300

[moderateamericain]

The Iranian government has denounced the movie 300 as racist and untruthful and harmful to Persia. Personally, i don't know why they give a rats ass. It was before Islam was even a twinkle in Mohammed's greatx5 grandfathers eye. While the movie did spruce up the heroic factor of the Greeks. I have serious doubts the director is part of the Aryan Nation or anything. On a side note, Finally a movie where the hero's are not a bunch of metro sexual cry babies. If your a guy and haven't seen this I would recommend it, Even though there is historical inaccuracies, it makes for great entertainment, i certainly didnt want to see a documentary for entertainment.

Actual History of the Battle of Thermopylae

7000 soldiers from other Greek States and 300 Spartans fought for 3 days holding off the Persian Attack. On the 3rd day most of the Greek soldiers leave. 700 Thesbians (sorry if thats spelled wrong) stay with the 300 Spartans. Also, the Athenians won some stunning naval battles to prevent the Persian Navy from sailing around and flanking Leonidas. The Athenian Navy pulled out once Leonidas died.

Why did this happen.

Xereses father Cyrus had conquered greek colonies in Mesopotamia (In present day Turkey), The Athenians had sailed in and Burned one of the cities (i cant remember its name) Cyrus responded by attacking greece, In the battle of Marathon the Greeks sent the Persian army back to Persia with its tale between its legs, Cyrus never forgot the defeat and neither did his son. The rest you can put together yourslef

[bush_cheney2004]

Hey, if this movie pisses off the Iranians (Persians), then it is definitely a must see. Somebody said it was CG'd in Montreal!

[Canadian Blue]

Finally a movie where the hero's are not a bunch of metro sexual cry babies.

I think historically the Spartan's often engaged in homosexual sex.

If your a guy and haven't seen this I would recommend it, Even though there is historical inaccuracies, it makes for great entertainment, i certainly didnt want to see a documentary for entertainment.

The movie was actually commentary on our current political system.

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/in...?ml_video=83621

[jbg]

Hey, if this movie pisses off the Iranians (Persians), then it is definitely a must see. Somebody said it was CG'd in Montreal!

One, what does "CG'd" mean? Two, I agree, anything that p.o.'s the rug merchants of death must be good.

[moderateamericain]

Finally a movie where the hero's are not a bunch of metro sexual cry babies.

I think historically the Spartan's often engaged in homosexual sex.

If your a guy and haven't seen this I would recommend it, Even though there is historical inaccuracies, it makes for great entertainment, i certainly didnt want to see a documentary for entertainment.

The movie was actually commentary on our current political system.

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/in...?ml_video=83621

What does the Spartans being Homosexual have to do with the movie being not full of a bunch of Metro sexual cry baby actors? I'm talking about the movie not the ancient culture.

[bush_cheney2004]

One, what does "CG'd" mean? Two, I agree, anything that p.o.'s the rug merchants of death must be good.

CG = computer generated special effects.....lots of it in this film.

Very little in 300 is real except the actors. Sets, locations, armies, blood--they're all computer generated. It's beautiful, and it might well be the future of filmmaking.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/...1595241,00.html

[Canadian Blue]

Personally, I'm uncomfortable with any movie that depicts war in a positive light. But while saying that, it is entertainment and nothing more. I just hope that people wouldn't consider that move to be historically accurate.

[sharkman]

I thought it was interesting how the Bush doctrine of fighting for freedom made its way into the movie. It was repeated several times. No wonder Iran hates it!

[White Doors]

Personally, I'm uncomfortable with any movie that depicts war in a positive light. But while saying that, it is entertainment and nothing more. I just hope that people wouldn't consider that move to be historically accurate.

Why?

What about Saving Private Ryan? Like that one?

War is a fact of life, I like it when the good guys win.

And PS, it's a MOVIE.

relax and let your panties bunch up a bit, it won't hurt - promise.

[White Doors]

I think historically the Spartan's often engaged in homosexual sex.

