Wednesday, March 28, 2007


Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Victor Davis Hanson's History and the Movie "300"

http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson101106.html

October 11, 2006History and the Movie “300”by Victor Davis HansonPrivate Papers
[Adapted from the introduction to the forthcoming book trailer published by Dark Horse Comics, Inc. to accompany Director Zack Snyder’s new film “300”]

The phrase “300 Spartans” evokes not only the ancient battle of Thermopylae, but also the larger idea of fighting for freedom against all odds — a notion subsequently to be enshrined through some 2500 years of Western civilization.

Even today we remember the power of the Spartans’ defiance. “Come and take them,” they tell the Persian emissaries who demand their arms. “Then we will fight in the shade,” the Spartans boast when warned that the horde of Persian arrows will soon blot out the very sunlight. “Go tell the Spartans that here we lie obedient to their commands” the tombstone of their dead reads.

In 480, an enormous force of more than a quarter-million Persians under their King Xerxes invaded Greece, both to enslave the free city-states, and to avenge the Persian defeat a decade earlier at Marathon. The huge force of ships and soldiers proved unstoppable on its way west and southward until it reached the narrow pass at Thermopylae (“The Warm Gates”) in northern (central) Greece. There a collection of 7,000 Greeks had blocked the way. They hoped to stop Xerxes’ horde outright — or at least allow enough time for their fellow countrymen to their rear to mobilize a sufficient defense of the homeland.

Among the many Greek contingents was a special elite force of 300 Spartans under their King Leonidas — a spearhead that offered the other Greeks at Thermopylae some promise that they could still bar the advance of the vastly superior invader. And that hope proved real for two days of hard fighting. The vastly outnumbered, but heavily-armed Greek infantrymen in their phalanx — taking advantage of the narrow terrain and their massed tactics — savagely beat back wave after wave of advancing Persian foot soldiers and cavalry.

But on the third day of battle, Leonidas’s Greeks were betrayed by a local shepherd Ephialtes, who showed the Persians an alternate route over the mountains that led to the rear of the Greek position. When he realized that he was nearly surrounded, Leonidas nevertheless made a critical decision to stay and fight, while ordering most of the other various allies to flee the encirclement to organize the growing Greek resistance to the south.

Meanwhile the King and his doomed 300 Spartans, together with other small groups of surrounded Thespians and Thebans, would indeed battle to buy the Greeks time. They ranged further out from the pass on this third and last day of battle — at first with spears and swords, finally with teeth and nails —killing scores more of Persians. The last few Spartan survivors were buried under a sea of Persian arrows. The body of Leonidas was found among the corpses, his head soon impaled on a stick as a macabre reminder of the wages of resistance to the Great King of Persia.

The Greeks took encouragement from the unprecedented sacrifice of a Spartan King and his royal guard on their behalf. And so a few weeks later at the sea battle of Salamis near Athens — and then again the next year at the great infantry collision on the plains of Plataea — the Greeks defeated, and eventually destroyed, the Persian invaders. The rallying cry of the victors was Thermopylae, the noble sacrifice of the final stand of the outnumbered Greeks, and especially the courage of the fallen Three Hundred Spartans under King Leonidas.

So almost immediately, contemporary Greeks saw Thermopylae as a critical moral and culture lesson. In universal terms, a small, free people had willingly outfought huge numbers of imperial subjects who advanced under the lash. More specifically, the Western idea that soldiers themselves decide where, how, and against whom they will fight was contrasted against the Eastern notion of despotism and monarchy — freedom proving the stronger idea as the more courageous fighting of the Greeks at Thermopylae, and their later victories at Salamis and Plataea attested.

Greek writers and poets such as Simonides and Herodotus were fascinated by the Greek sacrifice against Xerxes, and especially the heroism of Leonidas and his men. And subsequently throughout Western literature poets as diverse as Lord Byron and A.E. Houseman have likewise paid homage to the Spartan last stand — and this universal idea of Western soldiers willing to die as free men rather than to submit to tyranny. Steven Pressfield’s novel Gates of Fire and the earlier Hollywood movie The 300 Spartans both were based on the Greek defense of the pass at Thermopylae.

