Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Analog Scott (A) on January 10, 2007 at 22:31:04

In Reply to: Re: Analog Scott posted by DWPC on January 10, 2007 at 09:29:16:

1. The story, both in the book and in the movie, is literally told as a story by the one survivor around a camp fire as a story of inspiration. Both Miller and Zack Snyder as an interpretor of Miller's work chose to tell the tale form the perspective of myth. Myth can be completely made up or inspired by true events like this. There is nothing vague about the fact that this is a mythical tale of true events from the perspective of an ancient Greek with all the beliefs that go with living in that time and place.

2. The history that is presented in this movie is actually remarkably accurate. Some side strories have been added to help flesh out the narrative and give us some relief from what would otherwise be a second half of a movie comprised of one relentless battle after another. The things that have been changed/turned into fantasy are more or less the visuals and some added magic, magic that was believed to be real by the people in that time and place. This is nothing new. Just look at how artists of the that time and place depicted Spartan soldies in battle. Look how artists have visually interpreted history throughout the ages. The fact is "the history" is very much in tact in 300. The visual spectacle is an artistic liberty that has been taken by artists over the centuries. Is Michelangelo's David any less great because of the technical inaccuracies? Is DaVinci's last supper discredited becuase he got the ethnicity wrong? That is just off the top of my head. The list of extreme licence taken by artists in depicting history is pretty vast. One nice thing about 300 is that artsistic licence is not ambiguous.

3. Most important is that the spirit of that great historical event is captured quite faithfully. To me that is what really matters. For some getting the costumes right will matter more. Telling the story "that few stood against many" is what matters.