Following are excerpts from a segment of an Iranian documentary series on Hollywood cinema focusing on the film "Chicken Run." The segment aired on the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network (IRINN), on May 29, 2008:
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/1787.
"Traces of Zionism in World Cinema"
Narrator: "Movies into which huge amounts of money are poured, in an effort to turn Zionist themes into entertainment, include movies created for children and youth. Animated films produced since the 1990s have joined other film genres in becoming a tool for Zionist propaganda. Sometimes this is achieved using falsified biblical narratives, like in the case of 'Prince of Egypt.' Other times, it is achieved in a very subtle, crafty, and indirect manner, like in 'Chicken Run.'"
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Iranian film critic Dr. Majid Shah-Hosseini: "Many films from the 1960s and 1970s indirectly convey the notion that the Jews were oppressed. This is conveyed through the themes of distance from the motherland, and the search for one's mother, who symbolizes the motherland. These messages were gradually introduced into animation and children's films."
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Iranian film critic Sayyid Abu-Alhassan Allawi Tabatabai: "These people never make a film without a premeditated motive.
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"Two emotional themes can be identified in children's films, especially animation. One is the lost mother, and the other is the lost land. There is also the lost dog... These three themes frequently appear in animation produced since the 1970s."
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Narrator: "Even though 'Chicken Run' is a sort of fantasy about an animal farm, on a deeper level it depicts the Zionists' favorite themes, which appear in many of the visual dramas of the 20th century. The recreation of a kind of genocide, using visual elements reminiscent of Nazi Germany death camps – an idea linked to the religious themes of a savior and immigration to a promised land – serves a propaganda machine, whose goal is to depict itself as a symbol for the oppressed and for those who suffer."
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Dr. Majid Shah-Hosseini: "In 'Chicken Run,' for example, you find allusions to the Holocaust, to concentration camps, and to the concept of awaiting a hero or a savior. It portrays efforts to escape a predetermined fate – the death of all those who lived in that camp, who are depicted as chickens. Eventually, a kind of Noah's Ark is built – in this case, a flying ship – which is used for their escape."
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Narrator: "Unfortunately, Zionist notions can be detected in children's movies, from the days of Walt Disney and TV animation films. The Zionists' exclusive investment in groups specializing in children's films – such as DreamWorks in the 1990s – and the appearance of various works like 'Chicken Run,' which employed magnificent techniques, were part of their premeditated plan to cover the bloodstains soiling the clothes of the occupiers of the lands of Lebanon and the Gaza Strip."
Caption: "Produced by the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network Science, Culture, and Arts Group"