Recently, a variety of Hollywood films — from Troy to Alexander the Great — has treated a variety of themes from classical Greek literature and theater. But 300 is unique, a sui generis in both spirit and methodology. The script is not an attempt in typical Hollywood fashion to recreate the past as a costume drama. Instead it is based on Frank Miller’s (of Sin City fame) comic book graphics and captions. Miller’s illustrated novelette of the battle adapts themes loosely from the well-known story of the Greek defense, but with deference made to the tastes of contemporary popular culture.

So the film is indeed inspired by the comic book; and in some sense its muscular warriors, virtual reality sets, and computer-generated landscapes recall the look and feel of Robert Rodriquez’s screen version of Sin City. Yet the collaboration of Director Zack Snyder and screenwriters Kurt Johnstad and Michael Gordon is much more of a hybrid, since the script, dialogue, cinematography, and acting all recall scenes of the battle right from Herodotus’s account.

300, of course, makes plenty of allowance for popular tastes, changing and expanding the story to meet the protocols of the comic book genre. The film was not shot on location outdoors, but in a studio using the so-called “digital backlot” technique of sometimes placing the actors against blue screens. The resulting realism is not that of the sun-soaked cliffs above the blue Aegean — Thermopylae remains spectacularly beautiful today — but of the eerie etchings of the comic book.

The Spartans fight bare-chested without armor, in the “heroic nude” manner that ancient Greek vase-painters portrayed Greek hoplites, their muscles bulging as if they were contemporary comic book action heroes. Again, following the Miller comic, artistic license is made with the original story — the traitor Ephialtes is as deformed in body as he is in character; King Xerxes is not bearded and perched on a distant throne, but bald, huge, perhaps sexually ambiguous, and often right on the battlefield. The Persians bring with them exotic beasts like a rhinoceros and elephant, and the leader of the Immortals fights Leonidas in a duel (which the Greeks knew as monomachia). Shields are metal rather than wood with bronze veneers, and swords sometimes look futuristic rather than ancient.

Again, purists must remember that 300 seeks to bring a comic book, not Herodotus, to the screen. Yet, despite the need to adhere to the conventions of Frank Miller’s graphics and plot — every bit as formalized as the protocols of classical Athenian drama or Japanese Kabuki theater — the main story from our ancient Greek historians is still there: Leonidas, against domestic opposition, insists on sending an immediate advance party northward on a suicide mission to rouse the Greeks and allow them time to unite a defense. Once at Thermopylae, he adopts the defenses to the narrow pass between high cliffs and the sea far below. The Greeks fight both en masse in the phalanx and at times range beyond as solo warriors. They are finally betrayed by Ephialtes, forcing Leonidas to dismiss his allies — and leaving his own 300 to the fate of dying under a sea of arrows.

But most importantly, 300 preserves the spirit of the Thermopylae story. The Spartans, quoting lines known from Herodotus and themes from the lyric poets, profess unswerving loyalty to a free Greece. They will never kow-tow to the Persians, preferring to die on their feet than live on their knees.

If critics think that 300 reduces and simplifies the meaning of Thermopylae into freedom versus tyranny, they should reread carefully ancient accounts and then blame Herodotus, Plutarch, and Diodorus — who long ago boasted that Greek freedom was on trial against Persian autocracy, free men in superior fashion dying for their liberty, their enslaved enemies being whipped to enslave others.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007


"300" a monumental masterpiece

Frank Miller's graphics come alive in ya-gotta-see-'em-to-believe-'em images

By Phil Villarreal
Pvillarreal@azstarnet.com
Tucson, Arizona Published: 03.08.2007

The movie "300" is rated R for "RAAAAAR!" and is about as inspirational as "Field of Dreams" multiplied by "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," plus infinity.

High school football coaches who show this to their players before games are guaranteed to win 55-0. Should opposing coaches show the DVD to each of their teams before the matchup, a rupture in the space-time continuum will occur and the game will be declared a tie.

In "300," set in 480 B.C., the marauding Persian empire — led by Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) — attempts to romp over the Greeks.

The only thing between Western society and oblivion is a group of 300 brave Spartans who defy timid politicians and make a stand, fully aware that they'll be giving up their lives.

