300
Superlative anthroblogger Dienekes Pontikos, named for a hero of Thermopylae, gives Hollywood’s effort two swords up, with charitable allowances for the Hollywood bits:
This is no effeminate and whiny Alexander but a fairly accurate portrayal of Spartan spirit, although visually highly stylized and fairly loose with history as one might expect in a 2-hour dramatization. Thankfully, we get no downright laughable “Port of Sparta” moments as in Troy and the major distortion, i.e., the negative portrayal of the Spartan ephors can be forgiven as a dramatic device.
Meanwhile, the University of Toronto’s Ephraim Lytle sticks a spear in it:
History is altered all the time. What matters is how and why. Thus I see no reason to quibble over the absence in 300 of breastplates or modest thigh-length tunics. I can see the graphic necessity of sculpted stomachs and three hundred Spartan-sized packages bulging in spandex thongs. On the other hand, the ways in which 300 selectively idealizes Spartan society are problematic, even disturbing.
Via Freedom’s Zone, an Iranian commentator lambastes the mullahs’ anti-300 campaign:
Souresrafil told his audience that the Islamic Republic is trying to exploit patriotic Iranians who have their hearts in the nation’s history, by drawing them into the “game of protest against this film.” He complained that the Islamic Republic wants to mobilize inappropriate protest to use for its own purposes, such as diverting attention from Iran’s real political needs and lending legitimacy to the present Iranian government, which he called essentially anti-Iranian.
Topics: anthronerdism
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:54 pm on Saturday, March 17, 2007
One Response to “300”
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March 19th, 2007 at 4:26 am
We mustn’t have all this liberty and reason talk, or a willingness to die for your freedom, especially against mysticism and slavery. Decidedly un-PC, un-relativist, un-PM. It’s just un. Besides, someone might actually think that it’s RIGHT!