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| 300 Shocker: Hollywood takes a detour to reality |
| 2007-03-13 |
By David KahaneI’m talking, of course, about 300, a gory retelling of the Spartans’ defense at Thermopylae, which has got the whole town buzzing, and not just about its first-weekend grosses. Is it an ode to Riefensthalian fascist militarism? A thinly veiled attack on the Bush administration‘s insane war-mongering? Or is it something else? |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #12 Haven't seen the movie, my first thought upon reading some discussions was, We (the US) is the 300." |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2007-03-13 22:58 |
| #11 I think the best way to describe him would be. "He's definetly not on their side". That's more than most of hollywood it seems. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan 2007-03-13 19:07 |
| #10 I think the best way to describe him would be. "He's definetly not on their side". That's more than most of hollywood it seems. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan 2007-03-13 19:07 |
| #9 I don't know if Frank Miller is a conservative, but his worldview as expressed through his work, at least until the various "Sin City" follow ups (which were the last ones I read, as I drifted away from comics circa early 2001) certainly ISN'T liberal or progressive; for example, he's been called homophobic (villains as homosexuals and/or child rapists is a recurring thematic), his ideal of the hero is the free man or (black) woman, for "Ronin" and "Liberty", who makes his own law and uphold his own values against a world marred in sin and madness. I don't know if he really is a conservative, though, Reagan has been depicted negatively directly or not both in "Dark knight" and "Liberty" (followed by an hapless and even more dangerous Carter-like figure)... Some kind of libertarian/rightwing anarchist? Anyway, he's a very interesting drawer and writer (though his chaotic writing style has allowed a bunch of bad imitators to spawn :-) a rather hyped legacy), and he certainly an artist in the truest meaning of thre word, with a real vision, and a coherent universe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Miller_%28comics%29 Regarding the WOT, I think this answer where he stands. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-03-13 14:52 |
| #8 Beginning to wonder if a movie that has no stars, the look and feel of a video game, and the moral code of the U.S.M.C. might have something to say, even to audiences in New York and L.A. I certainly prefer the moral code of the USMC to the "moral" code of Hollywood bathing in drugs, cheating, divorces, sex in exchange of getting roles in movies and who gave an Oscar to a convicted raper of an underage girl (Polansky). |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-03-13 09:40 |
| #7 "Freedom isn't free." For Hollyweird, that's heady stuff. |
| Posted by: doc 2007-03-13 09:10 |
| #6 I don't know that I'd call Frank Miller a conservative, but he's one of the relative few in the entertainment industry who doesn't have his head up his ass in the WoT. |
| Posted by: Jeff C 2007-03-13 08:07 |
| #5 VDH has already said this, but it bears repeating. The Greeks saw Thermopylae as free men must alway be prepared to pay the ultimate price to defend their freedom. And they were right. But superior Greek seamanship (training) and technology were what defeated the Persians at a naval battle a few days after Thermopylae and led to the Persians ultimate defeat. A lesson for our times, indeed. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2007-03-13 04:40 |
| #4 OF course they are stretching it, but Movies can't just be a good time anymore. They always have to have an underlining political meaning, or demonize a party, or warn us about the coming Apocalypse. If it was just a well-made movie about a graphic novel made to entertain us, why, that wouldn't make sense! There HAS to be an underlining message or all those critics would be out of a job. Face it, it's not the fact that this has anything to do with todays political situation. It's the fact that someone made an entertaining movie, that stayed true to the novel it was based on, with no "Big time" hollywood stars, and made a FORTUNE when the "peasents" responded. And the rest of this month it will probably be at the #1 spot I think. |
| Posted by: Charles 2007-03-13 03:10 |
| #3 Some messages are eternal, AC8456, and can become just the right metaphores when they meet their right time. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2007-03-13 03:06 |
| #2 300 was written almost a decade ago, and the movie is almost a scene for scene adaptation of the graphic novel. I think most people using it as a metaphor for current events are really stretching. |
| Posted by: Albemarle Cleaque8456 2007-03-13 02:26 |
| #1 a thinly veiled attack on the Bush administration‘s insane war-mongering? I think not. ;) |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2007-03-13 00:02 |