A few days ago I watched 300 (2006). Claudia didn’t want to see it because of the expected gore. Marco said (twice) that the movie convinced him that he was born into the wrong century. Oh well. 😄
I love AncientHistory stuff. The movie is about the Battle of Thermopylae (= hot gates).
I liked the comic 300 by Frank Miller (2006-10-18 Sparta vs. Persia). I viewed it as a work of art. I don’t agree with many of the political statements made directly or indirectly, but I feel they are necessary to provide an integral experience. The Spartan’s code was as crappy then as it is now. Not offering any reflection or crisis – no value statement – when presenting these Spartan views works for me, because they are so obviously wrong by today’s standards. It is only when I consider the US military in Iraq that I start wondering: How much of this is (maybe unintentional but still) propaganda for fascism? When the Spartans raise their shields and shout their war cry for freedom and democracy, I feel uncomfortable. This *unspoken second level* of the movie made the whole thing more interesting.
Recommended.
I should read some classics again. Should you be interested in the same I totally recommend the following books: The Histories by Herodotus (includes an account of the above mentioned battle), the History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, the Anabasis by Xenophon, and the Anabasis Alexandri by Arrian.
History of the Peloponnesian War
I liked the choreography of the Spartan soldiers in the movie. It seemed very cool. But it didn’t quite match my expectations. And sure enough, I found the following in the IMDB:
According to an interview with IGN.com, director Zack Snyder says that fighting styles and formations (particularly the Spartans’ phalanx) were purposefully changed - making them historically inaccurate - so they’d “look cool” and work better for movie purposes. ¹
Strange. Since we still have practicioners of eastern martial arts, we have a better idea of what combat might have looked like compared to combat in Europe. (Although it seems that the Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts is trying to do something against it.)
Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts
I like how they used the music score and variable time flow to recreate the subjective battle experience.
It seems like BooksToMovies worked quite well for the comic.
#Movies
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The message on the second level is very obvious. This movie is just blunt fascist propaganda. See this link for a great review:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig8/engle1.html
– Llenfyr 2007-11-19 16:36 UTC
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Interesting rant. 😄
The German Wikipedia article, Schlacht bei den Thermopylen also has the following to offer:
Auch in der Neuzeit wurde die Thermopylenschlacht immer wieder als Beispiel für einen heroischen Opfertod in Anspruch genommen. So zog Hermann Göring Ende Januar 1943 einen Vergleich zur noch andauernden Schlacht von Stalingrad, um damit die Befehle Hitlers zum Kampf ohne Kapitulation ideologisch und historisch zu legitimieren.
(Roughly: The Battle of Thermopylae has been used as an example for a heroic death sacrifice again and again. Hermann Göring compared the ongoing Battle of Stalingrad in January 1943 with the Battle of Thermopylae to legitimize Hitler’s orders to fight without capitulating ideologically and historically.)
– Alex Schroeder 2007-11-20 10:19 UTC
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Political messages? Unspoken second-level storylines? Facist propoganda? Eh? Where is the glory?
This is no documentary.
– Marco 2007-11-23 20:28 UTC