Quite a few ancient societies were exactly like that, unfortunately. And "300" was not intended to be a movie that criticized ancient Spartan societies. If it had done that, it would have been absolutely nothing like the graphic novel, and would have come off as preachy.
*sigh* I dunno, Radish. Maybe you should watch a movie for the story, rather than overanalyze it. I can still watch "Grease" without being enraged by the supposed underlying message of "Change who you are and how you live for someone you spent a few weeks with, even though you will probably break up, end up with cancer from the cigarettes, and have a terrible reputation for dressing like a slut."
My criticism is intended to apply to the graphic novel as well as the movie wherever appropriate, hence my address to "Frankie-boy" towards the end. That being clarified...
Analysis does not in any way preclude enjoyment of a work (in many cases it may even be essential), nor does criticism. There are a number of works I find awful by some measure or another that I also heartily enjoy; Final Fantasy VIII, for instance. And many, many more works I merely find highly flawed that I still enjoy as well (Throne of Bhaal, say), if not love to death (Revenge of the Sith).
300 in particular, however, can't say I enjoyed much. Its "story" is built around, upon, and with the premise that the 300 Spartans and Sparta in general were TOTALLY OMFG AWESOME; so TOTALLY OMFG AWESOME that we should TOTALLY OMFG TRY TO BE MORE LIKE THEM, because they were such TOTALLY OMFG AWESOME WARRIORS (nevermind the means used to make them that way - the ends always justify the means after all) who fought and died for all the right TOTALLY OMFG AWESOME
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I guess the movie tells the story of a horribly munchkined group of players against another horribly munchkined group of players. Let's just claim that they're all epic or something, lol :D
When critiquing the messages within and possible ramifications of pop-culture content, the creators' original intent rarely - if, in fact, ever - matters. Oh, one can (and I did, some) discuss the various possible intents and their individual likelihoods, but not for the purpose of arguing what the One True Intent actually was, but rather as a means of exploring what an audience is likely to perceive the intent to be (consciously or otherwise), and consequently whether the producers of the content - assuming they had the best intent possible (if I ever really begin to think Frank Miller consciously wrote the queen's violation as a deliberate Aesop, my sheer stupefaction will be of such magnitude as to threaten me with permanent paralysis) - need to seriously evaluate how effectively they're communicating their vision and (perhaps secondarily) their values, and whether some unchecked prejudices on their part may be contributing to any miscommunication.
You don't critique an artwork on whether or not it matches up with your personal world view. You have to take it for what it is. It's not a cheesy movie's job to influence the audience to think like you do.
1) I thought 300 was dumb just because it couldn't decide if it wanted to be historically accurate or not, thus the moral confusion. However, I do think you may be reading too far into the gender implications. 2) Up with the date? Please? Consider it a late birthday present.
I'm just stating what the sexist implications are (that I noticed), perhaps reading into them briefly to speculate on creative intent. Reading too far into them I would think means stepping beyond speculation and trying to "prove" what the creators' intent was. Which I don't do, and no other meaning comes to mind
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Quite a few ancient societies were exactly like that, unfortunately. And "300" was not intended to be a movie that criticized ancient Spartan societies. If it had done that, it would have been absolutely nothing like the graphic novel, and would have come off as preachy.
*sigh* I dunno, Radish. Maybe you should watch a movie for the story, rather than overanalyze it. I can still watch "Grease" without being enraged by the supposed underlying message of "Change who you are and how you live for someone you spent a few weeks with, even though you will probably break up, end up with cancer from the cigarettes, and have a terrible reputation for dressing like a slut."
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Analysis does not in any way preclude enjoyment of a work (in many cases it may even be essential), nor does criticism. There are a number of works I find awful by some measure or another that I also heartily enjoy; Final Fantasy VIII, for instance. And many, many more works I merely find highly flawed that I still enjoy as well (Throne of Bhaal, say), if not love to death (Revenge of the Sith).
300 in particular, however, can't say I enjoyed much. Its "story" is built around, upon, and with the premise that the 300 Spartans and Sparta in general were TOTALLY OMFG AWESOME; so TOTALLY OMFG AWESOME that we should TOTALLY OMFG TRY TO BE MORE LIKE THEM, because they were such TOTALLY OMFG AWESOME WARRIORS (nevermind the means used to make them that way - the ends always justify the means after all) who fought and died for all the right TOTALLY OMFG AWESOME ( ... )
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Not all movies are intended as propaganda
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2) Up with the date? Please? Consider it a late birthday present.
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