politics of 300

Another movie review, these are way easier than book reviews. Normally I wouldn't bother reviewing a movie like 300, its an action film with no real political connection. Massive carnage is the name of the game here, as well as some very impressive CGI work. Normally I hate CGI but damn, they are getting good at it. Oddly what this film showed is that if you do everything but the people in CGI its more believable than having parts that are real and parts that are fake. Which does make sense, its the sudden change that makes it obvious. Plus using unnatural lighting gives everything an odd glow so that nothing looks exactly real anyway. So why am I reviewing this at all? Well I'm not going to tell anyone to go see it or not. You've seen the previews, if they looked appealing then go watch it because its exactly what you expect, and similarly if watching an hour of slaughter (there is some set up before hand) doesn't interest you then you'll hate this movie, don't watch it. I'm still a simple guy at heart so a good mindless action film can be fun, but there was some overtones that I simple couldn't shake. I just pictured a conservative watching it and loving the nationalistic fervor of the Spartans, never back down, never surrender. Die for Glory. The self-sacrifice in the name of freedom, over and over, the fight is for freedom. They would eat that shit up, thinking that this is a great parallel with the current war and how we need to be like the Spartans, never give up even when facing the most powerful army the world has ever seen. But there was something there that I'm sure a conservative would either miss because of lack of thought, or because of consciously avoiding the thought depending on the intelligence level. The Spartans are fighting to protect their
homes from the most powerful army the world has ever know, the leader of that army thinks himself a god. (or maybe he just thinks he talks to god?) You may see where I am going with this.While far from a perfect parallel, it seems to me that if this is an allegory for the Iraq war then we are not the mighty fearless Spartans, no we are The Persian Empire and Bush is Xerxes. Now that I've made a comment that goes completely against the normal view of this film I will point out that this is based on a comic book (which was loosely based on the historical battle of Thermopylae) in 1998, it is not a movie about this war. But like any war movie it can be seen through the lens of current events easily enough. Actually after reading that wiki entry it might be a more accurate depiction than I realized, at least in terms of the plot development. Even some of the cheesy lines are supposedly real, like when warned that the Persian arrows would be some numerous as to "blot out the sun" the spartan responded, "so much the better, we shall fight in the shade." Although it probably wasn't said in English. Anyway to finish up my political review of the film. It's not supposed to be about the current events but its easy to make that connection if you want. Once you do you can look at it as spurring on nationalism, never surrender in the face of evil. You can say that we are the proud and strong defending freedom if you want. But don't forget that if an Iraqi saw the film they might very well feel the exact same way, that while they might not be the greatest warriors in the world, they have been trained and fighting since birth, they are defending their homes, they are
fighting for their freedom, they are fighting against the most powerful army the world has ever seen, and finally their enemies leader might have a little bit of a god complex.

Oh I could also get into the fun of the corrupt old priests who have young girls sent to them and must be called on before laws are passed even thought they are simply relics of a superstitious past that is irrelevant today. I liked that jab at religion, although later on the same person who insulted those superstitious mystics thanked Zeus for sending a storm to wipe out many of the Persian ships. So its not a full on insult against religion, oh well.

The reality is that this is an action movie, its meant for entertainment purposes only and if you want to think about politics there's much better options, some of which I've recently reviewed.