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Discussion of Frank Miller's 300 *Spoilers*

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I have a (pdf) copy of Frank Miller's 300 the comic book, which of course the movie was based off of. PM me if you want it. Read the comic and watch the movie, or vice versa, and you get a good appreciation for how each scene in the movie was crafted.
 
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I thought the movie was worth watching and had some cool visual sequences in it, but overall it didn't live up to my expectations. They seemed to mix Athens and Sparta together into one city state and I thought it would have made a better movie if they would have contrasted Athenian society with Spartan society. When they were talking about Spartan soldiers fighting for "freedom" and "justice" I found it pretty laughable since Sparta was never known for either of those things. I realize that the movie wasn't supposed to be historically accurate but that's what I came away thinking.
 
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I read the PDF of Frank Miller's novel...and am going to see the movie this evening after the basketball game. I loved the novel...and form everything I have seen and heard I fully expect to enjoy the movie tonight.
 
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I saw the movie yesterday and thought it was awesome. Some of the more liberal critics panned Miller for making Xerxes look really gay w/ his piercings and facial jewelry, but, hey, blame Frank Miller, not the moviemaker.
As far as a historical portrayal of Sparta, yes, the movie conveniently left out that the Spartans depended on helot slaves to do the work, while the men trained for war, but, ultimately, the Spartans did their part to preserve the legacy of classical Greece, which mostly came from Athens. I did think the movie properly emphasized the rivalry between the city-states-Leonidas lets it be knbown what he thinks of Athens. Overall, the message of "Family,country,honor" vs. despotism was a great one,IMO.
 
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stxbuck;779492; said:
I did think the movie properly emphasized the rivalry between the city-states-Leonidas lets it be knbown what he thinks of Athens.
Click to expand...

Calling Athens a bunch of "boy lovers" once in the movie (which is the only mention Athens gets throughout the movie as far as I can remember) properly emphasizes the rivalry? please.

Not only that, but pederastic relationships were felt to be esential in a young Spartan boys life, so Sparta didn't even look down on the practice of men loving boys and in fact they thought it was essential to their maturation.
 
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Homosexuality: sexual attraction to persons of the same sex. In ancient Greece, this was a normal practice.
Introduction

Violent debate, enthusiastic writings, shamefaced silence, flights of fantasy: few aspects of ancient society are so hotly contested as Greek pederasty, or -as we shall see below- homosexuality. Since the British classicist K.J. Dover published his influential book Greek Homosexuality in 1978, an avalanche of new studies has appeared. We can discern two approaches:
  1. The historical approach: scholars are looking for the (hypothetical) roots of pederasty in very ancient initiation rites and try to reconstruct a development. Usually, a lot of fantasy is required, because our sources do not often refer to these ancient rites.
  2. The synchronistic approach: scholars concentrate upon homosexuality in fifth and fourth-century Athens, where it was integral part of social life.
Of note to is the only force to defeat the Spartans was the Theban Band,
a pederast army.
 
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Sacred Band of Thebes
(circa 371 - 338 BC) Greece
sacr1.jpg

Military unitThe Sacred Band of Thebes, or Theban Band, was a battalion composed entirely of friends and lovers. This military unit, consisting of 150 male couples, was based on the belief that men fighting alongside their lovers would die rather than shame one another. The references to it in later Greek literature are very numerous, and there seems no reason to doubt the general truth of the traditions concerning its formation and its complete annihilation by Philip of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Geat, at the battle of Chaeronea.
 
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Considering the use of mythical creatures, the mispronunciation of Xerxes father's name (Darius is pronounced with a long 'i' sound, and not like it's pronounced today), the ommision of the Spartans own use of slaves, and various other things in this movie, I'm going to go ahead and guess that Frank Miller wasn't creating a historical documentary. He was simply making an action flick. I still enjoyed the movie, even though I didn't learn anything from it.
 
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