First of all, I wrote my post before I new that the production had agreed to change the scene to blur the lines of what the killing was about. So, you're probably right to say that the final version had a scene that was not an "honor killing."
I don't think you really understand where I'm coming from on this. The media shapes perceptions in North America. That's a fact. Some people take the time to go beyond what the media feed them about other cultures, but sadly many do not. I say this as a first generation immigrant, who has been in North America since she was 4 years old. Growing up, I hardly ever saw anything positive about my country portrayed in the media. We were terrorists, barbarians that beat their wives and hate America. That image is far from the one I know and love about the generous, vibrant people of my country. Never once did I see any images that combated the negative one. If you walked a day in my shoes you would know that many people take what they see in the media and think it's indicative of an entire nation. Imagine, as an American, if you had to walk around in a new environment and get asked serious questions like, "Are all American men serial killers?" Imagine if that was all they new about you.
When I heard this film was coming out, I was thought to myself here we go again. But, what angered me most was that it WAS unrealistic. What I said before was that honor killing is Not a PROMINENT cultural practice. In no way was I denying that it does happen. One is one too many. No one is trying to cover anything up. And I will admit that the government of Iran has committed horrible atrocities against women. But, no matter how much we would like to believe that the this type of portrayal (if it were left as an honor killing) is just indicative of one families story, that is not reality. It's a clear fantasy. There is a big difference between several instances of violence and an accepted cultural practice (I'm writing specifically about honor killing). When there are few to no images of a particular minority in Film and Television and nearly all of them are negative, if someone has never seen or met a person from that culture before they will believe what they see to be inductive of the culture not one specific family.
I don't think I see the implications of that portrayal the way you do. Cuz you know what, the next day I'm the one who is going to have to do damage control. Imagine if that was one of the only images of Americans on TV and you had to explain that it happens but most Americans would never tolerate that. However, the image is still stuck in those peoples minds and now you have to do even more summersaults than you were doing before to dispel the stereotype.
Even with the father character being a Khomeini supporter, it's still not something that is an accurate portrayal. If it was a poor shepherd from a rural community with little to no education, then yes, that would be plausible.
It gets exhausting, and maybe if there were more positive images out there things like this wouldn't evoke such frustration. If there were a plethora of images out there that showed the spectrum and was overall accurate, this wouldn't matter so much to us.
As for Sean Penn, I have a feeling now that the rumors of him pulling out for the reasons stated above have been greatly exaggerated. I agree that he should have know what he was getting into and shouldn't have agreed to the film and then backed out at the last minute.
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