The War Nerd on 300

[DonTadow]

This guy is a douchebag who should check his more recent history - like the fact that the movie was based nearly directly on a graphic novel written before the Iraq war.

Actually this guy is only basing his blog on a recent time magazine article which talks about how easy it was to get this movie greenlit. Sure the material is old, but the article hinted that it was exceptionally easy for htis movie to get greenlit considering the usual process it takes a movie to go into production.

 

[mmadsen]

The War Nerd's established persona is that of a bitter war nerd who realizes that all the things he obsessed about as a young war nerd no longer matter -- war's not about high-tech weapons systems, glorious massed-unit assaults, etc., but about ugly counter-insurgency efforts in a global media fishbowl.

If you want two educated but very different takes on an issue -- most any issue -- read War Nerd and Victor Davis Hanson.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I thought the giant, the guy with swords for hands, and so on, all clearly marked "300" as a fantasy, not as a historical film. Being upset about the historical inaccuracies of "300" is like being mad that "The Revenge of the Sith" was historically inaccurate. (Although I'm sure that someone out there is.)

 

[IcyCool]

I thought this article was going to be a list of historical complaints about the movie 300. Ignoring the naysayers in the thread, I went ahead and read the article.

I really wish I hadn't. What a tremendous waste of time. Are all ancient history buffs angry political commentators with an agenda the size of Texas?

Do yourself a favor and don't bother reading the article. I'll sum it up for you (and save you time):

300 Sucked, it wasn't historically accurate. Now, let me spout my hatred for the U.S. Bush administration and try to draw weak parallels between my angry viewpoint and the movie 300.

 

[Crothian]

What us ancient history buffs were thinking:
http://www.exile.ru/2007-March-23/war_nerd.html

How come history buffs don't know what fiction is? Or at least can't recognize it when they see it.

 

[Wolf72]

Good stuff. But i went in knowing this really didn't happen like this (even if they non-fictioned it up))

my first impression was that it was going to be a historical film ... but the hype/ads were pretty clear that this was a comic book adaptation ... and after looking at the comic website it was pretty easy to see that this wasn't meant to be historically accurate.

(I found on of the trialers particulary funny when the Spartans where supporting 'freedom')

 

[LightPhoenix]

the guy with swords for hands

Hey, they lobster-guy was my forty-two-times grandfather! Don't say he ain't real.

 

[shilsen]

What us ancient history buffs were thinking:
http://www.exile.ru/2007-March-23/war_nerd.html

Speak for yourself. A lot of us ancient history buffs were thinking this movie isn't about ancient history, isn't intended to be about ancient history, and shouldn't be judged based on ancient history.

And, now that I've read that link, that the article there is crap.

Or maybe that's just this ancient history buff, but I'd bet some money that isn't the case.

 

[BadMojo]

(I found on of the trialers particulary funny when the Spartans where supporting 'freedom')

Well, it was freedom as far as it pertained to actual Spartan citizens. As far as one can define freedom as existing in a totalitarian military state.

The "war rhinos" kind of let me know what level of historical accuracy to expect in the film. I still enjoyed it quite a bit, maybe because I wasn't going in to it looking for a historically accurate account of Spartan society, politics or even Thermopylae itself.

Edit: I think Xerxes dressed like he was going to a rave was another subtle clue.

 

[Kunimatyu]

The War Nerd goes on an unnecessary political rant for about half of it, but he's got a valid point with the historical stuff at the beginning. The Athenians get slammed unnecessarily(A Sparta calling Athens full of boy lovers? Hilarious!) and stuff like Salamis gets ignored.

The scene where the Athenians and Spartans call out their occupations was also weird -- we're supposed to sympathize with the guys who are all warriors because slaves do all the work in their nation, and not the plucky amateurs going to defend their country? We're not supposed to sympathize with the cripple who so badly wants to help but gets turned away because of his disfigurement?

Now, this is stuff you can't lay at Zack Snyder's feet -- he just wanted to make a faithful movie version of 300 -- but it does apply to Frank Miller and his very strange worldviews.

I don't find clear parallels with the current war(you can spin it all kinds of ways, and nothing really sticks), but I will say that the Spartans make a reprehensible group of heroes. Maybe it was the baby skulls at the beginning, I dunno...