300

Filed by: Darren Turpin on February 24, 2007 at 12:40
Filed under: Miscellania

Quick follow-up to the previous post, and the good news is it looks like I've got a week less to wait than I thought... 300 will be on general release in the UK on the 22nd of March. Joe Gordon's ever-informative FPI blog points the way to Warner Bros' UK 300 website. Trailers, posters, all sorts of multi-media goodness.

I've read a few comments elsewhere about 300's likely lack of plot, character development and so forth. I've read accusations of its ahistorical bias towards a modernised view of the concepts of democracy and freedom, and its glossing over of the historical Sparta's attitude towards slavery, the role of the female in society and the importance of homosexuality in the warrior classes as a means of forging stronger emotional links on the battlefield.

Well, I hear all that, but it doesn't make me want to see the movie any less. If I want to learn about the historical Sparta - and after seeing the film there's every chance that I will - then I'll read a history book. But 300 is a fantasy; a work of fiction. I want to see one thing from this movie, and one thing only: spectacle. It just has to be magnificent. And if it is, then for me that will make it a complete success...

Filed on: February 24, 2007
Filed under: Miscellania
Tagged With: 300 | Frank-Miller

Comments

4 Responses to '300'

gabe on February 25th, 2007 3:25 am

300 is by far the movie I am most looking forward to seeing. It looks pretty mind-blowing, and it seems to have captured the feel of Miller's graphic novel in the same way Sin City did.

And hey, if you need a recommendation for something to read afterward, I highly recommend Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire.
Ariel on February 25th, 2007 9:32 am

Hi Gabe, thanks for dropping by... and yes, Gates of Fire is an excellent novel. Read it a few years back when it first came out in the UK, would definitely recommend it as a cracking historical action read. Again, not 100% with the factual accuracy, by all accounts, but very well-written. Must get around to the rest of Pressfield's material at some point.
Joe on February 28th, 2007 11:22 pm

I actually got contacted by the PR firm for Warners in London who were doing a preview last week with Zack Snyder in attendance on his way home from the premiere at the berlin Film Fest. alas only short notice and it was, as these things usually are, down in London and in the evening to boot meaning a stay over, so just not do-able. Shame.

But as a clever-clogs with a lifelong penchant for Classical Studies, love of comics and movies this looks like ticking all my major boxes. Not overly worried about the 'historical accuracy'; as with Braveheart, El Cid etc its worth remembering its a big epic movie, not a documentary. A lot of popular looks at this battle already miss the history anyway, avoiding the fact it wasn't just 300 Spartans but a lot of others - the Spartans were just the hardest bunch who stood in the middle and did what they did best. As for reading material, I recommend Paul Cartledge's "The Spartans" as a good general introductory history (Cambridge bod, was also consultant on the C4 docu-series of the same name).

And hey, while we're at it, let's not forget, if it wasn't for the Spartans we wouldn't have the Klingons today!
Ariel on March 1st, 2007 6:57 am

Yeah, I heard about that pre-showing as well. One of the bloggers I read regularly - Hugh MacLeod - got an invite and asked if anyone else wanted to go along, and got swamped. Would have loved to try to wangle a trip myself but as you say, London is a long way off.

V. true about the historical background. Also remember from Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire that the 300 Spartans who agreed to form the vanguard at Thermopylae were all veterans who had sired at least one male child to continue to swell the ranks of the Spartan warrior classes. Think that bit was historically accurate, although in Pressfield's book I think the Spartans built a wall to block the pass, which they wouldn't have done at the historical battle, as they preferred to fight unhindered...

Anyway, all good stuff!