Comments on: Straw Man?

By: video ubpaqkxoy

video ubpaqkxoy — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 06:32:57 +0000

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By: r@d@r

r@d@r — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 20:34:34 +0000

dear frank miller,

stop writing graphic novels about history and go back to what you do best – writing about batman kicking superman’s ass.

dear hollywood,

stop trying to make movies out of frank miller graphic novels. please.

dear right wing bloggers,

there are no cheetos in sparta.

By: Duros62

Duros62 — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 16:30:43 +0000

Perhaps Victor Davis Hanson doesn’t know what the @$%^ he is talking about.
Ah, yes. Occam’s Razor at work yet again.

By: SpiderJ

SpiderJ — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 11:27:48 +0000

Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? Iranians dislike the movie, and the Left, of course, wants Iran to nuke America, because the the Left has no sense of self-preservation or love for their friends and families. The Left is always, always, on the side of terrorists who want to kill them. This is illogical, but it passes for conventional wisdom among the loudest idiots of the right wing.

I will say one thing about 300…the fight choreographer deserves a raise. The Spartans in the film always seemed to be such an efficient killing force because of superior training, not because they or their opponents had been “choreographed.”

By: Wilbur

Wilbur — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 23:01:35 +0000

Hanson has made a pretty good career for himself hyping the anti-PC angle… and sprinkling his hack diatribes with references to Thucydides and Polybius to fool people into thinking he knows what he’s talking about.

I will say this for him, though. I saw him give a speech last year, and on the subject of Bush he said something like “when the country’s under threat you need a neanderthal for a leader.”

That’s one of the more honest statements I’ve heard from a right-winger in the last few years.

By: Colorado Dave

Colorado Dave — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 23:00:10 +0000

Still doesn’t explain why he thinks the “Left” is up in arms about it.

Well I am a leftist and I could not care less about it.

Perhaps Victor Davis Hanson doesn’t know what the @$%^ he is talking about.

By: Colorado Dave

Colorado Dave — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:59:37 +0000

Still doesn’t explain why he thinks the “Left” is up in arms about it.

Well I am a leftist and I could care less about it.

Perhaps Victor Davis Hanson doesn’t know what the @$%^ he is talking about.

By: Duros62

Duros62 — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:36:54 +0000

….they believe the movie disparages Persia and thus Iran.

Aah, so did Aladdin. Hoopie doo.

Still doesn’t explain why he thinks the “Left” is up in arms about it.

And it was bloody, sure, but not gratuitous bloody like Saw or anything.

Well, maybe a little.

By: Colorado Dave

Colorado Dave — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:28:43 +0000

Furor might be too strong a word. Perhaps mild commotion.

From my understanding the Iranian government has stated they believe the movie disparages Persia and thus Iran.

Take a stroll through the negative comments at Yahoo Movies and you will find many quotes from people ostensibly Iranian or Arab making the same claim. “Evil Hollywood making us look bad.” Kind of stuff.

As a result Right Wing Guys with Websites have decided if the Iranians hate it then it must have the same literary merit as Richard III.

Now I haven’t seen 300 and don’t plan on going. Don’t get me wrong I think Thermopylae is a great concept for a movie. For better or worse this movie is being promoted as a bloodfest and I’m not that into bloodfests (my love for the Illiad aside).

By: Duros62

Duros62 — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:26:18 +0000

I thought Wesley Snipes in To Wong Foo…

Waaaay too short.

BTW, anybody know what’s up with Sadly, No! ?

By: Duros62

Duros62 — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:21:12 +0000

Oh, I’m not dismissing it. It’s just that the dialogue has to be a little “compacted: let’s say, to fit in the frames.

I agree with you about the histrionics.

Also, that was probably the hottest, best done doggie-style love scenes since Body Heat.

By: SpiderJ

SpiderJ — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:00:22 +0000

Duros, I defy your dismissal of the dialogue as simply a product of “comic books.” All literature has the capacity to be as bad as the dialogue in 300.

I wish the movie hadn’t decided to make all this BS up about Sparta fighting for freedom and democracy. Sparta was a military state, the could have cared less about Athenian democracy.

They fought the Persians because the Persians were coming to conquer, rape, and burn the city to the ground–which is a perfectly reasonable motive to fight, without tossing all the jingoistic “Freedom isn’t free” language on top of it.

By: Duros62

Duros62 — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 21:40:45 +0000

White Whale, I agree, I didn’t see the movie to brush up on Geek history, or anything, nor did I expect a literary masterpiece. It is based on a graphic novel (dare I say, comic book), so the depth of the dialogue is pretty shallow going in.
My favorite part;
Lenides: (telling the hunchback he doesn’t have the chops to be a soldier.)

What, are you crying?!?!

There’s no crying in Sparta!

By: Oliver

Oliver — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 21:38:49 +0000

You thought RuPaul, I thought Wesley Snipes in To Wong Foo...

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 21:28:50 +0000

Duros,
Good point. I didn’t know RuPaul was a 20 foot giant Persian King.

By: WhiteWhale

WhiteWhale — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 21:26:16 +0000

Finally someone who doesn’t drool over 300! I thought the movie was a steaming pile. The action was good but they can’t shut up for 10 seconds to fight. I watch Kung Fu movies regularly and the dialogue is VERY bad, but the screenplay in 300 made me pray for a frontal lobotomy. I could understand if people(the right or left) would complain about Braveheart or Glory etc… I could understand because it is not a stretch to look for meaningful symbolism in these films, but 300 was such a brain dead movie that if you are looking for meaningful symbolism in this movie, you need a friend.

By: Duros62

Duros62 — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 21:25:23 +0000

Furor? There’s a furor? Must have missed it. I like how he provides absolutely no quotes or citations of this alleged “liberal furor.”

I will say this though:

A movie comes out with a stereotypical view of the Persians as aggressive, imperious, arrogant, and autocratic

and FAB-ulous!