or, Why Spartans Are Better Than You At Everything
I'll come right out and say it: 300 was pretty fantastic. Not
fantastic in the same way that say, an actual quality piece of cinema
might be fantastic; but rather, it was a fantastic movie to watch that
I may not watch again for a long, long time.
I've read "300" by Frank Miller, and it's pretty good. It's not up to
his Sin City level as far as storytelling goes (perhaps because the
story isn't his alone) but it was entertaining enough. The movie, as
it turns out, is like a slower-paced version of the book -- complete
with more slo-mo shots than I have ever seen.
Everything a Spartan does, if this movie is historically (ha!)
accurate, was so damn cool that immortalizing it on film requires
super-slow motion and a get-pumped soundtrack. This includes the
obvious, such as stabbing people with spears, or leaping through the
air, as well as the less obvious -- such as crouching. I know that
when I crouch, I do not feel all that awesome, but then (as my
girlfriend pointed out**) I probably would have been tossed off that
very morbid cliff onto the pile of baby bones were I born a Spartan.
And a word on homoeroticism in film: after reading a few reviews, I
went into 300 expecting to chuckle at the blatantly tongue-in-cheek
gayness of the movie; after all, it's 300 sweaty mens with awesome abs
hanging out at the beach. I was actually surprised that there really
isn't much in that area to "make fun of". Xerxes was a bit effeminate,
but he was also 10 feet tall and had a voice like an idling mack
truck.
My point is, if you were uncomfortable with and/or amused by the movie
because of gay undertones, you need to examine your own head out
first, because the undertones were few and far between.
Not every movie has a great deal of meaning or symbolism behind it;
those that look for it in the films of Zack Snyder (previous credit --
yes there is really only one -- being Dawn of the Dead) are probably
plumbing the depths of their own imaginations more than those of the
movie.
** She assures me, with an unintentional nod to Bridget Jones, that she loves me just the way I am.
*** whoops, comments are good now. posting by email has some bugs.
March 19, 2007
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3 comments:
It's interesting that the homosexual angle is what's being argued out there. Here on the east coast - or at least in Washington - everyone is argueeing over whether president Bush is Leonidas or Xerxes.
While, I'm glad the film is getting attention, I wish it was about actually about the film...
I've heard that too, and though I find it an interesting topic of discussion, I think it's (like the idea of subtle homoeroticism) being shoehorned into a movie that isn't nearly deep enough.
I'm pretty sure the director just thought that Spartans were awesome and that horses getting upended in slow motion is even more awesome.
I say that because despite his single-minded, black and white personality, even Bush doesn't fit easily into either of those roles.
He's not about freedom, like the Spartans; he's not about decadence and world conquest, like Xerxes; it's a poor analogy from almost every angle I've read so far.
http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0416449/300D01347.jpg
picture funny.
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