In which I disagree with previous LJ reviewers

[baxil]

kadyg and I saw the movie "300" today, after seeing several people raving about its awesomeness on our friends lists. Can't speak for Kady, but I sat through the movie and ... meh. It did nothing for me. And after a little more reflection, I simply can't recommend it to anyone.

Comments

[elynne]

Wa-hey - I'd been wondering about a lot of this, thank you for being the first (I've read) to pick it apart and write about it. Since the primary justifications for seeing 300 seem to be either a) stylized violence! (which squicks me about as badly as "realistic" violence, or portrayals of violence in general) and/or b) overmuscled shaved oiled guys in tiny leather thongs! (EW), I'll continue to give it a miss.

[lhexa]

I was always more of a Thucydides guy, anyway.

[kinkyturtle]

When I first heard of the movie, I thought, "It's a movie about SPARTA? Ewwww."

[kevynjacobs]

I liked Sin City, also, but I stayed away from 300. It struck me as being just too violent for my taste, and the propagandistic elements of the movie are too painfully obvious.

I mean, we're right in the middle of a build up to war with Iran (Persia), and what do we suddenly have? A movie about ultramasculine warriors fighting against Persia. Coincidence?

Now, granted, I haven't seen 300, but the "fighting for freedom" against the Persians meme looks pretty transparently like propaganda. I can't help but wonder if the U.S. masses are being groomed for a battle against Iran. I wonder about where the funding for this movie came from, and why the decision was made to produce it now. (The Wikipedia article on the 300 has some interesting points to make about this.)

Furthermore, the idea that heroes are "ultramasculine" and the villains "decadent and androgynous" is not only historically inaccurate (Wikipedia: Spartan Pederasty), it fits neatly into the propagandistic tendencies of 300.

In short, this movie scares me.

[paka]

Liberal... Athenian? surrender monkeys? Athenian?

My classics-minor-brain, the chunk of my mind steeped in Herodotus, just twanged loudly. That wasn't in the comic, either! Dude, without the Athenians there, the Greeks wouldn't have won the war!!