Their doomed, idealistic quest is reminiscent of "Letters From Iwo Jima," only without the self-pity. The heroes fight for pride, honor, democracy and the right to leave the toilet seat up.
Forget the hype over supposed parallels with the war in Iraq. Depending on your purview, you could read the Americans as either the evil empire or the dogged defenders of democracy.

Loosely based on the Battle of Thermopylae, much of the film was shot digitally in a studio, with the backgrounds and special effects rendered in "Star Wars" fashion. The film has a stylized look that matches what would happen if "The Matrix" had hot, dirty sex with "Clash of the Titans."
"300" is a moving, shouting, blood-spurting comic book in the same way as "Sin City," which, like this one, is based on a Frank Miller graphic novel.

Director Zack Snyder alternates between sepia-toned slo-mo and kaleidoscopic blasts of fever-dream adrenaline with scenes that look like they were cut with Ginsu knifes by teppanyaki chefs hopped up on Red Bull.

The Spartans are a super-human elite squad of lumberjack pirates who were trained by the the great-great-grandpa of Chuck Norris' paternal ancestor. A prologue explains that from the age of 7, Spartans are forged into die-hard dynamos of fury who can kill with their bare hands. It was either their forced sojourn into wilderness that makes them that way or that they played violent video games.

They battle the millions-strong army of the Persians, which includes wave after wave of easily disposed screaming maniacs, followed by black-hooded elite Delta Force Persians who are like zombies — gotta take their heads off or impale their hearts if you want 'em dead.

The Persians also trot out gimongous armored rhinos and war elephants that got kicked out of the zoo for being too big and angry.

Sparta is led by warrior King Leonidas (Gerard Butler), whose idea of a strategic troop surge is to round up a few of his buddies and stomp out on the battlefield for an eight-hour slaughterfest, with a snack break to munch an apple while watching his lackeys rake up the corpses.

While Leonidas and his boys are doing their thing, funneling the Persians into a narrow mountain passage that lets the troops slaughter the enemy at will, the king's wife, Gorgo (Lena Headey), takes on a crucial quest to persuade the rulers to send out reinforcements to back up her husband's cause.

The flick would be mesmerizing enough if it were all cheap thrills, but there's also a depth that makes you hurl your allegiance to the Spartans. This is the sort of film that comes along about once every few years. You cherish the experience so much that the only disappointment comes in knowing it will be a long time until you see another new movie this good.

It's called "300" because that's how many stars it deserves. I'm sad I only have four to give.

GREECE LOVES 300!!

The movie is breaking all box office records in Greece, selling over 300,000 tickets in the first weekend. Cinema critics are, as usual, not very excited about the movie, but the people love it!!

I have spoken with friends who say they have never been so excited after watching a movie before, movie theatres are always packed and at the end of the film audiences raise from their seats and cheer!! It's just amazing!! For the first time an american movie makes Greeks so proud!!

Frank Miller and Zack Snyder we salute you!!

Historically, there in no major misinterpretation, and as we have said before, it's an epic based on a true story. Please keep that in mind.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Sparta a True Republic--Not a Democracy

The other day, I got this very interesting mail from W. Lindsay Wheeler. I would like to thank him for his interest and I would be happy to publish his mail on this blog:

I saw your entries at Sparta Reconsidered.

Sparta was NOT a Democracy--was not considered that way by Socrates, Plato, Aristotle or Polybius. Cicero labeled Sparta a Republic, i.e. respublica Lacedaemoniorum because it was mixta.

Studying the mixed constitution of Sparta, Dicaearchus of Messana was to label his treatise; the Tripoliticus.

Hardly a Democracy!

Here is the true definition of what a Republic is:

http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.php?title=Classical_definition_of_republic

The Philosophy of mixed government:
http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.php?title=Philosophy_of_mixed_government

And Classical Republics and democracies contrasted:

http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.php?title=Classical_republics_and_democracy_contrasted

Happy enlightenment. I have yet to hear from a single person of any errors I have committed in these three articles. I have sent them also to Dr. Helen but to no avail.

Socrates said, "We must insist on the Verbal Truth". That is the backbone of Western Culture--To Speak Truth at All Times".


PS: 300 is coming to Belgium on the 21st of March!! can't wait!!

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Four more days!!

It's almost the 9th of March!! What's so special about it? 300 is finally here!! This FRIDAY!! Don't forget to book your tickets!!
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