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2007-03-12 Home Front: Culture Wars
Movie review: "300" gets panned by the critics
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Posted by Seafarious 2007-03-12 10:26|| || Front Page|| [11129 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 Panned by the critics, and made at least 70 million it's first weekend.
Posted by Steve 2007-03-12 10:35||   2007-03-12 10:35|| Front Page Top

#2 Case closed.
Posted by tu3031 2007-03-12 10:53||   2007-03-12 10:53|| Front Page Top

#3 Oooooooh, Smithers! The Iranians are angry! Oooooh, the Iranians! Hide me, Smithers! Hide me!
Posted by Montgomery Burns 2007-03-12 10:59||   2007-03-12 10:59|| Front Page Top

#4 One should think the Iranians would be happy to see pre-Islamic Persians shown as decadent and all.

I think there is a bit of Persian pride peering out from beneath the Islamic veil. Seems the google bomb didn't work and 300 is making bank. Take that Johnny Persia!
Posted by rjschwarz 2007-03-12 11:19||   2007-03-12 11:19|| Front Page Top

#5 The sad thing is the review itself looks just like the review I read in a liberal American paper:

"Don't watch this! you might come out pro-American! EEEEK!!!"
Posted by Frozen Al 2007-03-12 11:35||   2007-03-12 11:35|| Front Page Top

#6 It would have been better to show the Persians as heavily perfumed fairy boys that the Spartans could massacre because they were hetero.
Posted by Anonymoose 2007-03-12 11:38||   2007-03-12 11:38|| Front Page Top

#7 I contributed to that 70M on Friday. Not a bad action flick, worth the price of the matinee if it's your kind of thing. Can't say I saw it as an attack on Iran and it's culture, but rather just a bloody good time...
Posted by IG-88 2007-03-12 11:44||   2007-03-12 11:44|| Front Page Top

#8 Right ... the only critics who count are the ones forking over 10 bucks to see the film. It's a smash hit!
Posted by doc 2007-03-12 11:45||   2007-03-12 11:45|| Front Page Top

#9 There were far moreb Greeks than the 300 Spartans and not all of theml were Spartans. It was when teh Greeks discovered that a traitor had led the Persians by another pass and that they were on the verge of being surrounded that most of the non-spartans retired leaving only the Spartans (and a few dozens of non-partans) for a delaying action.

BTW, in Persian sites you will see very different explanations of Persian-Greek battles: Marathon was not a full scaled invasion but only a supporting force for an aristocratic coup at Athens (who failed). The episode where Greek infantry disperses the Persians atb Cunaxa was meraley a withdarwal (who led the hoplites more than amile from the main battle) and Alexander is not named the Gret between Persians but the Cursed.

Also Greeks tell how a man had to see his son being quartered just because he had asked or more exactly humbly prayed the emperor of Persia not to send his only son to war. This contrast with what Persins say of Cyrus I (Darius fatehr or grand father) as "inventor of the concept of human rights".
Posted by JFM">JFM  2007-03-12 12:14||   2007-03-12 12:14|| Front Page Top

#10 Ive seen many reviews, that make the movie look pretty bad. Ive seen the trailer, and nothing in it contradicts them.

But I agree, smearing pre-Islamic Persia is hardly the same thing as smearing Imnutjob and the mad mullahs, in fact its almost like the opposite.
Posted by liberalhawk 2007-03-12 12:56||   2007-03-12 12:56|| Front Page Top

#11 The graphic novel was written in the late 90s (before Americans realized they were at war) and most of the often quoted quotes proving politics in the movie are actual quotes from ancient Greek sources.

I think the projection of reviewers current opinions onto this movie is very enlightening.
Posted by rjschwarz 2007-03-12 12:58||   2007-03-12 12:58|| Front Page Top

#12 The inaccurate and derogatory depiction of ancient Persians

The founding fathers of the meteorite worshippers. Go figure.
Posted by Icerigger 2007-03-12 14:23||   2007-03-12 14:23|| Front Page Top

#13 The movie is freakin' awesome. Yes, the Persians look deformed and scary... and there are monsters, but if you see why the director did it, it makes sense and works with the comic book style. He wanted the Persians and their animals to look as weird and scary to us as they did to the greeks.

I definitely recommend seeing it. Especially on the IMAX.
Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader  2007-03-12 14:59||   2007-03-12 14:59|| Front Page Top

#14 Revisionists, Noble Savages Elitists, Petty Killjoys, Putzes. Pathetic.

"[Post Modernism]......is the belief that direction, evolution and progression have ended in social history, and society is based [now] instead upon the decline of absolute truths, and the rise of relativity..."

Through a lens snarkly.
Posted by LAX 2007-03-12 15:21||   2007-03-12 15:21|| Front Page Top

#15 the Persian Empire in 480 B.C was the most magnificent and civilized empire

Tsk, tsk. How things can go to hell in just a few short millennia!
Posted by SteveS 2007-03-12 16:53||   2007-03-12 16:53|| Front Page Top

#16 Not many persians named Cyrus anymore.
Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious  2007-03-12 17:17||   2007-03-12 17:17|| Front Page Top

#17 In defense of Ollie Stone, the TROJANS were not PERSIANS. As per military history, XERXES' army at THERMOPYLAE included Greek contingents/
elements fighting on his side against other Greeks.
Posted by JosephMendiola 2007-03-12 21:52||   2007-03-12 21:52|| Front Page Top

#18 A better idea (one which I have already proposed on my Persian weblog) might be doing a collaborative art project: 300 from a Persian perspective. Basically I have called upon all Persian artists to submit art with the theme of "ancient Persia", so we can gather all of these in one site and show the world (and comic fans) the face of ancient Persians from our own perspective.

You know, having a comic-book-art-war with the Iranians doesn't sound all that bad to me. Western, even.
Posted by Secret Master 2007-03-12 23:59||   2007-03-12 23:59|| Front Page Top

23:59 Secret Master
23:54 whatadeal
23:41 whatadeal
23:39 DMFD
23:25 whatadeal
23:17 USN, ret.
23:17 OldSpook
23:13 USN, ret.
23:11 OldSpook
22:49 USN, ret.
22:48 JosephMendiola
22:46 JosephMendiola
22:42 JosephMendiola
22:37 Icerigger
22:35 WTF
22:34 JosephMendiola
22:32 Jackal
22:27 Jackal
22:24 Jackal
22:21 JosephMendiola
22:21 Jackal
22:19 Zhang Fei
22:19 Jackal
22:16 JosephMendiola









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