Q&A Friday #60: Could 300 Be Related To The Threat Of Islamofascism?

02 Mar, 2007 by John Hawkins

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Question: Perhaps I’m reading way too much into this, but given the premise of the movie (300 brave, freedom-loving Spartans valiantly defending their homeland to the death against conquest by the army of Persia) do you suspect that the release of 300 might indicate the someone in Hollywood is finally acknowledging (albeit by innuendo) the looming threat of Islamofascism?” — Good_Ol_Boy

Answer: The guy who put 300, the graphic novel together — which, incidentally, I read 3 times because it rocked me right out of my shoes — is Frank Miller of Sin City fame.

If you’ll remember, back in 2006, there was talk of his putting out a Batman vs. Al Qaeda comic. So, could he have thought there was some sort of war on terror applicable lesson to be learned from the movie? It’s entirely possible (although in the graphic novel, as far as I could tell, there were no mentions of Islam which didn’t exist when the events that inspired the movie actually occurred.)

I can tell you that in the graphic novel, the Spartans are absolutely ruthless with their enemies and there’s a lot of talk about fighting for freedom and doing the right thing — all messages that would benefit us in the WOT.

Given how incredible the graphic novel was and the phenomenal nature of the trailers, I think 300 has the potential to be an astoundingly good movie. I can’t wait for it to come out.

Update #1: From the comments section,

“The real Spartans were hardly pro-freedom (although in this particular instance they did help more freedom loving Athen etc).” — Tino

Yes, the real Spartans had an authoritarian society although other parts of Greece were democratic. In the graphic novel, as I mentioned, the Spartans talk a lot about preserving freedom, but also, near the end (I’m writing this from memory, so if I’m off a bit, forgiven me), their king tells his soldiers to prepare to fight and one of them says, “We’re with you, sir.” He replies, “I didn’t ask if you were with me. Leave democracy to the Athenians, boy.”

So, even the graphic novel acknowledged that the Spartans weren’t a democracy. Additionally, it’s worth noting that it is accurate to say that the Spartans were still fighting for their own freedom. The Persians weren’t liberators, they were conquerors, and the Spartans were fighting to be ruled by their own people and retain their own customs instead of being ruled by a tyrant from across the world.