Posted on 12/15/2004 8:43:59 AM PST by quidnunc
The consensus about Oliver Stone's Alexander is that the film's splashy gay motifs could not overcome the stilted dialogue, ludicrous Irish-brogue and Count Dracula accents, and excruciating minutes of dead screen time devoted to model-like poses, secretive eye contact, and soap-opera double entendres. Stone's apparent hope was that he could garner media hype by overt homosexual scenes of kissing and hugging, and by candor about same-sex relations: The world's first global conqueror was really more a sensitive and feminine creature of the bedroom and banquet hall than a great captain of blood and iron.
In reality, the movie proved not so much scandalous as boring. The problem with Stone's lurid sexual narrative is not his historical inaccuracies, but the movie's obsession with sexual intrigue, which causes much of Alexander's amazing story to be lost. The controversies that emerge from the extant historians of Alexander — Arrian, Curtius, Diodorus, and Plutarch — do not hinge on sex. Rather, the "good" and "bad" ancient and modern traditions of Alexander involve a number of far more fascinating issues — nearly all of them omitted by Stone.
Alexander helped to kill more Greeks at the victory of Chaeronea, the siege of Thebes, the campaigns in Ionia, and the battles of Granicus and Issus than the Persians killed in a century and a half of EastñWest conflict. The razing of Thebes — the dramatic setting of much of Athenian tragedy, home to Pythagoreans and Pindar — is ignored. The brutal siege of Tyre was considered a military masterpiece; it and the storming of Gaza go unnoticed. How or why Persepolis was torched is never really investigated, but has framed centuries of debate. …
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at benadorassociates.com ...
I do. You ever been in a Turkish prison?
No I haven't.
Not that there's anyting wrong it.
One wonders how many peoples views of real historical events have been skewed by Oliver the Great?
No, but I sure picked a bad day to stop...
Ever seen a grown man naked, Timmy?
Hey, you're Kareem Abdul Jabbar!
Roger, Rodger.
And all those young men (at least those of high status) grew up and did exactly the same thing to another generation of young boys.
This was expected and admired behavior at the time. For me it ties right in with the eager acceptance and promotion of slavery, the gladiatorial games and other aspects of classical life that I just can't comprehend.
For instance, by my standards they had very odd attitudes with regard to the honorability of work and trade.
What's the vector, Victor? Do we have clearance, Clarence?
It must be true -- I found it on the internet!
as always, thanks for the VDH ping
Have to go. Making fish for dinner.
This is the Grassy Knoll version of history again from Mr. Stone.
I get the feeling "Alexander" is going to become a midnight-showing cult-classic in the Village.
What do they call those short leather skirts?
Oliver The Stoned.
Ha Ha, and the actress playing his Mom sounds like a recent immigrant from some "stan" from the former Soviet Union!
Isn't it time somebody made a movie about Stone?
Actually, their attitudes are probably more "normal" than our attitudes. The way a culture views those things actually plays a fairly significant role in how well they do certain things. Thomas Sowell goes into it in some detail in his book Race and Culture.
That work and commerce are honorable endeavors when honest are indeed pretty unusual and therefore abnormal points of view from a historical viewpoint. But I'll stick with them anyway.
I've read Tom's book. As usual, excellent.
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