300

Saw the movie 300 over the weekend. As you can see from the picture, it's a rather monochromatic film. Quite a few movies are made this way lately. Notice the lack of detail behind the actor. The cliffs and water are just a basic palate of color with no detail at all. I guess it focuses attention on the actor.

It's almost as if the movie is a video game. There are some "cut scenes" with some dialog in it, "come home with your shield, or on it" says the Queen, but most of the movie revolves around the combat, as if the viewer is holding a game controller in their hand, guiding the actions of the Spartans as they beat down the invading hordes.

This really is something of a right wing movie. At one point, the queen even says "Freedom isn't free". The analogy to today falls flat on itself when you realize that in the movie, the invading army consisted of a million men that had landed on Greek shores, with very ill intent. It would seem natural and logical that you would muster your army in defense of the obvious threat.

That, however, does not parallel to where we find ourselves today.

So, why only 300 defenders and not 30,000? It's political of course. I'm not giving away the plot really, because there is no plot beyond "Persians invade, buff Spartans defend with way too few and die a glorious death". Still, the film makers obviously have to draw the absurd analogy so they created a political reason why there could only be 300 defenders in an effort to discredit politicians. It doesn't seem anyone in their right mind would hold back an army in defense when a million barbarians land on your shores. Alas, that is the idea presented in the movie.

And like any good right wing slant, there's got to be a lot of subtle homosexuality. The picture doesn't do it justice, but if you saw the King in his entirety, you'd see he's wearing his cape, a thong, and boots. That's it. Evidently the Spartans had well equipped gyms as every last one of the 300 is a Nordic looking stud with ripped abs. I expect there was a lot of "wrestling" going on during their down time.

There is a scene where a disfigured Spartan asks to join the King's 300. The king asks him to raise his shield as high as he can, but the Spartan can only raise it waist high. The king thanks him for his interest, but as he cannot defend in the tradition of the Spartan warriors, he cannot be allowed the honor of dying for Sparta. Obviously, this is an allegory to affirmative action. Why would you allow a woman to be a firefighter if she could not carry a grown man's weight? True enough, in life and death situations, physical capability matters. There is a fine line that the writers don't have much interest in, and considering the period the film is set in, that makes sense. But as an allegory to today, it doesn't work all that well.

The violence is well done however. There's some really awful special effects in places, the beginning with a CG wolf is one, but over all it's rather visually pleasing. There's lots of slow motion of spears being thrust, and heads flying off torsos, all set to adrenaline inducing music. If you have testosterone, it will increase when the Spartans react in unison and begin mowing down their enemies exactly as in a video game.

This movie is all about sexuality. Many men (the right wing types) get some weird pleasure out of violence and mayhem. They enjoy the graphic killing. For women (and gay guys that like ripped abs), you get 300 studs in loincloths. This idea of a "glorious" death on the battlefield is reinforced over and over. I suppose at the time it was a good way to motivate soldiers to war, but I think the days of dying gloriously in violence are over.

That concept is hard for some to grasp. The ideal of man is not to die gloriously on the battlefield, but to live a long and boring life with family and friends. Glory is making it to 100, and having enjoyed it the entire way - not to end up a pile of goo at age 20.

True enough, there are times when self defense requires sacrifice, but it must be just, and it cannot be glorified in and of itself. Heroic deeds demand honor, but glory is a very different thing.

The movie also detracts from immersion by using creatures that look like they stepped right out of Lord of the Rings. What to do when giant elephants are stampeding their way towards your studmuffin Spartan army? Why, push them off the cliff. Simple.

In the end, the movie is what it is. It's a non-interactive video game, done well, interspersed with cut scenes where the King screams about being Spartans and glory, and the 300 yell "hooua" like a bunch of American marines.

It's rather disappointing the movie made so much money. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad movie. It's insipid entertainment, and that can be fun. It's just that when an intelligent and engrossing movie gets looked over, Hollywood notices what sells. It's more a social commentary then anything else.