According to Lenin's Tomb (at <http://leninology.blogspot.com/2007/03/gorgeous-slaughter.html>) and other reviewers, (the just released and apparently wildly popular film) 300 takes the Battle of Thermopylae and turns it into an epic battle not only against the (naturally tyrannical) Persians but also Blacks, queers, and so forth (you can watch two trailers of the film at <http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/300/> and see for yourself).
It is quite appropriate that a film about the Battle of Thermopylae, which the Greeks lost, is being shown at a time when many Americans, even a growing number of Republicans, are thinking that America already lost or is soon to lose in Iraq (which was part of the Persian Empire at the time of the Greco-Persian Wars: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:World_500_BCE.png>). The film tells the Americans to sacrifice themselves bravely in Iraq, even to the last man. Their heroic deaths will be avenged later -- just as Greek deaths were avenged first at the naval Battle of Salamis and decisively at the Battle of Plataea. Ominously, the second US aircraft carrier group has already been deployed to the Persian Gulf.
-- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>
