Tonight, we dine in a Neo-Nazi eliminationist fantasy!
So, 300. My problems with this movie are simple:
A more perfect example of racist propaganda was never seen. The heroic, eponymous 300 are all strapping, sturdy Spartans, the results of a merciless system of eugenics. Their opponents are dark-skinned, often of ambiguous sexuality or having physical defects. The king of the opposing army, Xerxes, is bald, almost-naked, and has numerous facial piercings. (Miller's work has long presented body modification and non-standard appearances as a code for moral depravity, e.g. the punks in DKR.)
This, I think, is one place where I can break Godwin's law with impunity- yes, it is very much like Nazi propaganda. A small group of racially pure, militaristic men versus the sundry barbarian hordes, racially impure, physically deformed, sexually deviant- it's the kind of narrative one expects from an era of deep racism and prejudice. This movie would have been right at home in a different, darker era. So why is everyone rushing to see it now?
A more perfect example of racist propaganda was never seen. The heroic, eponymous 300 are all strapping, sturdy Spartans, the results of a merciless system of eugenics. Their opponents are dark-skinned, often of ambiguous sexuality or having physical defects. The king of the opposing army, Xerxes, is bald, almost-naked, and has numerous facial piercings. (Miller's work has long presented body modification and non-standard appearances as a code for moral depravity, e.g. the punks in DKR.)
This, I think, is one place where I can break Godwin's law with impunity- yes, it is very much like Nazi propaganda. A small group of racially pure, militaristic men versus the sundry barbarian hordes, racially impure, physically deformed, sexually deviant- it's the kind of narrative one expects from an era of deep racism and prejudice. This movie would have been right at home in a different, darker era. So why is everyone rushing to see it now?