War is almost always glorified in these films. In Argo, the good guys are the U.S. and Canada. The bad guys? Iran. Not the new tyrannic government, not the students revolting, but the Iranian people as a whole. American audiences will walk out of the theater, and with the knowledge that the same government depicted in the film is still in power today, will be more likely to support going to war with Iran than before.

A Separation, directed by Asghar Farhadi, won both the Golden Globe and the Academy Award last year for Best Foreign Language Film. The film did not have too many political messages in it (definitely none that were anti-American), but instead told a simple story of a struggling family. When handed the Golden Globe, Mr. Farhadi revealed that the people of Iran were “truly peace-loving people.” In his Oscar speech, he went into more detail about how, “At this time, many Iranians all over the world are watching us and I imagine them to be very happy. They are happy not just because of an important award or a film or filmmaker, but because at the time when talk of war, intimidation, and aggression is exchanged between politicians, the name of their country Iran is spoken here through her glorious culture, a rich and ancient culture that has been hidden under the heavy dust of politics. I proudly offer this award to the people of my country, a people who respect all cultures and civilizations and despise hostility and resentment.” The speech received critical acclaim, and the fact that the film itself won was quite a large step in the realm of politics. But all of that seemed to wash away with Argo.

So far, the only major figure to come out against the film in the way I have is Q radio personality Jian Ghomeshi. To be honest, this is quite disappointing. Again, Argo is not a bad film. Rather, the motivation behind it is questionable. What certainly does not help its case is the myth, stereotype, or whatever you want to call it, that Hollywood is run by the Jewish community.

As an Iranian-American, I can only hope that a democratic party can replace the one in Iran without the intrusion of warfare… and that we can continue to watch and make great films.

(Source: alirezascott)