Point? In jails there is homosexual sex too and for the same reasons there were in Sparta. They seperated the boy warriors from all else and, well, that's what will happen. Spared the vagina, virile men will stick it pretty much anywhere.

These 300 don't share much in common with the 'fab 5' which I may say was the posters intent.

Sexual practices do not make the man. I find it a little shocking that you would insinuate that it would.

[M.Dancer]

Actual History of the Battle of Thermopylae

7000 soldiers from other Greek States and 300 Spartans fought for 3 days holding off the Persian Attack. On the 3rd day most of the Greek soldiers leave. 700 Thesbians (sorry if thats spelled wrong) stay with the 300 Spartans. Also, the Athenians won some stunning naval battles to prevent the Persian Navy from sailing around and flanking Leonidas. The Athenian Navy pulled out once Leonidas died.

Why did this happen.

Xereses father Cyrus had conquered greek colonies in Mesopotamia (In present day Turkey), The Athenians had sailed in and Burned one of the cities (i cant remember its name) Cyrus responded by attacking greece, In the battle of Marathon the Greeks sent the Persian army back to Persia with its tale between its legs, Cyrus never forgot the defeat and neither did his son. The rest you can put together yourslef

As a braod stroke, you are correct.

I quibble with some numbers....there were 300 Spartans....and abouit 3000 helot slaves who fought alongside them.....

Turkey was never called Mesopotamia.....

Persia conquered Lydia...Several greek colonies were subject to Lydia and when Lydia was conquered their overlords became the Persians. Those Greek colonies rebelled against the Persians and were supported by the European greeks and that is how the war started.

[Black Dog]

On a side note, Finally a movie where the hero's are not a bunch of metro sexual cry babies. If your a guy and haven't seen this I would recommend it

That's right, no wusses there. Just big, beefy men in tight short shorts, all rock hard abs and rippling muscles. Real butch.

I thought it was interesting how the Bush doctrine of fighting for freedom made its way into the movie. It was repeated several times. No wonder Iran hates it!

The Bush doctrine is not "fighting for freedom". Shit, Bush certainly wasn't the first to articulate the concept, which is really quite a cliche. The fact that it appears in this film is actually quite laughable, given that Sparta was a brutal and repressive society, even by the standards of the ancient world.

[Canadian Blue]

Why?

What about Saving Private Ryan? Like that one?

It depicts war in a more realistic light, it doesn't show it as something glorious.

[PolyNewbie]

jbg:I agree, anything that p.o.'s the rug merchants of death must be good.

Can you qualify that statement in any way ?

You, as a citizen of a country that is involved in at least two imperial domination wars should feel like a hyppocrite. Certainly the Canadian gobvernment can be considered as merchants of death based on the Haiti invasion alone.

[Frankie]

How come all the Persians looked like Orcs?

[guyser]

Hey, if this movie pisses off the Iranians (Persians), then it is definitely a must see.

Now why would that be?. Perhaps you meant Iranian religious leaders?

Somebody said it was CG'd in Montreal!

Yes it was .

[DogOnPorch]

Have yet to catch the movie...but...

I believe that the whole cultural conflict between 'East' and 'West' began with the Ionian Revolt and the follow-up Battle of Marathon...all religions aside. It was the first time 'we' became truely aware of 'them' and vice versa. Darius apparently ordered one of his slaves to remind him three times everyday about the Athenians burning down Sardis...though some accounts say he'd never heard of these Greeks.

Simplistic on many levels...but true generally.

I thought it was interesting how the Bush doctrine of fighting for freedom made its way into the movie. It was repeated several times. No wonder Iran hates it!

As for Iran being upset...they should be. Three hundred hoplites + helots and mixed others held the pass against an estimated 200,000+ Persains and assorted other tribes of the Empire. Only treachery on the Greek side (Ephialtes) allowed the Persian Immortals to flank the Spartan postion. Otherwise they'd still be there...lol. Salamis, as well, was a humiliating defeat of a huge Persian naval force by a smaller elite Greek one. The short lived Persian occupation of Greece ended abruptly after the Battle of Plataea.

The looting of Greece (Athens mainly) paved the way for Alexander's quest to bring Persia to its knees.

