1 I agree - damn fine film. I actually stood up and appauded during a couple of scenes.

And the fact that the liberals hate it and Iran is condemning it doesn't hurt.

2 really? iran condemns it? weird.

also. the ONLY thing i dont like about that movie is that it made the spartans look kinda.... stupid. the victory was far more intelligently strategical than this movie makes it out. but yeah, historical accuracy and whatnot. i just think they could have made this movie about any random battle and it would have done just as good.

3 Jake,  any examples you would like to make? Which random battles do you think were of similar importance to the flow of history?                           USA, all the way!

4 The Spartan Senate, not King Leonidis and his 'army',  looks stupid in this movie - because they (and the 'wise ones', what ever they were called) were bought off by the persians. Turning on their own people for gold - sounds like Murtha and the rest of the dhimicrats, huh?

Yes, they could have made this about any battle, but the creators chose this battle, which has significance to our current situation in the world. Did they chose it specifically as a comment to that affect? I don't know, but timing is everything.

For all of the faults that will be found with this film, I think it will remain popular with the American people for the allegory it poses.

THOMPSON 2008 - A Tough Man For Tough Times

5 how about the crusades? or waggle to the feminists with joan of arc (being topless or something, of course) how about Genghis Khan's successful uniting of his people and training them as an incredibly powerful army? or some of the fairly interesting japanese wars (had a damn lot for all living on three smallish islands) the Vikings successful campaign against the romans in britain and northern europe?

what i mean is you could just do it up with some brutal cgi and some dramatization and it would totally work. im kinda sick of hearing about ancient roman/greek civilizations, like the were the ONLY things to have existed then. >_>

you realize that i am not posting some sort of crazy liberal contradictory view, right? i like war movies and i like cgi. i just don't like rehashed ideas. theres lots of interesting graphic novel concepts that aren't even touched. we dont need to do another troy/gladiator/etc movie.

6 how about the crusades?

Kingdom of Heaven.

or waggle to the feminists with joan of arc (being topless or something, of course)

Other than wiggling titties around, what would be the point of that one?

how about Genghis Khan's successful uniting of his people and training them as an incredibly powerful army?

Let's not forget the fact that they rampaged over the entire region, snuffing out entire peoples. I'm thinking that isn't a good equivalent for 300 and its message.

And the fact they wiped out entire peoples in their path?
or some of the fairly interesting japanese wars (had a damn lot for all
living on three smallish islands)

The Last Samurai.

the Vikings successful campaign
against the romans in britain and northern europe?

That would be an interesting one, seeing as how the Vikings didn't exist during the time of the Romans. They were a distinct pagan Scandinavian culture that developed, I believe, around the eighth century AD. So unless zombie Caesar and his undead legions were to spring out of the ground to fight them, I don't see it happening.

what i mean is you could just do it up with some brutal cgi and some dramatization and it would totally work.

I don't know if you've actually looked, but brutal violence and great CG does not a great movie make. If that were the case, Sin City would have made a lot more at the box office.

im kinda sick of hearing about ancient roman/greek civilizations, like the were the ONLY things to have existed then. >_>

Fair enough, but previous to Gladiator, which really kicked off the whole Grecco-Roman schtick in Hollywood, there hadn't been a memorable one made in decades. So, in seven years, you can count four movies made: Gladiator, Troy, Alexander, 300, and you could probably HBO's Rome series. Not really much of a glut by Hollywood standards.

you realize that i am not posting some sort of crazy liberal
contradictory view, right? i like war movies and i like cgi. i just
don't like rehashed ideas.

Let's consider this:

1. Gladiator: Telling the story a fictional general turned gladiator and his conflict against the corrupt and psychotic emperor of Rome, embodied in gladiatorial combat.

2. Troy: Recounting the Trojan War and the victory of the Greeks over Troy with their final deception.

3. Alexander: Recounting the life of Alexander the Great and his rise and fall.

4. 300: Telling a highly stylized account of the a long-odds battle of elite troops against an army of staggering size.

Those all sound like rehashed ideas to me...

theres lots of interesting graphic novel concepts that aren't even touched.

And against the backdrop of all the other superhero movies that were/are being made, wouldn't 300 fall into that category?

we dont need to do another troy/gladiator/etc movie.

