Sick of the ‘300′ talk? Don’t be silly!

Posted by Loukas Tsouknidas (loukas@filmschoolrejects.com) on March 22, 2007

It’s been two weeks since that movie came out and the debate about it already seems too long for a simplistic, formulaic, war themed, bloody, gory epic based on a similarly toned graphic novel by the same name, based itself roughly on the main story of the battle of Thermopylae.

Unfortunately, genuine political movies never stir debates like this one, people just nod their heads or label them as boring stuff they don’t know much about. In the worse case of all they treat them as fiction not giving much thought to the message. But what about the obvious eye-poking-with-a-burning-rod fiction in the 300? They tend to treat it as facts and they begin large pompous debates that extend to the people’s education (how thoughtful) or the people’s perception (how paternalistic) or even worse the people’s sense of history (how elitist).

But it’s not just a movie, some argue, it’s a movie that everybody’ s going to watch. Which makes it what? Propaganda? So, it’s a well made movie bound to crash the box office like a kamikaze. I guess then, it’s ok if a bad movie, a low budget straight-to-dvd flick is ignorant and one-sided in its depictions. Who’s gonna watch it anyway? And of course it’s ok if an auteur makes an arty film about the same issue, where people talk every half-hour and the camera moves make you sea-sick since no-one is gonna watch it besides the intellectual, educated, festival crowd. It’s probably ok if it is a comical take on the story because people will know it’s been made for laughs and wouldn’t take it seriously. And so on… until the two arguments become the same.

First of all, i can’t overlook the fact that people all around the world are considered total idiots. If so, after a 100 years of films full of the most violent and the most idiotic acts human fantasy ever created, where would we be? There is only one live argument against the feather-light effect of pop culture on people, Japan. Millions have read Spiderman and I’ve only heard of one guy who tried to jump off a building like him. Oh, and that French dude who walks on skyscrapers.

There is absolutely no point in trying to defend freedom of artistic expression. The need for it is obvious and nonnegotiable. Nobody said it better since the Roman satirist Juvenal, So, who the f*** watches the watchmen? Artistic expression is subjected only to criticism but no one can demand its silencing or accuse it of propaganda without facts. Miller and Snyder are in the middle of a mock trial over their political convictions and their services to American external politics’ hidden agendas. Ridiculous.

What i don’t get is how in this life can a work of art satisfy everybody. Even a commercial film which is aiming towards that (the ultimate box office hit) is obviously short of any answer or recipe. Suppose one is as they say politically correct in his depictions. Then he falls into the hands of people like me that spit on political correctness and they call him a soft coward. There is no winning in this game. A debate on who is insulted and why could go on forever without agreement. Oh, oh! Unless we all agree that it’s the high and mighty’s fault who divide the innocent people that would else live in peace. How convenient… We can’t live in peace with our heavy metal fan neighbor for whatever-god-you-want’s sake. But i forgot. We only have to look like we live in peace. Maybe that’s possible after all.

In my country and the 300’s, Greece, there is a strong political left (though much divided) as well a strong right (a part of it nationalist). Religion and history are used a lot to define our place in the world by the majority of people. When the movies “Troy” and “Alexander” came out, the “people’s” right reacted. What kind of historical movies were those that never consulted with the best sources, which of course are our own. Now that “300” is out, the right is happy. It shows exactly what we learn at school about the Spartans plus it’s a great moment in our history. Thank you Hollywood! It’s the “people’s” left’s turn to react to this crypto-fascist, nationalist, American propaganda which people shouldn’t take seriously or even watch at all. Confusing? Can you imagine a right-winger screaming on live TV that he’s gonna watch the 300 twice day just to pump up himself? That’s Sparta!

In the middle of all this manichaeist crap are movie fans who never thought that watching a fun film can damage your brain like those people project it to do. People, are suddenly “obliged” by an invisible convention to learn history accurately so that they become immune to that sort of cunning propaganda and conspiracy. But the ugly truth is we are not obliged to do anything. We’ll study our history IF we like or we’ll reproduce stereotypical mindless bullshit just for fun IF we like. Politics and the fight for world economy’s domination are a tad more complicated than that and the end of the world won’t come because of the film industry. Unless of course, Paris Hilton becomes a director.

The whole conversation about the 300 effect, is as substantial as school history is accurate. No school book in the world would ever point its country of origin as the bad guys. Nowhere in the world will you find a memorial for the people that were slayed by that country’s army. Nobody fully recognizes the other guy’s hurt or admits his fault. Except of course for the Germans, the biggest group-guilt victims in history. Objectivity is a myth. History has been rewritten a hundred times. People read the versions they know they’re gonna like and other people write a nice version for everybody to find out there. Outside the University walls, history is a big blur, a continuous misunderstanding. Imagine if we expected Hollywood to educate us. That’s more idiotic than eating Madagascar cockroaches for 15 minutes of TV fame.

In my “western” country (and the 300’s), where the demonstrations over the reformations on education are bi-weekly since November and the Universities are taken over by the students indefinitely, we have more to talk about than a stupid movie’s zero effect. 300,000 thousand students against 300 congressmen. Who the f*** are the Spartans and who the Persians? The Parliament Gates sure are Hot these days…

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