You walk out of "300" with whatever baggage you brought in with you

[TeddyKGB]

I just saw the movie this afternoon, and the reaction that it is some sort of right-wing propaganda piece is laughable. Frank Miller wrote/drew the graphic novel the movie is based on in 1999, well before 9/11, the Bush administration, and all its fallout.

If you want to make political comparisons, it is just as easy to compare Bush to Xerxes, the Persian ruler -- a full-of-hubris girlie-man who believes himself a god sends massive invasion forces that are repelled by a small group defending their homeland.

As the subject line of this post reads, you can attribute whatever political significance you want to it - or none at all. People tried to do the same thing with the Lord of the Rings movies, despite J.R.R. Tolkien prefacing the novels with his extreme dislike of allegory being attached to them.

So, relax.
Thanks.

[The Straight Story]

1. My wife is eager to see it

Well built manly men and all that parading around half nude.

Politics is like a religion, when you start filtering everything through that lens you stop seeing what is really there sometimes.

[TeddyKGB]

2. The waxing parlor in Sparta must've done brisk business

;)

I read in an article that the actual Spartans wore head-to-toe body armor heavy as half the body weight of the wearer.

The graphic novel and the movie are obviously an operatic interpretation of events, and it is quite effective.

[The Straight Story]

4. I'll be staying home to watch our daughter, so I probably won't see it

Hoping to go out though and catch ghost rider soon though :)

[Connie_Corleone]

20. The well built manly men is why I want to see it too! LOL!

:rofl:

[The Straight Story]

21. I am built...well differently :) I figured, with the nice tool I had, why not build a shed over it?

:rofl:

[Vexatious Ape]

3. Good to know, thanks.

Now, how was the movie?

[TeddyKGB]

7. Good!

The obvious comparison is to Sin City, the other movie based on a Frank Miller graphic novel using computer-generated backgrounds -- but 300 dials down the camp factor and replaces it with a healthy dose of Gladiator gravitas.

Very, very pretty to look at. Every frame of the film looks like a painting - because, in fact, they are. Post-production took more than a year, so I read.

[Leftisalwaysright]

5. Agreed

I saw it this afternoon and think you're exactly right.

[Venus Dog]

6. I agree. I just saw it today

It's a comic book version of an historical event. Great graphics and music!

If anybody came close to identifiable to bush, it was Theron? - the Spartan politician who was selling his people out to the Persians.

[Amonester]

8. I won't go watch it, but the best comparison between movie scripts & politics

(IMHO) is this one:



Sort of shows the mental age of the Reich Wing War Waster$ 2 ...

[roguevalley]

10. It is said that if Leonides on the land and

Themistocles on the water hadn't done what they had done, democracy would have never happened. Salute!

[MrSlayer]

9. I agree. There is no political bent or message here.

It just is what it is. And what it is is a fantastically done quasi-fantasy combat movie. I loved it.

[roguevalley]

11. for those of us with weaker stomachs, how does it compare to usual

action movies?

[MrSlayer]

13. If you have a weak stomach don't go.

Practically the entire movie from the 45 minute mark on is continuous extremely graphic battle scenes. Very bloody. Much bloodier than a conventional action movie.

[shadowknows69]

12. I think Tolkein was full of shit

But I think he said it to leave the story open to everyone's imagination and interpretation. The story was obviously born of his experiences in WWI and his belief in the potential corruption of industry. That's what I got from it anyway. If you know anything about his life you can see the correlations.

[TeddyKGB]

14. Huh?

We're all a product of our experiences; that doesn't mean we interpret them like everyone else does.

I don't know why you think Tolkien is "full of shit" - the Rings books create such a dense universe of their own, allegories to real-life events can't really compare.

[shadowknows69]

15. I was just saying i think it would be obvious to him

that his great novels, among other things, great war stories, were born of his experiences but he was smart enough not to admit it. B-)

[brentspeak]

16. The graphic novel was an abomination

The entire plot: blood and gore on every panel, with characters shouting, "We are SPARTANS!!!"

[TeddyKGB]

17. Well...

The actual http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae">Battle of Thermopylae was quite the bloodbath - and as I said earlier, the graphic novel and the movie are an operatic interpretation.

Would you have rather it had been reinterpreted as a friendly debate?

[Blue-Jay]

18. It's. A. Movie.

FFS, It's just a movie.

Is it impossible to take off the political-filter for a few hours and just enjoy a movie?

Next, someone is going to tell me that Planet Of The Apes is a republican-funded, war-mongering snuff film because it stars a young Chuck Heston.

[Sin]

19. Id have to say. "Spoiler warning"

that is it is a battle cry more then any thing the last lines of the movie say it when they fight against MYSTICISM and TYRANNY
being religion and the the tyranny it brings, reason logic and freedom are what they are fighting for not to bow to a self proclaimed god.
even the idea of a god can be wounded if you have the will to stand against it.