As I believe I showed above, those are far from the same movie, unless you want to reduce them all the generalities. It seems to me that you've totally missed the point of the movie. Are all those other examples interesting? Sure. But all the ones you cited, save the Crusades, have neither the cultural or historical resonance to match the battle of Thermopylae. And can you cite one where a single battle was so pivotal or the odds so long (even by actual historical estimation)? All of those are interesting periods of history, but they aren't specific battles with great resonance that can be told in a two hour movie.

7
That would be an interesting one, seeing as how the Vikings didn't
exist during the time of the Romans. They were a distinct pagan
Scandinavian culture that developed, I believe, around the eighth
century AD. So unless zombie Caesar and his undead legions were to
spring out of the ground to fight them, I don't see it happening.

:p anglo-saxons then.

8

Well I happen to like the movies (old) about Ghengis Khan, so a new one would be cool I guess. 

Yes "viking" culture was later than the single 'Roman' empire. The Northmen were getting around before that, but not strictly 'viking' which is more descriptive of the activities we associate with that word, including 'pillage'. I have read that some Northmen came down in time to help Charles Martel repel another epic invasion we should all know about. Thats a movie I'd like to see made.

I still think there is a special message in 'The 300' and that it is something from the artist in Frank Miller, striking a contrast between a war to defend, and a war to subjugate. As a rule, America isn't the one who starts wars. We aren't perfect, but our isolationist streak is a fairly strong one, even today.

If you look at how we are with even deadly enemies like Nazism, you can see we like to mind our own business as a people. We react badly when messed with. That's about it.

We are defenders. We defend the enviroment of western enlightenment. We have made a commitment to do so, even if we don't always feel like it. We could have forced the world to our mold, but at the price of some of the values we hold dear. So we wait, instead, and pray we see threats before they become to great.

Our enemy is a conquerer. Our enemy will infiltrate and corrupt us, or mass up and murder us outright, but the enemies goal remains the same despite whatever tactic is selected. Our submission is the goal. Especially OUR submission. When we are in submission, the world will fall along with us. We are the 'Spartans'.

The fact that freedom for this world, lives or dies with US, is an absolute. It is a pure truth. Someday, it may be that if we guard this responsability well, we can pass it on to a successor nation which shares our ideals, and will guard them as we have. That day is a long ways away, and will never come, if we fail in this dark time.

So without the benefit of special effects, or a cool soundtrack, here we are at the wall. Americans, at least some of us, with our allies. Aware of the true enemy, and knowing it is up to each of us to make our best effort, to do what needs done, and defend what needs defending!

Frank Miller is going on my list of everyday hero's. His pen is mighty indeed! He uses it for the good.

USA, all the way!

9 :p anglo-saxons then.

The British Isles were populated by groups like the Irish, Picti, Scotti, Attacoti, etc. Collectively, they were known as Celts. The Saxons and the Angles came later. Try this link for more info.

10 AND ITS NOT A LIBERAL REVIONISTS MOVIE, LIKE DANCES WITH WOLVES WAS.

11 I still think there is a special message in 'The 300' and that it is
something from the artist in Frank Miller, striking a contrast between
a war to defend, and a war to subjugate.

I agree.  I am going to see 300 this weekend, but the appeal of the story is that a small group of men are defending freedom against overwhelming odds, knowing full well that they will never live to see that freedom themselves.

It hits the same notes as the final battle of Saving Private Ryan, the "many days" speech from Braveheart, the Alamo, the St. Crispin's day speech from Henry V, the Magnificent Seven, and on and on.  It doesn't even matter if the story is 100% fictional. It still is hitting the central theme that some men, better than us, are willing to sacrifice themselves so that we may be free.

Of course, lefturds see America as an evil oppressor, and so somehow the likes of Zarqawi are "freedom fighters" on the same moral level as the 300.   The 300 specifically argues that the Spartan civilization, compared to the Persians, was better and the only one worth dying for.  May not be historically accurate, but voicing the very notion that some cultures are better than others is the greatest sin imaginable to lefturds.

Victor David Hanson explained it better (this isn't his review, but a short commentary on the point I raised):
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YzJmOTNmYmNlYjNmMDIyZjNmMWRjOGExOGNjYzBjMzU=

12

Wooga, since nobody else said so yet, your link was great!   USA, all the way!