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The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage.

---Thucydides (ca 430 BC)

[Guthrie]

The only Iranians who should be pissed are the ones who failed to get a refund from ticket purchases to this movie.

[Figleaf]

I nearly fell asleep.

Visually stunning in a Matrix-meets-Seven Years in Tibet kind of way, sure. But the script was thin, the tactical/strategic exposition was slight, and the verisimilitude spotty at best. The acting was one-note, and the political themes were anachronistic and tin-eared.

And why did all the Persians look like orcs?

[Frankie]

That's what I've been trying to figure out.

[moderateamericain]

Ahh blackdog you know they gotta sell the movie to the ladies some how? Most women are not exactly thrilled by violence. The skimpy outfit just made me want to hit the gym harder! And thanks for the correction on the history there, I was doing that totally off memory.

[kuzadd]

On a side note, Finally a movie where the hero's are not a bunch of metro sexual cry babies. If your a guy and haven't seen this I would recommend it

That's right, no wusses there. Just big, beefy men in tight short shorts, all rock hard abs and rippling muscles. Real butch.

I thought it was interesting how the Bush doctrine of fighting for freedom made its way into the movie. It was repeated several times. No wonder Iran hates it!

The Bush doctrine is not "fighting for freedom". Shit, Bush certainly wasn't the first to articulate the concept, which is really quite a cliche. The fact that it appears in this film is actually quite laughable, given that Sparta was a brutal and repressive society, even by the standards of the ancient world.

300 had some serious homo-erotic flavours to it.

Buff men in little underwear, WOW.

huddled together, etc.,

btw: the movie was crap!!!

[PolyNewbie]

Alex Jones said the movie is true but backwards. The Spartans were really behaving the way the Persians were in the war and visa versa. Its an intentional propogandist hit piece directed against Iran and to tune dumb, dumber & dumbest up for war.

I won't go see any movie that I can see was partly funded by the Pentagon. Hollywood gets money from the Pentagon for movies about terrorism. I won't rent the new Bond movie for the same reason.

[ScottSA]

I saw 300, and there was nothing remotely "homoerotic" about it. Critics who watched it might have been eroticized, but that really says more about the critics than about the movie. Perhaps they become inflated at the sight of abdominal sixpacks, but that's not the movie's fault.

If it had propagandistic anti-Iranian overtones to it, guess what? Iran is doing everything it can to put itself in international crosshairs, so it's no surprise that some consider it the enemy. I certainly do.

300 was a movie about unabashed male heroism, and it's about time Hollywood started making movies like that again. Effete self-flagellatory pseudo-intellectualism has been in vogue with the left for a couple decades, and it used to be trendy to scoff at maleness and its associated characteristics like honor, duty and the like, but they are re-emerging again and I must say its long long overdue. Feminization of society is sooooo 90s...

[M.Dancer]

I saw 300, and there was nothing remotely "homoerotic" about it. Critics who watched it might have been eroticized, but that really says more about the critics than about the movie. Perhaps they become inflated at the sight of abdominal sixpacks, but that's not the movie's fault.

If it had propagandistic anti-Iranian overtones to it, guess what? Iran is doing everything it can to put itself in international crosshairs, so it's no surprise that some consider it the enemy. I certainly do.

300 was a movie about unabashed male heroism, and it's about time Hollywood started making movies like that again. Effete self-flagellatory pseudo-intellectualism has been in vogue with the left for a couple decades, and it used to be trendy to scoff at maleness and its associated characteristics like honor, duty and the like, but they are re-emerging again and I must say its long long overdue. Feminization of society is sooooo 90s...

Whether you notice the poop when you step in it has nothing to do with whether the poop exists or not. Suffice to say that what may have homoerotic undertones has little to do with having anti iranian undertones, they are not mutuallly excusive. How any film stylists could make a movie about the Spartans, given that the spartans despite their overt macho persona were queerer than a 3 dollar bill, how thay could stylize a movie without making them into eye candy for the pink world would be quite a heroic feat in itself......