MovieChat Forums > Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) Discussion > I'm persian / let me tell you something

I'm persian / let me tell you something

posted 15 years ago by majidleave
154 replies | jump to latest

All the persians are white ... not like the crap 300 ...it was all lie .

about prince himself : i think he is half persian ... the blue or green eyes!!! maybe 10% of persians have colored eyes .

about casting : golshifte farahani was one of the choises for Tamina .. but because of the leaders of our country ( that i realy realy hate )... she was not allowed to leave so they gave it to Gemma Arterton .

Ben kingsley played a persian Character in ( house of sands and fog ) ... so i think the best choise for Nizam .

Alfred Molina ... has a persian face ... so another smart choise .

and Jake Gyllenhaal exacly like a half persian . please don't say about bad casting .

i do not saw the film yet . as some of you know ... in iran ... we dont have ( copy right) so i must waite for good Quality .. and download it .

last Tip : some maybe say about ... wooowww persians are heroes ... and americans made a film that show them in good Perspective ...and .....

the truth is every man in this F...ing planet . are all like the same . so i dont care about i'm persian ... or i have a good history and that *beep* . i just want a good life ...

SORRY FOR MY ENGLISH

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] submitor 15 years ago

I smell inferiority complex.

[–] Jag85 15 years ago

No, all Persians are not white, but only a minority of Persians are white-skinned. The majority of Persians have a brown or olive skin tone.

There are plenty of white-skinned Iranian actors, but they don't represent the general Iranian population, in the same way white-skinned Bollywood actors don't represent the general Indian population. Actors/models in Asia (or Africa or Latin America) are usually lighter-skinned than the general population. A more representative sample of how Iranians in general look like would be by looking at Iran's national football team, where the majority of players have a brown or olive skin tone.

While Jake Gyllenhall can certainly pass for a light-skinned Persian, I don't find it convincing that he could pass for a Persian slum kid. People from the working-classes were usually darker and more tanned than the upper-classes (due to being out in the sun much more), but that doesn't seem to be the case for Jake's character Dastan, who looks lighter-skinned than even the royalty.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM???!!!!!"

[–] SDockorockerty_MarkII 15 years ago

So now its not a matter of someone not being dark skinned, but being someone who doesn't have enough tan? FFS!

[–] Jag85 15 years ago

So now dark and tanned mean two completely different things now? FFS indeed!

And FYI, I actually liked Jake's performance in the movie, but if they gave him more of a tan like they did to Gemma Arterton (who usually looks very pale white in her other movies), then Jake would have looked more convincing as a Persian slum kid.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM???!!!!!"

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Mike1388 15 years ago

I'm half Persian too man, but I think Jake is miscast. You might be confused between Persian and Aryans, the Aryans are the one who have blue/green eyes, not Persian! Persian are fair that is true, but not with colored eyes. And Gemma is another miscast, why don't take some of the Bollywood actress to play Persian lady role?!

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Mike1388 15 years ago

Actually, technically Persians are Aryan, as in Indo-Aryan, just like Indians. It doesn't imply that you're tall blonds with blue eyes of course though. It's a complicated issue.

Yes, it's complicated issues lol. No one knows the fact, but indeed I read many times that Aryans were the one that brought the caste system to India for the first time, and they are described as Tall, Blond, with Blue eyes

As for Gemma, I wish Priyanka Chopra would be cast instead. She look exactly like Arabian princess , but I don't know whether that's what they're looking for.

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Mike1388 15 years ago

The princess in the Sands of Time video game was Indian, not Persian.

Really? I never played the game, but thanks for the info. Regarding this, now this is just beyond ignorance to cast a British actress for an Indian princess!

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[–] Scratcher 15 years ago

Why are you so locked on who's "tanned" or "look right" in a movie ? They have to select someone who exactly look like an ordinary citizen ?

Don't you think it's a little racist to want someone to look exactly like you when it's about your country ? Your country doesn't have citizens that look like from other places ? Personally, I'd get bored to live in a country that everyone looked the same.

I think you should want a character to reflect behavior more than looks.

[–] masihkasrai 15 years ago

I'm a Persian too, but I have to disagree with the OP about "All Persians are white". That's not true. There are many Iranians with tan skin. There are also many pale persians.

[–] roycant07 15 years ago

"The majority of Persians have a brown or olive skin tone. "

Olive skin does not equal brown. Olive skin is still white. There are many white people with olive skin. Jeez, why is it that in the States one has to be pure white looking like from the suburbs with blond hair and blue eyes to be considered white?

Something is always off about certain ethnic people to you that are considered white in their own nations. If they look the least bit exotic, like curvy eyebrows, bigger nose, dark brown eyes, etc. then they're "not white".

What is up with the sense of purity?

[–] archer1812 15 years ago

Olive skin is white... Lots of Greeks and Italians with olive skin, and last I checked, they were still white.

