Into the Valley of Death Road the 300
Last weekend, my friend Greg and I went to see the movie 300, based on the Frank Miller graphic novel. Depending on how you look at it, the movie is about a) the valiant stand of the Spartans against the Persians at Thermopylae, b) the glorious victory of the Persians over the Greeks at Thermopylae, c) America vs. Iraq, d) America vs. Iran, e) scantily clad Aryan gym bunnies fighting dark-skinned blowhards in pointy helmets and the remnants of Michael Jackson’s menagerie, or f) Xerxes’ makeup and accessorizing tips.
The movie has a definite style and, although I’ve never seen the Frank Miller book, I have no reason to believe the movie isn’t faithful to the book. Whether it’s faithful to Greece is another story - I have to say that the gloomy, oppressive look contrasts with my notion of Greece as a sun-washed vacation destination. Even if people are fighting to the death, can’t they do it on a nice sunny day? Besides, high contrast lighting increases muscle definition (see e. above).
Another irritating thing - the movie makers have evidently decided that we are too stupid to understand a place name like Thermopylae and refer to it by its translation “the Hot Gates.” Maybe no-one on set could figure out how to pronounce it (thur-mop’-uh-lee, in case you were wondering), but when Leonidas intones “the Hot Gates,” it sounds like he’s talking some alternative-universe version of our latest Secretary of Defense.
Of course, the story of the Spartans at Thermopylae, courtesy of Herodotus, is the original underdog story, a story that is much beloved. Think of Shakespeare’s Henry V - English at Agincourt. Or Tchaikovsky’s War of 1812 - the Russians defending Moscow against the French. Or the Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigade - the English against the Russians in the Crimean War. Or Animal House - the misfit loser fraternity against the establishment.
But I knew that 300 had touched people when I heard it being discussed on the Public Radio show On Point. Tom Ashbrook’s guests for the discussion included Ian Mohr, a reporter for Variety; Barry Strauss, a classics professor at Cornell; John Psaropoulos, editor at the Athens News; and Hossein Hedjazi, from Radio Iran in Los Angeles.
Prof. Strauss pointed out that much of the movie was historically inaccurate, including the level of clothing coverage of the Spartans, although some of the lines were straight out of Herodotus. Mr. Psaropoulos affirmed that the movie was wildly popular in Greece, as you might expect. Mr. Hedjazi represented the Iranian viewpoint that the film shows Persians in a distinctly unflattering light. Mr. Psaropoulos went further to say that Greeks generally respected the Persians since, after all, they did get beaten by them - they were not nearly as horrible as the Turks… And Mr. Hedjazi seemed most upset that the Persians has been portrayed as dark-skinned and that Xerxes looked like a giant drag queen. Horrors.
By the way, apologies to Alfred Lord Tennyson for the title of this post…
March 29th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
The images, the phrase “Hot Gates,” Xerxes and his wild outfit, all of that stuff was straight out of the Frank Miller novel. I loved the gloomy oppressive look. And, for the record, I didn’t realize that Thermopylae translated as Hot Gates so give me a break.
I hear a lot about what was historically inaccurate in the movie but people talk about the clothes most often. Perhaps it was historically inaccurate. So what? It was a graphic novel and then it was a book.
I wish everyone would just relax about this and view it as entertainment. I didn’t see anyone criticizing Pan’s Labyrinth because some of those creatures don’t exist. It’s a movie. Not a documentary. Buy your popcorn, enjoy the eye candy and the rousing emotions and then go home and move on. sigh.