Empty dismissives indeed. You're misrepresenting the point I made and putting words in my mouth while exhibiting the common tendency to discount archetypes as simplistic, because that's easier than understanding why they resonate.
Archtyping is a dangerous and hard thing to do. It works in the original Star Wars trilogy - but not in the prequels, for instance. Does 300 even
have archetypes? You say they're supermen - I'm not sure if you're trying to shoehorn a comparison to the DC superhero or the generall public misunderstanding of Nietzsche - but it's difficult to discern if the characters are "supermen" or simply generic cardboard cutouts. Yes, I get that everyone is manly and into slaughtering the Persians... but "because there is very little there, they must be archtypal" is silly.
Aside from the patriotic romanticism that could be applied to 300 soldiers standing fast against two million, I found nothing that can be applied to a monomythical characterization. Are you attempting to apply a metaphor to the Battle of Thermopylae or the people involved? I'm curious as to something more exacting.
Your choosing to do so affects your opinion, but doesn't invalidate the movie for everyone else, even if you think it should.
I didn't know my adament disapproval was so insulting to you, personally. Perhaps next time I'll simply bite my lip instead of sawing too close to your bone?
This is very closely related to the knee-jerk negativity in response to Arena: you believe that you are too cool for X because of Y reason, so it must be no good at all.
Simply because I disagree with you and your taste in movies does not give you sudden clearance to drop me in the dreck with society's lower-half.
Your ribbing aside, if you're going to disagree with my thoughts on its basic sadism or its annoying, fake production value - thats fine. But I honestly expect more from you than simply a "too cool" throw-in. (But then, I did call you out on dismissives, and then launched one myself - so perhaps Ill just admit to my own guilt)
300 didn't bend over backwards to accomodate your circa-2007 point of view. The fact that the movie is completely divorced from the thought process of modern Americans without becoming an incoherent mess is the secret genius of the whole production.
I think you're giving the movie too much credit. It's as if you're beating your chest over the opposite reasoning that fuel some people's ideas that 300 is some awful secret agend for or against the current political administration (which it isn't). There is nothing new or interesting or special about the film in anyway - I've seen 300's message in a dozen WWII movies and a handful of episodes of
Combat! (which was sadly taken off TV repeats over here for some reason). Does that make it archtype? Not so much, as theres no greater moral or symbolism in the movie aside from dying for a cause.
I suppose if you're into blood and gore for the sake of blood and gore, it's a fine movie - and I'll freely admit to having more than one "guilty pleasure" movie in my collection - but the whole of it in the end struck me as utterly empty. You leave the theater with nothing - no great acting, nothing to think about. Simply how people had spears shoved through eye-sockets. Thats just not my thing.
I also don't see how a "if you don't enjoy it, you just don't get it" claim holds any water. That would be like my calling you a dullard because you may not have seen Equus - even though I know you're not an idiot.
Repeating your one-liners doesn't make them any more likely to come true, even if they're preceded by largely inapplicable quotes.Oh, they changed "Hades" to "Hell" when translating the famous quote into English, why don't you have a cry about it.
I won't lie to you - I was dozing off through the later half of the movie; a thing that hasn't happened since I dragged into theaters to see Van Helsing.
It is a tale of heroes and heroism, for no other reason than its own sake.
Which I can appreciate - but I don't see it as the point of the movie. Maybe I need to see it again? Perhaps - there are a number of movies I didn't care for when I first saw them but Ill wait till it comes out on DVD.
You and many other people are sociologically unequipped to appreciate it, which is fine, but it stands as a work of worth even so.
You're telling this to the guy who has Eraserhead on his DVD shelf.
(If you wish to continue this exchange for the ages, IM me. We're just taking up space, at the moment)
