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Added 2025-01-26 14:00:03 +0000 UTC
Comments
One thing I think you missed the meaning of:. When Leonidas tells Ephialtes (the hunch back traitor) "May you live forever", it's actually a stealth insult/curse. A good death was all these men craved. It was the destination in Elysian fields with other warriors that drove the Spartans to do what they did. By living forever, he cursed him to never have glory, never be in the company of heroes and never be written about like the heroes of history. It was one of the heaviest insults and curses you could lay on a Spartan, whose glory and honor were everything.
Tom Castro
2025-02-02 22:48:34 +0000 UTCOne more comment, on the occasion of this showing up on YouTube. One of the memorable exchanges from the movie is: Persian: A thousand nations of the Persian empire will descend upon you. Our arrows will blot out the sun! Stelios: Then we will fight in the shade. (As I stated previously, this is taken from contemporaneous accounts.) What makes this both funnier and truer than immediately apparent is that Greeks fought pitched battles in close formation with heavy metal armor and shields. It doesn't take much imagination to realize just how "comfortable" that would be under the midday Mediterranean sun. So what lied behind the laconic* response was basically: "Wait, are you telling us that you're going to relieve us of one of our main concerns and allow us to fight in the shade? Gee, thanks! You're a very considerate enemy, mate." * Look up the origin of the word.
Happy Hanukkah
2025-02-02 21:39:30 +0000 UTC11:23 "They're all so ripped!" My God! How did you figure it out so early? By the end of the movie, they are indeed all RIPped. You're amazing! 35:44 "And then to see Theron backstab her during Council" I know. I couldn't believe the man would backstab her *again*! Sorry. :-)
Happy Hanukkah
2025-01-28 06:07:01 +0000 UTCWelcome back, Mary! π
Sweetish_Jeff_25
2025-01-27 06:20:20 +0000 UTCβFreaks and Greeksβ. π
Sweetish_Jeff_25
2025-01-27 06:19:28 +0000 UTCMy two cents: I was happy to learn you were reacting to this, but I don't have any particular desire for the sequel. (In an oddly similar way to the Sin City films.)
Happy Hanukkah
2025-01-27 03:43:03 +0000 UTCIt is difficult for me not to flash back to this L&O:SVU clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd8vzIRQLLM :-) (Just to be clear, I fully agree with what you said; male-male sex was common in ancient Greece, but it wasn't what we would call "gayness" today.)
Happy Hanukkah
2025-01-27 03:20:36 +0000 UTCYay! A reaction! I shall pay you back with interminable rambling: As you mentioned, this is based on (or rather inspired by) history. What we know of the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC) comes mostly from Greek historian Herodotus, who wrote his account not too many years later. The film credits several screenwriters, but is based very heavily on Frank Miller's graphic novel of the same name, often shot-for-shot. (Similarly to the previous year's Frank Miller's Sin City, which you also reacted to.) So yes, the broad outline of the story is true, but significant liberties were taken. To state the most obvious: the Spartans fought in heavy armour, there was no huge bottomless pit in the center of Sparta, the Persians did not employ battle rhinos, and Xerxes was not a bedazzled half-naked giant. (Of particular annoyance to me is the stylized slo-mo 1v1 fighting the Spartans often devolve to; had they broken their superbly disciplined ranks like that, they would have been wiped out in short order.) The explanation given for all this is that not only is the movie presenting the Greek point of view*, but that practically the entire movie is an inspiring encampment story told by Delios to fire up his fellow soldiers before the final battle. (* Hence the description of the "bombs" as "magic" 22:52.) Note that one common criticism of the movie, that it shoehorns in Hollywood-style quips, is incorrect. We obviously cannot know what was *really* said, but the following two exchanges are taken from Herodotus himself (nearly 2500 years ago!): Persian: Our arrows will blot out the sun! Spartan: Then we will fight in the shade. and Persian: Spartans! Lay down your weapons! Spartan: Come and take them. One contentious aspect of the movie was its characterization of the Spartans and the Persians. While it is undeniable that Persia was an expansionist empire, the separate issue of the relative moral standing of both sides is unsurprisingly more nuanced than depicted in the film. Very simplistically: (i) Spartan citizen society was quite egalitarian, but there was a large slave class that was badly mistreated, while (ii) the Persian empire was ruled by a tiny elite with absolute power and unfathomable wealth, but any subject of the empire who accepted his place lived a most tolerable life. The movie line by Xerxes, "I am kind; I require only that you kneel", sounded odious to Free Greeks and to us, but in most of the ancient world, it was a pretty good offer. In modern parlance: "Respect my authority and pay your taxes, and you'll have a good life." 7:49 Gasp! How dare you?! THIS! IS! MAGNETO!!!
Happy Hanukkah
2025-01-27 03:17:54 +0000 UTCβAt least they didnβt get his Dβ ππ So your comment about the sexual tension. It was different in every Greek city-state but in Sparta when the Spartan boys go through agoge (when you saw him steal and fight the wolf in the beginning of the movie) it was not uncommon for the older boys to mentor the younger boys and sleep with them. For the Spartans, it was just activity, like sleeping and eating. It was against Spartan law to be public about it and Spartan men were expected to marry Spartan women and have children.
Brantly
2025-01-26 14:55:50 +0000 UTCHell of a return, Mary! hope you had a great holiday!
DMs
2025-01-26 14:31:15 +0000 UTCFLEX _ hope you're feeling better _Cheers
Daddy Dogg Abbott
2025-01-26 14:05:38 +0000 UTC
