I always knew there was something unsavory about Peter Jackson’s homoerotic hobbits, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it (mostly because I was asleep).  Until now.  An anonymous Iranian blows the lid off the controversy in an article for Time:

In normal times, Iranian television usually treats its viewers to one or two Hollywood or European movie nights a week. But these are not normal times, so it’s been two or three such movies a day. It’s part of the push to keep people at home and off the streets, to keep us busy, to get us out of the regime’s hair. Channel Two is putting on a Lord of the Rings marathon as part of the government’s efforts to restore peace.
[...]
And so we’re glued to the trilogy. We are riveted. A child in the room loudly predicts that Lord of the Rings will put an end to the nightly shouts, that people will not take to the rooftops and windows because this film will keep them occupied. [Time via Cinematical]

Haha, kids say the dumbest things.  The article goes on to compare Ahmadinejad to a hobbit, Moussavi to Boromir, and Gandalf to Khomeini, because metaphors are hard. Meanwhile, here in the States, the government has rushed a Transformers sequel into theaters as an evil plot to get its viewers off of their couches long enough to sop up the drool puddle, which backfired when LITERALLY EVERYONE IN THE WORLD went too.  Luckily, there’s back-up plan that involves the Sham-Wow.

Annette Bening and some other industry people are in Iran right now doing seminars with Iran’s Cinema Association, but Iran’s “art and cinema advisor” is demanding that Iranian filmmakers refuse to meet with the Americans until they apologize.  Because of the negative portrayal of Iranians in American films, you see.

“In my viewpoint, it is a failure to have an official meeting with one who is insulting,” said Javad Shamaqdari, the art and cinema adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The film “300″ angered many Iranians for the way Persians are depicted as decadent, sexually flamboyant and evil in contrast to the noble Greeks. Iranians also criticized “The Wrestler” starring Mickey Rourke as a rundown professional wrestler who is preparing for a rematch with his old nemesis, “The Ayatollah.” [Who, by the way, is based on the Iron Sheik, who is real, Persian, and probably would've been a lot more offensive] During a fight scene, “The Ayatollah” tries to choke Rourke with an Iranian flag before Rourke pulls the flagpole away, breaks it and throws it into the cheering crowd. [Yahoo]

Minutes later, someone turned to Shamaqdari and asked, “Wait, how do you know these things?  Have you seen these decadent American films?”  “Well, no… I mean, yes I have, but because–”  And they chopped his head off with a f-cking axe.