Posted on 01/16/2007 5:11:53 AM PST by 7thson
I just watched a trailer of the new movie coming out - 300. It looks fairly decent. Anyone have anything to say about the movie? There are scenes where the talk about freedom and being free. I do not know the history of back then, but watching the trailer, I seemed to get a connection with what is going on in the world right now concerning the WOT and the storyline of the movie. They go against Persia - modern day Iran. 300 against one million - the United States against the world. Am I reading too much into this? Has anyone have any inside info concerning the movie and/or storyline?
The movie is, like Sin City, based on his graphic novel.
The graphic novel was great. Occasionally the art was a little underimpressive, but the writing was phenomenal.
However, the release date means the movie is a dud (at least, according to Hollywood), since it's not out around the peak seasons for what the wheels consider major moneymaker pics.
And, by the way, the 300 is based upon history. Sparta defending all of Greece against a Persian invasion through Thermopylae. Spartans weren't exactly some grand democratic example, but the story is an impressive one insofar as it makes a strong statement of the nobility of self-sacrifice. That might be a message Hollywood expects to be selling poorly around now.
DO NOT go see this movie, if you are looking for historical movie. You will be sorely disappointed. It is based on a graphic novel in a historical setting, not history.
With that said, Frank Miller does some great writing, and 300 is a very good read.
Quite unfortunately, freedom for the Spartans, as they defined it, required the institutionalized enslavement, torture and murder of tens of thousands. The Spartans had a great deal more in common with the Nazis than with Americans.
We can still respect and honor their bravery, but for myself only in the sense that I can honor the same characteristics in the SS.
Not that their Greek allies or Persian enemies were exactly American in their ideals either.
Ephialtes is alive and well. He is a lefty Dem. In fact we are inhabited by an army of Ephialtes. They look forward to the moment when they can betray their own country.
Is that going too far? Is that terrible of me to say something like that? Afterall, they support the troops. "How could you say that?". Witness Kucinich, Conyers, Moran, McDermott, Murtha, Boxer, Kennedy, shall I go on? I didn't even mention the Ephialtesian citizens. Sheehan. Moore. Clooney. Sean Penn. etc. etc. etc. And etc. etc. etc.
Even better than that (and I always forget this) it's the origin of the eternal cry of those protecting their freedom, "MOLON LABE!"
Out of curiosity, what historical issues were present in 'the 300?' I'm not spoiling for a debate here, just interested.
Out of curiosity, what historical issues were present in 'the 300?' I'm not spoiling for a debate here, just interested.
Some time ago, another poster made a very persuasive argument - in my view - that President Bush should have had Congress declare war against all terrorist nations. Being officialy sanctioned, we could then jail the likes of Moore, Murtha, Sheehan, Clark, et al. We could shut down newpapers such as the LA and NY Times. We could move are military around with boldness and daring vice begging hat in hand to a timid Congress. Alas, as the President himself has said - there are no do-overs in real life.
Turbo - since I saw monsters and such in the trailer, I kind of realized it was not going to be a historically accurate account of the times.
Leonidas BUMP
My other tattoo
Thanks Perdogg for the ping. 7thson, it seems to me that there's a topic about this movie, somewhere, but I'm too lazy to find it. I've not seen it. The Spartan sacrifice at Thermopylae was a holding action which delayed the Persian advance a few days, and also it was a political maneuver to recover some prestige for Sparta, which a few years earlier had refused to participate in the defense of Greece, and saw Athens and other cities whip the Persians at the Battle of Marathon.
The Greeks had also withdrawn before the Persian navy, and the Persian army sacked Athens (the carved proclamation to the inhabitants to take refuge in the hills ahead of time actually still exists), then was lured into the Bay of Salamis by Themistocles' famous ruse. The Battle of Salamis eliminated the Persian navy, and led Xerxes the Persian king to retreat in a hurry to Anatolia.
The combined Greek armies, including that of Sparta, defeated the Persian land forces at Plataea.
During the Pelopponesian War the Spartans took money from the Persians, the latter being interested in the defeat and destruction of Athens and the divisions within Greece, with a view to keeping them out of Persia's business in Anatolia. The strategy worked, but Alexander the Great conquered Greece, and led a united Greek and Macedonian army across the Persian Empire.
Themistocles also wound up on the Persian payroll, ruling as a governor or something in one of the cities of Asia Minor which had been conquered by the Persians. His home city, Athens, had voted to ostracize him, and he was banished from the city for ten years. He never went back. If you're looking for a metaphor...
Well put!!!
So, bottom line, from your post and others, is that the movie looks likes a good war/action flick and that should be the only reason to see it.
Probably not - Miller's a libertarian with a strong love of America.
He wants to write a comic book in which Batman fights al-Qaeda, after all.
Concerning Frank Miller - I watched a history of comic books program a few years back. I think it was Denny O'Neil - I could be wrong - who said about Miller that he would be even better if he didn't hate comic books so much. The person saying this never elaborated on it. I thought it a strange statement considering some of the fantastic stuff Frank Miller has done. His revamping The Batman turned that character around and ever since, every writer and artist has worked from Miller's perspective. His second take on the Dark Knight was - IMO - not as good as the first.
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