The politics of Frank Miller

[fpb]

Well, well, well. It seems that my rooted detestation of Frank Miller and all his criminal works roused more interest among my friends than any other controversial idea I could toss at them. Well, then, on your own heads be it.

I have a deep, personal, vindictive hatred for Frank Miller, the cartoonist who originated 300

Comments

[fpb]

I think there are a number of reasons. IIRC, most or all of the Greek fleet was engaged at Artemision: that is, there was not the element of the heroic stand of the Few against the Many that thrills people about the stories of the Alamo and the like. Then, the reverse of Artemision was fairly swiftly corrected by the decisive triumph at Salamis - which is indeed as well remember as the Thermopylae, or as Marathon; whereas the disaster at the Thermopylae led to the destruction of Athens, and the presence of a massive Persian army north of the Isthmus which was not dealt with until Plataia. And finally, there was, as you and I know, a whole tendency in Greek (Athenian) culture, to exalt Sparta and Spartan ways - Xenophon, Aristophanes, to a lesser extent Plato, and even, much later, the otherwise kindly and civilized Plutarch! And in this context, the story of a resistance of the Few against the Many would have an instinctive resonance, since in Greek thought the Few and the Many are a political concept with overtones of intense hostility, the Few being represented by aristocratic government such as Sparta's, and the Many by democratic Athens. IN that sense, the picture of a few well-born, heroic Spartan aristocrats resisting an ocean of slaves would have the impact of an archetype, of a myth, to the Greek mind. That is one reason why the few hundred Helots who died with the three hundred free Spartans at the Hot Gates are never remembered. They do not fit the picture.

[bufo_viridis]

Oh yes, definitely, especially "the last stand" element had an appeal to later generations. Still, it should be more often recalled, because without Artemision Thermopylae simply wouldn't happen (why search for mountain tracks if one can make a direct amphibious landing just behind the isthmus? :) and the character of the battles was so similar (defence of the narrow point).
Ah well, shows the difference between history and story.