The 300 workout

Here are a few choice quotes from reviews of the movie 300 which, while itself an adaptation of a graphic novel fantasy (sorta) based on the Battle of Thermopylae, has been loudly criticized for its revisionist casting of the Persian Empire as an oppressive enemy of a "free" and "western" Greek world. The Persians were, in fact, a notably tolerant (particularly with regard to religion) if not exactly free society by modern standards. The film has also drawn fire for its perhaps racist and homophobic depiction of the Persians as sexually ambiguous sub-humans. While historical ignorance and gruesome idiocy are not unique characteristics of American cinema, the timing of this movie.. as neocon war-planners attempt to neo-ly con an American theater-going electorate into a war with modern Persia.

Some comments on 300:

Gary Leupp writing in Counterpunch:

In short: 300's depiction of the battle of Thermopylae is not merely inaccurate, as any film adaptation of a graphic novel has the perfect right to be. It's what the Iranians say it is: racist and insulting. It pits the glorious Greeks with whom the audience must sympathize against a "mystical" and "tyrannical" culture posing an imminent existential threat. It is, de facto, an anti-Persian/anti-Iranian propaganda film, and should be rated appropriately: not just R (for racist) but X---for extremely stupid and vicious and dangerously ill-timed.

David Denby in The New Yorker:

Based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller, the movie is a porno-military curiosity—a muscle-magazine fantasy crossed with a video game and an Army recruiting film.

And here's Dan Savage:

What isn’t up for debate is the film’s politics. The only times the Persian army doesn’t look like a gay-pride parade in hell, it looks like a crowd of madly chanting Islamic militants. And if the Spartan king has to break the Spartan law to defend Spartan freedoms? Well, sometimes a king’s gotta do what a king’s gotta do. Because, as the queen of Sparta points out, freedom isn’t free. And, yes, she uses exactly those words. George Bush is going to blow a load in his pants when he sees this movie.

For a thoroughly satisfying work of historical fiction based upon the Persian Empire, I recommend Gore Vidal's Creation over this film for.. well.. lots of reasons. But to truly appreciate the pop-cultural significance of a movie like 300 and to apprehend the title of this post, one need look no further than this vignette from Haney.