one hundred thirty-seventh (tuesdays with big brother)

Mar 13, 2007 at 7:12 PM
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I'd like to thank Tim for pointing out this article over at Salon. Having gone to see '300' over the weekend, I think it's safe to say that some people are taking themselves way too seriously (Dana Stevens over at Salon, I'm looking at you).

Yes, the film was horribly inaccurate about the historical facts surrounding the battle on which it is based. Yes, the production chooses to ignore a myriad of negative realities that governed life as a citizen of the Spartan state. Yes, this movie glorifies war.
No, there is no political agenda. This isn't 'V for Vendetta.'

But, seriously, when you have people out there, such as Dana Stevens, elaborating on a film and echoing the sentiments of the Art Advisor for Iran, then you're probably safe to assume that dear Dana might be stretching it a bit. All things considered, wasn't that same Art Advisor involved in the WeDon'tBelieveInTheHolocaust-a-thon over there recently?

And that's about as political as I'm going to get today. Hope you don't mind.

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I too was struck by the inaccuracies of the depiction of Sparta. However, I did read into the battle. Couldn't help it. The West fights off incursions from Persia. It reminded me of Vienna, Lepanto, and Tours.

[this is good]

i don't think frank miller wrote his graphic novel to render an accurate historical account of the battle at thermopylae. i also don't think miller was concerned about creating a politically charged work since he wrote it years before the invasion and occupation of iraq. and as our dear friend tim pointed out, mr. miller remains very involved in the production of his work, so as to stick as closely as possible to the original.

i was able to look past the inaccuracies and just enjoy the beautiful look of the film as a whole. i just think when speaking of war, parallels exist and it is my contention that any parallel in '300' to the current war is not because the makers wanted to make a political statement, but merely because just like conventions occur in movies, (especially the war genre) war is full of convention as well. but perhaps if i saw it again i would see things differently.

The thing that really bothers me about the cries of "historical inaccuracy" with "300" is that our primary source here is Herodotus. Now as a historian I am certainly grateful to him for all of his work, but let's face it: he was as much a poet as he was a historian. To call his recording of the battle a startlingly accurate account of what went on would be less than true. We know he was wrong about a number of things. So Herodotus took some liberties for the sake of dramatic affect. So did Miller. So did Snyder. These guys aren't writing history books, they're making movies and comics.

one hundred thirty-seventh (tuesdays with big brother)

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