10-07-2006, 02:57 PM
I admire Miller's artwork, but I can not help but feeling very, very uncomfortable with the message of the book. I wrote a review of it (in Dutch; here) and pointed at several aspects:
1. the effeminacy of the Asians versus the celebration of Spartan masculinity; in the painting, the Persians are almost black, negroid
2. the portrayal of Ephialtes as someone physically challenged, full of rancor
3. the contrast between "the only free men the world has ever known" and the"slaves of Xerxes", which is exaggerated; Athens (not Sparta) offered some kind of freedom to its male citizens, over the backs of more slaves than the great king could have dreamed of; if you define freedom as "rule of the law", there is no difference, the Persian king was subject to the law of Medes and Persians as well
I did not say it in my review (which appeared on a neoconservative website), but I can summarize it over here, in a moderated forum: 300 is beautiful, but it is the same frightening beauty of a Leni Riefenstahl movie. The editor was even more direct in his judgment: it was simply crypto-fascism. I am afraid he is not exaggerating very much.
I am also afraid that the movie is, in the present climate, disastrously ill-timed. If neoconservative pundits in the USA will not use it to show that we must invade Iran, Iranian politicians will love to point out the stereotypes. The Danish cartoon riot will pale in comparison with the next clash between freedom of speech and an offended nation.
1. the effeminacy of the Asians versus the celebration of Spartan masculinity; in the painting, the Persians are almost black, negroid
2. the portrayal of Ephialtes as someone physically challenged, full of rancor
3. the contrast between "the only free men the world has ever known" and the"slaves of Xerxes", which is exaggerated; Athens (not Sparta) offered some kind of freedom to its male citizens, over the backs of more slaves than the great king could have dreamed of; if you define freedom as "rule of the law", there is no difference, the Persian king was subject to the law of Medes and Persians as well
I did not say it in my review (which appeared on a neoconservative website), but I can summarize it over here, in a moderated forum: 300 is beautiful, but it is the same frightening beauty of a Leni Riefenstahl movie. The editor was even more direct in his judgment: it was simply crypto-fascism. I am afraid he is not exaggerating very much.
I am also afraid that the movie is, in the present climate, disastrously ill-timed. If neoconservative pundits in the USA will not use it to show that we must invade Iran, Iranian politicians will love to point out the stereotypes. The Danish cartoon riot will pale in comparison with the next clash between freedom of speech and an offended nation.
