300

[Opifex]

Ave!

Do you know anything about this movie?
I know as any movie there is no need to expect serious authenticity, but the feeling of the trailer reached my soul...

http://mftm.blogspot.com/2006/09/300-20 ... scoop.html

Unfortunatly I could not find better place for that, but if the moderators move the topic to another place, I agree wit them.
Sorry if you already knew this before.

Opifex

[Zenodoros]

I can't wait for this movie. It's inaccurate, but it is based on a comic. Which I would recommend for the excellent artwork alone.

I would rather Gates of Fire, but this'll do nicely.

[M.ilionario]

Yes, inacurate as hell! :evil: But pretty touching

[Robert Vermaat]

We're discussing it HERE: http://www.romanarmy.com/rat/viewtopic.php?t=11002

[Mythos_Ruler]

Here is a "300" wallpaper I made for everyone from the latest trailer. There are multiple sizes for everyone to choose from. If you like it, say so, and I will make more.

1280x960 -> [url:39itqn1i]http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/2467/300wallpaperleonidas1280x960yg8.jpg[/url]

1152x864 -> [url:39itqn1i]http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/6663/300wallpaperleonidas1152x864xe3.jpg[/url]

1024x768 -> [url:39itqn1i]http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/1314/300wallpaperleonidas1024x768de9.jpg[/url]

Enjoy!

EDIT: UPLOADED a boatload of screencaps (36), the three wallpapers, the wallpaper PSD, and a small animated gif

[url:39itqn1i]http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DRZ95TQH[/url]

Here's an example of the quality of the images (non-retouched, no sharpening, just simple cropping):

[Mythos_Ruler]

New "300" Desktop Wallpapers by Mythos_Ruler:

Shipwrecks [1280 x 960] -> [url:1pu00uhz]http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/9877/300wallpapershipwrecks1280x960yk3.jpg[/url]

Shipwrecks [1152 x 864] -> [url:1pu00uhz]http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/5061/300wallpapershipwrecks1152x864om8.jpg[/url]

Shipwrecks [1024 x 768] -> [url:1pu00uhz]http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/2694/300wallpapershipwrecks1024x768xk9.jpg[/url]

-----

Freedom Forever [1280 x 960] -> [url:1pu00uhz]http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/8213/300wallpaperfreedom1280x960dx3.jpg[/url]

Freedom Forever [1152 x 864] -> [url:1pu00uhz]http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/5270/300wallpaperfreedom1152x864sy9.jpg[/url]

Freedom Forever [1024 x 768] -> [url:1pu00uhz]http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/4042/300wallpaperfreedom1024x768gc5.jpg[/url]

-----

Arrows (Stand Your Ground) [1280 x 960] -> [url:1pu00uhz]http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/7311/300wallpaperarrows1280x960zs5.jpg[/url]

Arrows (Stand Your Ground) [1152 x 864] -> [url:1pu00uhz]http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/4584/300wallpaperarrows1152x864ww0.jpg[/url]

Arrows (Stand Your Ground) [1024 x 768] -> [url:1pu00uhz]http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/9729/300wallpaperarrows1024x768ri3.jpg[/url]

[Jona Lendering]

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.

[spartacus-033]

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

true but Greek slaves had it better then the rest of the world did; they lived the lives of poor peasents. Greece's fight for freedom was much like America's fight for freedom. We had slaves at the time too. I have always seen the story of Thermopylae as a story of a few fighting the many. The few where willing to die for what they believed.

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

Well I know my people, and even though we were pulled into a war in Iraq;I dont think we'll go for a war with Iran. The approval rating for the Iraq war is in the 30's, I doubt if Jesus could convince us to go to war with Iran( at this point anyway)

[Jona Lendering]

true but Greek slaves had it better then the rest of the world did; they lived the lives of poor peasents. Greece's fight for freedom was much like America's fight for freedom. We had slaves at the time too. I have always seen the story of Thermopylae as a story of a few fighting the many. The few where willing to die for what they believed.

