300

[rm]

I just saw the new trailer. OMG, woah. So stupidly excited for this. And, as an aside, so not happy that the ancient weapons class is scheduled against the boarding actions class at ISMAC.

Comments

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

Curious - how familiar are you with Frank Miller's graphic novel that the movie is using as its basis?

[rm.livejournal.com]

I know of it, and I know his other work, but I haven't actually read it. Let's just say I wasn't surprised by the "ooo, lesbians" moment in the new trailer.

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's not actually from the graphic novel. For future reference if you come across a "all of Frank Miller's female characters are whores" discussion (yes, please, tell me Marth Washington (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0440504465/ref=dp_proddesc_1/102-6199463-1389751?ie=UTF8&n=283155) is a whore), there are only two minor appearances by women in the graphic novel: a brief appearance by Leonidas' queen insisting that if he's going to go for a walk she insists that he take his entire personal bodyguard - all 300 (yes, there are bizarrely funny moments in the graphic novel, but they mostly work), and then she tells him to come back with his shield or on it. There's a mention of a female oracle, who is basically the tool of a group of old men, and it is mentioned in Leonidas' voice that the old men always pick the most beautiful women to be their oracle, and it's not said in a positive light.

[rm.livejournal.com]

All his female characters so aren't whores.

And this is interesting to me. Because it seems like they've added a lot of female presence int the film -- or it may just be thr trailers. That's been what's worrying me the most, just from my sense of the story I'm interested in; this is not a story about or that particularly includes women. Nor should it be.

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

The angry review that I mentioned earlier? One of the things mentioned is that the only female character in the movie is raped and seems to be proud to endure it for the good of her people (I'm mostly paraphrasing because I'm too lazy to look up the review). I'm guessing that's the queen. So very much not in the graphic novel, but also not necessarily wrong in the cultural context.

This person also felt the movie was blatant pro-Iraqi war propaganda. WTF? Because the word "freedom" is used?

[rm.livejournal.com]

And because the Persians looked evil, I'm guessing. My big fear is that people are going to view it as a pro-Iraq war statement and not just watch it for what it is. In fact, in my bones, I'm dreading those very arguments with a lot of my friends.