[–] Obeah1 15 years ago

Greece and Italy are in Europe, the continent associated with "white" people. Why are Persians so obsessed with being called whites? For every Jake Gyllenhaal cast as Persian, there is a Persian actor in Hollywood cast as a terrorist...because you know, Persians are so white.

Olive skin is white... Lots of Greeks and Italians with olive skin, and last I checked, they were still white.

Love's really nothing but a dream that keeps waking me

[–] Dinosaw 11 years ago

Olive skin does not equal brown. Olive skin is still white. There are many white people with olive skin. Jeez, why is it that in the States one has to be pure white looking like from the suburbs with blond hair and blue eyes to be considered white?

Something is always off about certain ethnic people to you that are considered white in their own nations. If they look the least bit exotic, like curvy eyebrows, bigger nose, dark brown eyes, etc. then they're "not white".

What is up with the sense of purity?

Spot-on post. When people think 'white' they jump to Conan O'Brien-looking folks. You don't have to be 'pure' white to get the 'white' tag. And yes, olive-skinned Caucasians are 'white'. You can say darker olives are close to 'brown' though.

Now granted, not all Persians are white (some of them are 'dark-olive'). But a lot of them, including Lebanese, Syrians, Jordanians and some Iraqis (Assyrians especially) have light coloured olive skin. Sure, they look nothing like Germans and Swedes - very light skinned, blonde, etc. But they are 'white'.

This is the skin tone of many Middle Eastern people, typically Iranian, Lebanese, Assyrian...(of course, excluding those from the Gulf, who can be dark):

http://marksaab.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/lebanon.jpg
http://wwwdelivery.superstock.com/WI/223/1589/PreviewComp/SuperStock_1 589R-46245.jpg

Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up.

[–] zombiehax 15 years ago

There's no way the OP is Persian...My teacher is "Persian" (Persia does not exist anymore.

Saying all Persians are white is like saying all Mexicans have the same color of skin. Latinos have a wide range of colors.

Fact: 31.5% of IMDb users wanted Avatar to win Best Picture.
Fact: 31.5% of IMDb users are idiots.

[–] archer1812 15 years ago

The name Persia and Iran are interchangeable, though obviously the official name of the country uses Iran, but Persia does exist.

Persians are multi-ethnic, yes. But those ethnicities fall under the "Caucasian" umbrella. But you're right, Iranians come in many shades including people who look just like Jake.

[–] zombiehax 15 years ago

Right. But there ARE "white" "Persians". But this board keeps experiencing trolls like the OP who claim that all Persians are "white". As for being "Caucasian", perhaps politically yes.

I recall a non-troll post a while ago made on the forums where it described the internal conflict of Iranians/Persians claiming to be 'Caucasian', even the supposedly "white looking" ones.

But threads like this by the OP don't help where they try to dupe the public that all "Persians" have blond hair and blue eyes.

Fact: 31.5% of IMDb users wanted Avatar to win Best Picture.
Fact: 31.5% of IMDb users are idiots.

[–] archer1812 15 years ago

Right. But there ARE "white" "Persians". But this board keeps experiencing trolls like the OP who claim that all Persians are "white". As for being "Caucasian", perhaps politically yes.

But he's right, all "ethnic Persians" are "white". As for the term "Caucasian", I don't mean it in the political or geographical sense but in the racial sense... Caucasian doesn't just mean West or Northern European or even just European. It also includes people in North Africa and parts of Asia. People with olive skin (some just say brown) are still Caucasian.

Something that people don't seem to understand is that there are different ethnicities in Iran, and there always were, and they just assume that they're all "brown', to use their term. They point to someone like president Ahmadinejad as confirmation. What they don't realize, is that he is not an "ethnic Persian", he is an Azeri Turk, which makes up the 2nd largest ethnic group in Iran.

I recall a non-troll post a while ago made on the forums where it described the internal conflict of Iranians/Persians claiming to be 'Caucasian', even the supposedly "white looking" ones.

That probably arises from the fact that the antiquated notion of "races" is a European construct that developed mostly in the 19th century during the height of European (mostly British) colonialism. So even if they're white, I'm sure many don't want to be pigeonholed into someone else's categories...

But threads like this by the OP don't help where they try to dupe the public that all "Persians" have blond hair and blue eyes.

See, now you're being disingenuous. I re-read the OP, and nowhere does he say anything close to all Persians having blond hair and blue eyes. He mentions Alfred Molina as someone who has a Persian face (I gree), and in a subsequent post that "most of us have brown skin"... though I don't think the term "brown skin" is an appropriate one either. So really, don't make up stuff, you lose credibility.

Bottom line is that saying "all Persians/Iranians are 'brown' or 'white'" is as silly as saying "all Americans are 'white' or 'black'"

[–] submitor 15 years ago

Whats with this Nazi logic?

