# Still Excited about The 300 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2007, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-excited-about-the-300/390739 "2007-02-04T03:29:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-excited-about-the-300/390739/1 "2007-02-04T03:29:42Z")
I don’t know why this movie has gripped me the way it has. I mean, I hadn’t read the graphic novel before I heard about the movie (though I own it now.) But I am just really really stoked and excited for this movie to come out! – IG ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-excited-about-the-300/390739/2 "2007-02-04T04:22:37Z")
I saw the preview the other night when I went to see _Pan’s Labyrinth_. It looks interesting. I’ve not read the graphic novel. It’s the story of [Thermopylae](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae), right? ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-excited-about-the-300/390739/3 "2007-02-04T05:15:52Z")
Nitpick: The title is just _ **300** _, not _The 300_. I am excited about this movie, too! I read the comic books back when they were first published–I was a Frank Miller fan from Sin City–and I still have them so I’ll probably read them again after seeing the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-excited-about-the-300/390739/4 "2007-02-04T05:42:04Z")
I’m a Frank Miller fan but I’ve yet to read 300. The movie looks badass and I’m sure I’ll see it opening weekend (although my girlfriend couldn’t be any less interested!) ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-excited-about-the-300/390739/5 "2007-02-04T07:46:42Z")
I think it’ll be .068 times as good as _The 4400_. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-excited-about-the-300/390739/6 "2007-02-04T08:48:13Z")
[QUOTE=Snooooopy] I think it’ll be .068 times as good as _The 4400_. [/QUOTE] ..and 35.29411764705 times as good as _8 1/2_? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-excited-about-the-300/390739/7 "2007-02-04T15:49:38Z")
Color me confused on where the hype is for this movie. I liked _Sin City_. The story was interesting enough to carry through the movie (even though one could argue the story really wasn’t the point), and the visuals were outright breathtaking. It looked stunning. There had been nothing that looked like it before. _300_ looks… … … sepia. It looks boringly bland, not offering anything unique. The acting seems horrific, the special effects run-of-the-mill. The Trojan warriors look like overmuscled parodies. The trailers killed any interest that I might have had based on “Sin City was so cool, as a stylized Frank Miller story lift, that if this is more of the same, it should be a hell of a ride.” So, I don’t mean to be insulting, but I genuinely don’t see it. What is the appeal? ---
**Author:** ![priapus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@priapus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/priapus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-excited-about-the-300/390739/8 "2007-02-04T17:22:22Z")
I think the movie looks kick-ass.Of course,I was raised on Steve Reeves ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-excited-about-the-300/390739/9 "2007-02-04T18:05:40Z")
The cinematography looks fantastic, but I’m more hesitant about seeing it after reading [this reviewer’s thoughts](http://trinityofone.livejournal.com/115815.html) on the political and social messages of the film. (I know it’s based on a Frank Miller, but still.) I’m going to wait to see if more reviewers noticed the same things, or to come to grips with there being a big heaping scoop of misogyny in more Hollywood films than this, and certainly in more historical “epics”. …David Wenham, though! I like him! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-excited-about-the-300/390739/10 "2007-02-04T19:48:10Z")
[QUOTE=DesertDog] I saw the preview the other night when I went to see _Pan’s Labyrinth_. It looks interesting. I’ve not read the graphic novel. It’s the story of [Thermopylae](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae), right? [/QUOTE] According to Wikipedia, Frank Miller wrote the ‘300’ graphic novel after seeing a movie called [The 300 Spartans](http://imdb.com/title/tt0055719/), which is indeed about the battle of Thermopylae. > [@Tracy Lord](#): > > The cinematography looks fantastic, but I’m more hesitant about seeing it after reading this reviewer’s thoughts on the political and social messages of the film. The reviewer is an idiot. What, he expected a movie about _Spartans_ created by _Frank Miller_ to anything but a violent bloodbath and a glorification of the Spartan ethic? Trying to read any sort of current pro-war support of the Bush Administration iinto that theme verges on paranoia. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-excited-about-the-300/390739/11 "2007-02-04T20:02:02Z")
Question: does anyone know how they plan to handle Spartan manlove? I mean, on the one hand, if anything could make gay sex be totally badass and awesome to this movie’s demographic, it’d be this movie. On the other hand, I’m not sure anything could be, and I’d be astonished if Hollywood would take a risk like that. On the other hand, how can you tell the story of Sparta without warrior manlove? Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-excited-about-the-300/390739/12 "2007-02-04T21:47:40Z")
There wasn’t a lot of ‘manlove’ in Sparta. It was more ‘man-boy’ love. The institutional pederasty in Spartan society was, I believe, more of an attempt to cause young males to bond with older males during the course of their incredibly difficult training, while providing sexual release for adolescent males and their trainers in the absence of women for years on end. I’m not sure it would even fit into modern concepts of homosexuality - I don’t believe there was a lot of anal penetration going on, for example. From what I’ve read, the young boys would basically be very close to the men, including sexual touching, massaging, no doubt lots of manual and oral stimulation. But all within the bounds of a special relationship between the warrior man and the young boy in training. I don’t believe equal adult warriors engaged in a lot of homosexual action - at least no more so than men do today. Spartan women also had sexual relationships with other women (not surprising, since most of the men were gone), but again, it doesn’t seem that these women were lesbians - they had marriages and lots of sex with men (including men outside the marriage - ‘adultery’ was an unknown concept in Sparta). Homosexuality in Sparta seems to be a cultural adaptation to a forced separation between men and women during the horniest years of their lives. Made worse by the fact that Spartan culture venerated fitness, so most of the people were in superb condition, no doubt looked great, and also no doubt had raging hormones. So I think the movie producers could safely ignore the whole homoerotic thing if they want to - unless they want to show Sparta as it really was, in which case they’d have to show some truly disturbing man/boy love. ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-excited-about-the-300/390739/13 "2007-02-04T22:51:32Z")
It’s based off the graphic novel and any homosexual suggestion or aspect is completely overlooked. And yes, it is “300” not “The 300” but I was hyper and decided to capitalize the T 🙂 – IG ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-excited-about-the-300/390739/14 "2007-02-05T01:23:58Z")
[QUOTE=Only Mostly Dead] Color me confused on where the hype is for this movie. [/QUOTE] I agree with your sentiments. Except I thought _Sin City_ was repulsive. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-excited-about-the-300/390739/15 "2007-02-05T03:22:22Z")
Have you guys _seen_ the trailers for this movie? It looks unbelievably atrocious.