I have seen the movie 300. Completely slams men of color overall and Black men in particular. I almost walked out of the film, but I paid my money. The action was suburb, the cinematography was great and innovative, the acting was wonderful, and etc... But the racism, in my opinion, is blantant. Thus, I give it two stars. My review. Peace. Jacklyn
I really must clone you Jacklyn. From the moment I saw the first previews of it...I had this feeling of West (Greeks/Spartans) vs. The Rest of the World (in particular Persia). But...I saw it anyway...and was underwhelmed. They killed two of the three Black (and very Dark) men who featured...in very ruthless ways...as if saying they're just shits! :evil: Hmmm... Don't get me wrong...it's action-packed and all that...nice story but...I felt that everyone who wasn't white was being..."punked" in more ways than what the movie/story was about. I'm sure someone'll say the Acadians were depicted as "less than true warriors" too...but IMHO, it wasn't as blatant as with the Persian Empire... Ah well, I guess it's a fitting movie given the current War against Terror. :wink: Subconscious tweaking of how one living in the West should view the Middle East and the rest of the world... :twisted: Now I know why I don't have a TV... :lol: Ah well...
:idea: Hey jev that's too bad :roll: but thanks for the heads up on that & I'm still gonna check it out for myself as well. DAMN! :evil: PS>And for the record I just read in the paper that the Iranian government is denouncing it as well but that figures coming from them. :wink:
I just saw this movie, and it was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of the best movies i've ever seen!! And as far as the degrading of black men...i really didn't see it. I give this movie an A++++++++++++++++ THIS...IS...SPARTA!!!!! :rock: :rock: :wink:
I'm with Bryant. I didn't see any racism in it. Besides it's not historically accurate to begin with.
300 Ways to Say the N-Word By Esther Iverem—Editor and Film Critic Mar 9, 2007 The new movie “300” reminds me of the time I stood atop the high Corcovado mountain overlooking Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In a country with the largest population of Blacks outside of Africa, I scoffed at the up close and monumental Christ the Redeemer statue with its Willem Dafoe-like European features and straight hair. It was then that the author Tony Browder reminded me that it made perfect sense for the conquering Portuguese to erect a God that looks like them. "I don't blame White people,” he said. “They did what they should do—make a monument to yourself, celebrate your own image.” Of course, most of the movies we watch do the same thing—celebrate White people. And we have become accustomed to that and comfortable with that to some extent—even as we find new and better ways of making movies that celebrate us too. But sometimes a movie comes along like “300” that asks too much of us. This movie asks a lot of us by overwhelming us with its powerful cinematography, special effects and extreme violence. Amid all the visual punch, the film makes the historic Battle of Thermopylae (480 B.C.) about the depicted White Spartans against the world’s Black, Brown, Yellow and Red people, all of whom seem to reside in Persia. To the extent that we consider “300” in the realm of drama and not comedy, the fierce battles of “300” are about manly ferocity and courage against undisciplined and hapless fighting. The battle is pride and integrity versus slavish devotion to a Black king who has the nerve to call himself a god. On a deeper level, it also about the traditions adopted by Greece and Rome, which developed into today’s European-based system of so-called democracy, versus the “mysticism” of Asia. To create this powerful, modern fable, filmmakers Zack Snyder and Kurt Johnstad don’t depict Sparta as the militaristic and aggressive state that is was. They take their version of history from the graphic novel by Frank Miller (“Sin City”), which is more focused on the idea of bravery and sacrifice than historical accuracy. Historians today rely almost entirely on the history of this conflict as told by the Greeks and it is hard to believe that the war-like Greek Spartans were just chilled out, minding their own business, when the nasty Persians came along and started something. Also, though this film depicts Persia as hedonistic (with the Persian King Xerxes made to look like a Harlem drag queen), in reality Sparta is documented to have had a controversial custom of man-boy love. My friend, the author Makani Themba-Nixon, reminds me that film is considered by many as the new history text, that many of us learn about the world through what we see on the big screen. It is because of this trend (like “The Last King of Scotland” being based on a novel) that those of us who know better must say something when a skewed version of history is being presented on such a big and powerful stage (and when the skewed history just happens to prop up today’s U.S. militarism, Persian Gulf wars, anti-Muslim propaganda and the so-called War on Terror.) Be all that you can be! Even the outnumbered can be mighty! What a celebration! Esther Iverem's forthcoming book is We Gotta Have It: Twenty Years of Seeing Black at the Movies, 1986-2006 (Thunder’s Mouth Press, April 2007).
It's just a movie. Sometimes there may be an underlying racial theme, but i don't think this is one of those times. I've seen this movie, and IMHO it's an action flick, and nothing more.
Bryant, I have to disagree with you on this one. Ask yourself the following questions: What color is Xerxes, in the film, who is potrayed as a gender bender, having bi-sexual tendencies, and looks more like a drag queen--not a strong and brave warrior willing to fight his own battles? Who were potrayed to be rational, just, believing in freedom and equality, and democracy? What color were they? What group was potrayed as unskilled fighters, believing in mysticism without rationality (not being spiritual but slaves to idol worship), unjust, hedonistic, slavers, immoral, and sexually corrupt? What color were they? If you recall the scene of the Persian who paid the deformed men who were in charge of the Spartan oracle? What is the color of the Persian and how is he potrayed? Do you believe the darkness of his skin played a part in potraying him as this dark and evil being. Associating darkness with evil and corruption? Remember his wicked laugh and how the background is darkened around his face--matching his skin color and fading into a black, his voice is very deep and "frightening"--he comes across as a "demon". Furthermore, there was the statement made by the Spartan queen saying in so many words Spartan women give birth to men. Implying that Persians do not give birth to men but slaves. Would you consider this statement bigoted? These occurences in the film is just the tip of the iceberg.
Throughout the film i was wondering what race Xerxes was, and i actually found out that he was a latin guy, not a black guy. And he had that look to him because they were trying to portray him as a God and not as a man. But Jeverage, i think it boils down to how individual people want to perceive this movie. All of the things that you perceive to be racist, i don't perceive it to be anything, because i'm not looking that deep into it personally. I've seen some blatantly racist movies, and even though there may be some racist themes hidden underneath in this film, i guess a person has to decide on whether they want to view the movie as what it is, an action flick, or if they want to view it with the racist themes in mind, which i personally don't care to do.
