<!--QuoteBegin-ramana+Mar 12 2007, 01:32 AM-->QUOTE(ramana @ Mar 12 2007, 01:32 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->I got to see the '300' last night at a theater in a small town in US. The theater was packed with people of all ages.
The movie is based on the historical event of battle of Thermoplyae where 300 Spartans under King Leonidas stopped a Persian invading force under Xerxes. However the film directed based on a graphic novel and has quite few interesting depictions. Mainly the Persians are portrayed as some sort of sub-humans and perverts. A lot of computer animations was used for the gory scenes.
What was interesting was the films view of the Persians as some sort of overlords of the East who were bent on imposing their will on the free Greeks. But in contrast to the West which had the mission of bringing in light to the heathen it was the heathen trying to impose their rule over the Enlightened Greeks. With recent scholars like VDH claiming the West and the US in particular inheriting all that is good in Greek culture there were murmurs of approval in the audience at some dialogs asserting the superiority of Greek culture.
One thing peculiar was having Xerxes be borne on palanquins with rams' head motif. <b>For those who know Biblical stories that is the iconography of Baal. </b>This is a unwarranted cross linkage for the Jews were taken to Persia from captivity by Nebuchadnezzar and it was in Persia that the idea of light and darkness etc came into the Bible. So depicting Persians as Baal worshipers or followers is an unwarranted inaccuracy might have other reasons to show that. And the Greeks had their own gods whom they worshiped and they are shown formless a la Hebrew theogony. Yes there is a female oracle but is disparaged by the King Leonidas and the oracle priests are shown in grotesque form again implying disparagement.
<b>What I realized was that this story is the historic/eternal European fear of being overwhelmed by Asia. </b>This is the root cause of the various geo-political moves that have shaped the European and Asian interaction through out history. These moves have happened over vast time periods and have involved both sides. The players might have thought they were in a little game but the bigger game always was this historic fear.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_%28Bible%29
On God's instruction, <b>Gideon destroyed the town's altar to the foreign god Baal and the symbol of the goddess Asherah beside it. </b>He went on to send out messengers to gather together men from the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, as well as his own tribe Manasseh in order to meet an armed force of the people of Midian and the Amalek that had crossed the Jordan River and were encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.
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Midianites are a northern arabian tribe.
The uberspartan narrative has all the elements of the Gideon original:
-300 chosen uberwarriors rout/delay the main enemy force into the hands of an awaiting larger ambush party.
-ubermensch from the east
-identity defining moment for morally superior natives
The movie is based on the historical event of battle of Thermoplyae where 300 Spartans under King Leonidas stopped a Persian invading force under Xerxes. However the film directed based on a graphic novel and has quite few interesting depictions. Mainly the Persians are portrayed as some sort of sub-humans and perverts. A lot of computer animations was used for the gory scenes.
What was interesting was the films view of the Persians as some sort of overlords of the East who were bent on imposing their will on the free Greeks. But in contrast to the West which had the mission of bringing in light to the heathen it was the heathen trying to impose their rule over the Enlightened Greeks. With recent scholars like VDH claiming the West and the US in particular inheriting all that is good in Greek culture there were murmurs of approval in the audience at some dialogs asserting the superiority of Greek culture.
One thing peculiar was having Xerxes be borne on palanquins with rams' head motif. <b>For those who know Biblical stories that is the iconography of Baal. </b>This is a unwarranted cross linkage for the Jews were taken to Persia from captivity by Nebuchadnezzar and it was in Persia that the idea of light and darkness etc came into the Bible. So depicting Persians as Baal worshipers or followers is an unwarranted inaccuracy might have other reasons to show that. And the Greeks had their own gods whom they worshiped and they are shown formless a la Hebrew theogony. Yes there is a female oracle but is disparaged by the King Leonidas and the oracle priests are shown in grotesque form again implying disparagement.
<b>What I realized was that this story is the historic/eternal European fear of being overwhelmed by Asia. </b>This is the root cause of the various geo-political moves that have shaped the European and Asian interaction through out history. These moves have happened over vast time periods and have involved both sides. The players might have thought they were in a little game but the bigger game always was this historic fear.
[right][snapback]65502[/snapback][/right]
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_%28Bible%29
On God's instruction, <b>Gideon destroyed the town's altar to the foreign god Baal and the symbol of the goddess Asherah beside it. </b>He went on to send out messengers to gather together men from the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, as well as his own tribe Manasseh in order to meet an armed force of the people of Midian and the Amalek that had crossed the Jordan River and were encamped in the Valley of Jezreel.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Midianites are a northern arabian tribe.
The uberspartan narrative has all the elements of the Gideon original:
-300 chosen uberwarriors rout/delay the main enemy force into the hands of an awaiting larger ambush party.
-ubermensch from the east
-identity defining moment for morally superior natives