Hanson: ‘300′ Fact or Fiction? « Foehammer’s Anvil

Hanson: ‘300′ Fact or Fiction?

Published by Foehammer 2 years, 12 months ago in History, Western Civilization and Movies. Tags: ancient spartans, battle of thermopylae, blockbuster, cinematic, frank miller, graphic novel, History, Movies, persian army, townhall, victor davis hanson, Western Civilization.

I’ll admit it: I just can’t get too much information about the Battle of Thermopylae and the movie ‘300′. This morning Victor Davis Hanson offers up some historical fact to go along with the pure cinematic enjoyment of the blockbuster movie. Here are the opening paragraphs and link:

Crowds are flocking to see the film “300″ about the ancient Spartans’ last stand at the pass at Thermopylae against an invading Persian army. Yet many critics, in panning “300,” have alleged that the film is essentially historically inaccurate. Are they right?

Here are some answers. But first two qualifiers. I wrote an introduction to a book about the making of “300″ after being shown a rough cut of the movie in October. And, second, remember that “300″ does not claim to follow exactly ancient accounts of the battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. Instead, it is an impressionistic take on a graphic novel by Frank Miller, intended to entertain and shock first, and instruct second.

Read the whole thing at Townhall.com.

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4 Responses to “Hanson: '300' Fact or Fiction?”

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1 Geoff |

Mar 22nd, 2007 at 12:52 pm

F.H.-

Good stuff! I’ve been wanting to get out and see 3oo on the big screen but working two jobs and being daddy to the third power makes this difficult. You have effectively got me scheming for excuses now.

I’ll leave my opinion when I do.
2 Gramfan |

Mar 22nd, 2007 at 11:56 pm

I am a fan of Greek Mythology and history in general. As often happens Hollywood is, naturally, more inclined to entertain rather than educate.

I haven’t seen this movie yet. I know there was an earlier version http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055719/ which I saw many years ago.

I also saw an Iranian-American (that’s how he described himself, I recall) on O’Reilly who was upset that the new movie would harm relations and create misconceptions about Iran. O’Reilly said: This happened over 400 years BC, Gimme a break!!

Exactly!

I wonder how much DNA of those “Persians” in the movie is still around today? That whole area, Babylon to Assyria, has seen so many wars since then. One can only wonder why the Iranians are so mad at a movie,and speak out against it, and yet not mad enough at their foolish president to speak out against him in public.
(Yes, thankfully some are!)
3 Foehammer |

Mar 23rd, 2007 at 7:46 am

Some Iranians are upset because they have misinterpreted the subtext of the movie as being anti-Persian, when it is in fact anti-Islam.

Think about it this way, when any of you were in class and the time came to do the dreaded poetry readings and interpretations, how many people actually knew what the hell someone like e.e. cummings was actually saying in his poem. Artistic license is something that can be difficult to follow.

And as it so happens, I would know something about that. Enough said.

As I have shown on this blog many times, I fully support the Iranian people. The Persians are not Muslims by choice, nor are they Arabs. There are many wonderful things about the Persian culture and I’ve known quite a few Iranians and Iranian-Americans in my life, all of whom have been polite, generous people, and all seemed to be secular and more than a few were strictly non-Muslims.
4 Gramfan |

Mar 23rd, 2007 at 3:42 pm

Thanks for the info Foehammer. Let’s hope some of these Iranians eventually get their country back from the current leaders.

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