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Article: The meaning of 300: in the hands of filmmakers, the legendary Spartan stand at Thermopylae becomes pro-war political propaganda in the new film 300.
- Article from:
- The New American
- Article date:
- April 2, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 American Opinion Publishing, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In a blood-spattered, gore-filled, nudity-laced, and unnecessarily eroticized grotesquerie, the Spartans as envisioned by master illustrator Frank Miller have now leapt onto movie screens around the country in the form of the film 300, the cinematic version of Miller's graphical novel of the same name. The movie tells the story of the epic Spartan defiance of the colossal Persian army at the "hot gates" of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., a battle of unparalleled heroism on the part of the Greek defenders, led by the Spartans, and one which has never ceased to resonate within subsequent Western culture.
Though long pregnant with meaning for all of Western ...