Iran to "sue Hollywood" for "Argo," "300" and More

The Iranian government has hired French lawyer Isabelle Coutant-Peyre to "sue Hollywood" over what it claims are distorted representations of the country and its culture.

Iranian government officials recently screened " Argo," the Oscar-winner for Best Picture this year, at the "Hoax of Hollywood" conference, after which they released a statement calling the film a "violation of international cultural norms."

The other films that may be included in the lawsuit (the defendants of which still remain unclear as Hollywood does not constitute a single unit that a foreign government can collectively sue) are Sally Field's "Not Without My Daughter" (1991) and "300" (2006). The aforementioned two films have certainly caught flack for simplified and problematic representations of Iran, "the East," or Islam. Orientalism has a long legacy in filmmaking itself, going back to the early 20th century. However, as culpable as "Hollywood" may be of some of these accusations, the Iranian government might have more credibility if it didn't place its own filmmakers under house arrest for putting their lived experiences on screen, like Jafar Panahi for example.

"Argo" is about the elaborate ruse cooked up in 1979 in order to rescue a group of American diplomats taken hostage during Iran's revolution.