The movie 300 tells the tale of a force of 300 Spartan warriors who held off an innumerable army of Persians in the bottle neck of a canyon. By fighting within the bottle neck, the Spartans were able to negate being outnumbered so that they could take on a force of equal size, although the force they take on is replenished over and over again. Spartans, being trained in war since before they could walk, are the greatest warriors in the world and are held to the strictest of codes to never fear and to never surrender. For days they are able to hold back the Persians with little to no losses. Despite armies of trolls, rhinos, elephants, grenadiers, and even an army of masked orcs, the Spartans never bend. Even behind an army of millions, the Persian king attempts to bribe the king of the Spartans into surrending to which the King, of course, scoffs. It isn't until a fellow Greek betrays the Spartans and shows the Persians a hidden goat path, that the Persians are able to surround the tiny band of Spartans and win.
The movie 300 is completely a "guy movie", and yes, I loved it. What guy doesn't like to imagine himself as being King, having a chiseled body, getting the girl, and being practically invincible. I've often dreamed of myself playing basketball with skills comparable to wonder boy and it was fun to watch army after army fall upon this group of Spartans and be defeated just like logs thrown into a wood chipper. And I almost stood up and cheered when I saw a single Spartan take down a giant rhino with a single toss of a javeline. Shibby!
But what I liked most about this show was the idea of honor and virtue that was held by the Spartans. It wasn't victory or defeat that brought a Spartan honor, but living by their code win or lose. For instance, when the Queen says goodbye to her husband, she says "King, come back to me with your shield, or on it". She didn't want to see him again, unless it was in honor. The King, on the other hand, just before death had several of these moments. The first was when he addresses the betrayer and says, "You, I hope you live forever". He was sentencing him to a life of shame, rather than exacting revenge upon him through death to let him off easy. Or during the greatest moment of the King's life, when he throws a javeline at the King of the Persians and only grazes his cheek rather than killing him, just to remind the Persian King that he was dying with glory on the battlefield, while the Persian King was hiding behind several layers of army. It reminds me that the only failures in life, are those who fail to try. But the best was when the King stands, severelly wounded, and says, just before a thunderstorm of arrows falls upon him and kills him, "My Queen, my love". Although he had reached what was considered the greatest personal honor a Spartan could achieve, his final thoughts were not inward, but focused on what he held most dear. A real man isn't what he is able to physically accomplish on the battlefields of war, but what he is able to give and who he is able to serve on the battle fields of life.
A quote, by Theodore Roosevelt, because it seems to fit: "It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
The movie 300 is completely a "guy movie", and yes, I loved it. What guy doesn't like to imagine himself as being King, having a chiseled body, getting the girl, and being practically invincible. I've often dreamed of myself playing basketball with skills comparable to wonder boy and it was fun to watch army after army fall upon this group of Spartans and be defeated just like logs thrown into a wood chipper. And I almost stood up and cheered when I saw a single Spartan take down a giant rhino with a single toss of a javeline. Shibby!
But what I liked most about this show was the idea of honor and virtue that was held by the Spartans. It wasn't victory or defeat that brought a Spartan honor, but living by their code win or lose. For instance, when the Queen says goodbye to her husband, she says "King, come back to me with your shield, or on it". She didn't want to see him again, unless it was in honor. The King, on the other hand, just before death had several of these moments. The first was when he addresses the betrayer and says, "You, I hope you live forever". He was sentencing him to a life of shame, rather than exacting revenge upon him through death to let him off easy. Or during the greatest moment of the King's life, when he throws a javeline at the King of the Persians and only grazes his cheek rather than killing him, just to remind the Persian King that he was dying with glory on the battlefield, while the Persian King was hiding behind several layers of army. It reminds me that the only failures in life, are those who fail to try. But the best was when the King stands, severelly wounded, and says, just before a thunderstorm of arrows falls upon him and kills him, "My Queen, my love". Although he had reached what was considered the greatest personal honor a Spartan could achieve, his final thoughts were not inward, but focused on what he held most dear. A real man isn't what he is able to physically accomplish on the battlefields of war, but what he is able to give and who he is able to serve on the battle fields of life.
A quote, by Theodore Roosevelt, because it seems to fit: "It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
4 Stars
1 comment:
well said Dean, you somehow remind me of that very famous guy who loved a girl but was ugly,so he wrote his devotions on paper and had the good looking guy say the feelings of the ugly duckling's heart (too sleep deprived to remember this famous guy's name...embarrassing)-you are so articulate and feeling on paper. It is a pleasure to get to know you better.
-Katie
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