The Sin of 300

Rating: 1/10 (15 September 2007)

This comment is not for those of you who are interested in history, or who think that history is important. This is for what I have come to call the "Whassa big deal" crowd; you know, those folks who think that movies are entertainment first and foremost, and that it is acceptable to bend and twist history if it would make a film more entertaining.
I won't get into the myriad ways this movie is historically inaccurate. Suffice it to say that the genre of "historical fantasy" into which 300 falls is a complete oxymoron. It can be either history or fantasy, but not both. 300 is fantasy.
The Battle of Thermopylae is possibly the most important battle in Western history. If the Spartans and their allies had not held the Persians for as long as they did, the other Greek states may not have had time to deploy a full army at Plataea and thus could have been defeated in detail. So, the Persians conquer Greece, meaning no Hellenistic civilization, no Aristotle, and very little Greek influence in Rome. The Persians may then have gone on to conquer Italy itself, in turn meaning no Rome and no Latin influence in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, and Britain. No Europe, and no United States of America.
This didn't happen, for which most of us are I'm sure quite thankful even if they have not articulated the above as I have. Our ancestors shaped the way we are by living the way they did. That being said, don't you want to know what the men who came before us were really like? Don't you want to know exactly how they fought, thought, lived and died? Wouldn't such knowledge help us to better understand who we are? And if you wish to portray the events of the past, do you not have an obligation to do so in the most accurate and truthful way possible?
To knowingly bend and twist and break apart history for any reason is to tarnish the memory of the dead. It is to say openly that their civilization was not important.
So don't shrug your shoulders and give me your good-natured "Whassa big deal" attitude. Some things are a big deal, and this event is one of them.
Also, let me just say that for those of you who have cashed in everything the West has given to you for some fashionable nihilism, please feel free to ignore this post.