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I was confused by this film, more than any other emotion or thought.
It seems to be homophobic with the "boy-lovers" comment, but at the same time there are a few characters who definity share some knowing grins, and something about the way Xerses keeps asking people to kneel is a bit dirty, but in an ambiguous sort of way. And although it's contested history, Greece was pretty homo-friendly, and sparta was no exception. They were actually, if I recall correctly, one of the few places that really embraced lesbianism as well as male homosexuality (but I think it was only a consenting-adults kind of thing, which is where the boy-lovers comment might have come up).
The persians were a weird mix of misplaced orientalism and mythic over-the-top-ness. Xerses, their leader and arguably the most approachable and understandable persian character, was the whitest among them, and it seemed like the more "evil and badass" thier troops were, the closest to brown and black they became (the ninjas most of all).
I was quite intrigued by the way the oracle and her old-men protectors were presented. There was something very ancient and primal about the whole scene- inbred old men from a bygone age, a young woman drunk, high, and mad with divine seizure, strange uberconciousness brought forward and translated. I think one of the things people forget about the greek religion is just how close to old-school hunter-gatherer kind of stuff it really was. Primal urges, debauchery, madness, etc were all part and parcel to the gods and the incredible architecture around which it was set. Divinity was close and human and yet still terribly unknowable. But... in the film the prophesizing was ignored.
I was also confused by the message about free men. When Leonas turned down that crippled soldier and when the scene at the beginning showed the valley full of discared babies, there were far too many shades of Nazi Eugenics for my taste- same with Leonas' carless boasts to the other group of people who come to fight about bringing more soldiers than he. There are free men, but they only count if they are worthy of it, and if they arn't they deserve thier fate? So people are free, but bound by the constraints of thier birth circumstances? You are inferior simply because you were born in Athens not Sparta? I mean, a lot of his speeches about it seemed ripped straight out of Independance Day, but Persians are not Aliens, and the Greeks were not exactly an innocent party- they brough the war upon themselves.
And I'm not even going to start on how much I thought the violence and gore was a neccessary or unneccessary part of the movie's style. Given the above issues I have... it would be a confusing confusing discussion, and a discussion that would be hard to have without first sorting out the above questions.
Also, how do people think 300 compares to Sin City, Frank Miller's other GN-turned-hyperviolent-stylistic-movie? |
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