I've noticed Iranians in the USA have a giant inferiority complex and always seem to want to kiss up to some "White" complex. This makes sense to me since most Iranians in the West fled here during the time of the Shah; the same jerk who used to stick broken glass bottles up dissidents' rectum and keep a massive gap between the poor and the rich; which subsequently led to the theocratic religious revolution.

The diagnostic Indo-Iranian (Aryan) haplogroup marker is R1a1, and this is dominant in Eastern Europe, Russia, Eastern Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and NW India. Pockets also exist in Western Europe, Central Asia, China, and the Middle East.

Just being a part of this haplogroup does not necessarily equate to A) Caucasian features; B) Blonde/Light Hair; C) Blue/Green Eyes.

Get over it Iranians.

[–] archer1812 15 years ago

Aryan doesnt mean Blonde hair / blue eyes

No one here said it did.

Whats with this Nazi logic?

What the heck are you going on about

I've noticed Iranians in the USA have a giant inferiority complex and always seem to want to kiss up to some "White" complex.

Rectifying misconceptions stemming from ignorance or simple racism does not equate to having inferiority complex. You're either seeing things that are not there, or you're just making shït up.

Just being a part of this haplogroup does not necessarily equate to A) Caucasian features; B) Blonde/Light Hair; C) Blue/Green Eyes.

Point is that some Persians exhibit those traits. To claim otherwise is just asinine.

[–] videavice 13 years ago

I love your sig, amazingly true.

Just to have an idea of persian in hollywood film making industry look like:
http://www.imdb.com/list/37EvBTAhvFM/

[–] MovieEd3290 15 years ago

Persians are caucasion but they are NOT white. People who look like the lead actor also do not represent the majority either. Notice how they tried to make him more ethnic looking? I wonder why.

♫ ♫

[–] roycant07 15 years ago

Jeez, you Americans are so idiotic. Persians are Caucasian and most are white. They're Indo-Aryans.

Making someone more "ethnic" looking doesn't mean they're not white. Americans are so weird about this concept. Someone has to look plain faced white all American baseball loving SUV driving Republican to look "white", but ethnic whites are not counted as white because they look too "exotic".

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] iggytoole 15 years ago

by - roycant07 on Wed May 26 2010 17:27:19
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeez, you Americans are so idiotic. Persians are Caucasian and most are white. They're Indo-Aryans.

Making someone more "ethnic" looking doesn't mean they're not white. Americans are so weird about this concept. Someone has to look plain faced white all American baseball loving SUV driving Republican to look "white", but ethnic whites are not counted as white because they look too "exotic".
===

Most of the posters never said they were Americans. Why the hate? You seem like a simpleton fyi.

[–] roycant07 15 years ago

it's obvious that they're probably americans. they usually share this mentality. why is it simpleton to mention it?

Moron.

[–] archer1812 15 years ago

by MovieEd3290- "Persians are caucasion but they are NOT white."

caucasion: http://tinyurl.com/c648zh

.

[–] MovieEd3290 15 years ago

Why are you rolling your eyes? Attend college, read a book, etc. All whites are causcasion but not all caucasions are white. My statement stands.

♫ ♫

[–] archer1812 15 years ago

http://tinyurl.com/c648zh

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] archer1812 15 years ago

Not all Caucasians are whites

Yes, I agree. If you had read my previous posts then you would know that. As for "white", it depends how one defines that word. I'm American, and over here we tend to have a very narrow definition of it... We're kind of weird that way, as well as other things, like sex.

so stop living under the delusion that you are one. Say this in the west and people will laugh at your ignorance.

Sorry, you're way off the mark. So far I haven't stated anything about my race or ethnicity and only just now I've mentioned where I live. You have no clue of who I am or what I look like. So basically you just pulled that little rant out of your ass.

Even if you are somehow, don't create a huge fuss over it because you don't speak for everyone.

So far the only ones creating a "huge fuss", and even to the point of being offended are non-Persians that for whatever reason (ignorance, racism etc.) fail to see that Persians also come in the "white" variety, even by American standards.

As for MovieEd3290 I laughed at him because this is someone who tells me to go to college or read a book, yet he can't even spell the word "Caucasian", even after I gave him a link pointing it out.

[–] MalmerDK 15 years ago

I don't know, OP. One of my friends come from Iran, and he has a nice southern tint like Xerxes in the movie (just like in the 300 comic it was made from). The darker people in the movie portrays slaves from different countries they've conquered.

Not that any of those movies resembles anything from the real world, Prince of Persia is another fairy tale just like 300.

So can we all please get back to what's actually important here:
Getting back to the Pirates of the Caribbean board and complain about how they're not real pirates.

Arr!

[–] tstraton 15 years ago

These are movies people not real HISTORY...I say NOT HISTORY! Actors, make-believe, not real, they use make up and it's supposed to be entertaining...not even based on anything close to the truth most of the time. Everybody, find your center and just chill.

[–] MalmerDK 15 years ago

Are you replying to my post, because I don't get it.