I'm at two thoughts here; but at least the story as told by Herodotus is a good one and continues to inspire. It tells that people can fail with honor. It also tells -and this is for me the inspiring part- that honor does matter.

Picking up a clue from Frances Fukuyama --he describes how modern men live for money; they are rational, democratic, despise war and violence - but they also feel little passion and lack idealism. These are the "last of men" living at "the end of history", because the great ideological debates are now over. But there used to be a time, not so long ago, in which people were not clinging to their lives and money, but were willing to risk everything for an ideal.

Probably this is irrational, but I can admire those people and take inspiration. The woman I love gave up everything and settled as a doctor in a Third World country. I wish I had Abertine's talents and courage.

Or, to make the same point with less philosophy: the exchange between Harmonica and Frank in Once Upon a Time in the West, discussing great businessman like railroad tycoon Morton:

Harmonica: So, you found out you're not a businessman after all.
Frank: Just a man.
Harmonica: An ancient race. Other Mortons will be along, and they'll kill it off.

I think Leonidas and Herodotus might have understood Harmonica and Frank, and Albertine, and I sympathize with their code of honor.

[Robert Vermaat]

Greece's fight for freedom was much like America's fight for freedom. We had slaves at the time too. I have always seen the story of Thermopylae as a story of a few fighting the many. The few where willing to die for what they believed.

I can see some similarities, but a direct comparison is totally out of order. America's fight for freedom from the English and Greece's fight for freedom against the Turks I can can compare, but the ancient attitude to slaves is totally incomparable with the attituide to slaves in the 19th century. There was no thought in ancient Greece whatsoever about abolition of slavery. None. Individual freedom and basic human rights of the individual did not exist. At all.

Therefore, I think a comparison between America and Greece in the time of Thermopylae is wrong - one would pull both periods out of context.
I agree with Jona about the battle, it was most probably not for freedom (why does Mel Gibson keep bellowing this word at the top of his lungs in my brain), and we should stop misusing and distorting real history for modern propaganda.

[spartacus-033]

Therefore, I think a comparison between America and Greece in the time of Thermopylae is wrong - one would pull both periods out of context.

I didn't mean for a direct comparison between the two just that they were fights for "freedom", and yet in both America and Greece at the time of the Persian wars, not everyone was free, and nor would they be for a very long time

[conon394]

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

Surly the great king could imagine more than maybe 80,000 slaves; and even that figure is likely the high point during Athens best economic boom times - say around 440 BC or so.

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

That seems like a bit of a stretch; if you disagreed with the King’s opinion about the laws of the Persians and Medes to whom could you appeal? Where was the repository of Persian laws such that each member of the empire could reference the written law and contradict the King.

[Jona Lendering]

That seems like a bit of a stretch; if you disagreed with the King’s opinion about the laws of the Persians and Medes to whom could you appeal? Where was the repository of Persian laws such that each member of the empire could reference the written law and contradict the King.

There was a book, which is referred to several times (a/o in the biblical books of Ezra-Nehemia and Esther). The point of Esther is that Ahasverus is unable to revert an earlier decision.

[Robert Vermaat]

Therefore, I think a comparison between America and Greece in the time of Thermopylae is wrong - one would pull both periods out of context.

I didn't mean for a direct comparison between the two just that they were fights for "freedom", and yet in both America and Greece at the time of the Persian wars, not everyone was free, and nor would they be for a very long time

So which conflict do you refer to? The War of Independence? One could argue that the Americans did not think of themselves as free, but still it's totally different from the outside invasion by the Persian Empire. Neither war was about slaves though.
If you are referring to the Civil War, that would be totally different. The slaves were unfree (although it can surely be argued that the Civil War was NOT about freeing the slaves!). Anyway, freeing the slaves was a totally alien concept to bth parties at Thermopylae.

So where's the comparison? If you'd want to compare the two, you'd best compare it to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, surely? Thermopylae was about a foreign attack - in that sense I could see it as a struggle for freedom, but only against the threat of losing that freedom.

[Mythos_Ruler]

The Persian War could be analogous to the Russian Afghan war of the 1980s.