Here's why the film didn't offend me in the least:
Yes, it's completely politically incorrect, but I don't think it's fair to read in any allegory to what's going on today.
Sparta was a racist, boorish, brutal, protectionist state. They saw themselves an ethnically superior people even amongst their fellow Greeks, and their foreign adversaries were deemed sub-human, all of which fed into their military demagoguery. The essence of the graphic novel was to portray this singular battle from their (one-sided) POV, not to arbitrate nor portray the historical context of the incursion and conflict.
However wrong Spartan culture was, this did battle represent one hell of military stand. The graphic novel and the movie do glorify military culture, including the parts of it that are wrong (though in many ways necessary), but that's exactly what telling the story of Thermopylae is about. It's about the now-incomprehensible valor, purpose and mechanism of that small band of human killing machines, and why it mattered to Western culture. And it's always going to be one-sided.
I guess I'm from the war is a force that gives us meaning school of thought -- as much as I abhor how our military power is being abused now, I'm not against everything about military culture.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-03-26 12:39 am (UTC)Yes, it's completely politically incorrect, but I don't think it's fair to read in any allegory to what's going on today.
Sparta was a racist, boorish, brutal, protectionist state. They saw themselves an ethnically superior people even amongst their fellow Greeks, and their foreign adversaries were deemed sub-human, all of which fed into their military demagoguery. The essence of the graphic novel was to portray this singular battle from their (one-sided) POV, not to arbitrate nor portray the historical context of the incursion and conflict.
However wrong Spartan culture was, this did battle represent one hell of military stand. The graphic novel and the movie do glorify military culture, including the parts of it that are wrong (though in many ways necessary), but that's exactly what telling the story of Thermopylae is about. It's about the now-incomprehensible valor, purpose and mechanism of that small band of human killing machines, and why it mattered to Western culture. And it's always going to be one-sided.
I guess I'm from the war is a force that gives us meaning school of thought -- as much as I abhor how our military power is being abused now, I'm not against everything about military culture.