I can't write a title accurate enough to describe how mad I am

Everything I am about to write pertains to information I found in an article on the New York Times website. And this is the URL.


Is it just me, or are people getting dumber these days? Because honestly, after reading this article it just really seems to me that people will look for ANY excuse they can to blame the government for all of the worlds problems. Don't get me wrong, I don't really support anything our government is doing these days but honestly...comparing characters from a movie based on a graphic novel thats based on actual events from thousands of years ago to our current government and president sounds a little ridiculous.

But let me backtrack for a second and explain if you didn't read the article. Short and skinny of it is according to several sources and interviews with the director, people all over the world, not just in America, are drawing comparisons between President Bush and the current administration and Xerxes or Leonidas from the upcoming film "300." The comparisons being Bush/Xerxes as a mad invader bent on conquering a foreign land that his father could not and Bush/Leonidas in the way that both are willing to sacrifice anything in the pursuit of freedom. But apparently some people have gone as far to say that "300" is nothing but an American funded propaganda film. Now you may not be as psyched as I am for this movie, so let me enlighten those who may not know about "300" - the film is based on a series of comics written by Frank Miller (who also wrote "Sin City"). The story behind "300" revolves around the events which led up to the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC Greece. Granted, Miller took a lot of liberties in creating the world of "300" but it is still loosely based on actual, historical events.

So let me get back to the article I referenced at the top of the post. Right off the bat, I'd like to say that my quarrel is not with the writer of this article, just the occurances he is making light of. Admittedly, it will be quite hard for me to convey just how mad reading this article made me because I've felt for a loooooong time that people tend to read way too much into all forms of media. Whether it be literature, magazine or newspaper articles, paintings, TV shows, movies, whatever...I've been alive long enough to know that people always try way too hard to find some deep seeded meaning in absolutely everything. Why does everything have to have some deeper meaning? Why can't anything be taken at face value anymore and be admired for what it is and not what you think it is? Why can't a picture or a painting be admired for the skill it took to produce and not what the artist might have been trying to say? Why can't a great piece of writing be admired for being a great piece of writing instead of being inspected, torn apart, and turned inside out to try and find some kind hidden meaning which may or may not exist? Perhaps I'm alone on this one...but this practice is getting very old and annoying to me.

I suppose it was this particular topic that set me off now more than ever before. I have been going insane with anticipation to see "300." I've been reading up on the actual events that took place in history and been scouring the internet for photos from the movie, articles about how it was made, any trailers...anything I can get my hands on basically. I even recently "acquired" the entire "300" comic book but have yet to read it because I want to be totally in awe of everything I see in the movie.

But this article set me off so much because it just speaks volumes to me about how insanely idiotic most people are anymore. To insinuate that Zack Snyder, the director, or Frank Miller intended either of the main characters (Xerxes and Leonidas) to be a representation of George "Dubya" Bush is pretty insulting to both Miller and Snyder. Why is it insulting, you ask? Because for one, "300" is based on a graphic novel and an actual event that really happened a few thousand years ago and for two "300" was written TWO YEARS (1998) before George Bush was even elected! How could Miller have possibly intended for either of those two characters to portray a president who hadn't even been elected? Now you might be saying, "But Joe...perhaps the director put his own personal spin on it," and while usually in Hollywood if a movie is based on a book or god forbid a video game, the source material is usually not followed very closely. But in the case of "300", the graphic novel was used as not only story boards for the movie, but many of the lines of dialog were also taken straight from the the novel. Instead heres an idea...maybe "300" is about the graphic novel that it's based on and isn't a propaganda film with a hidden agenda. I couldn't have put it better myself than it was put in the headline of the NY Times article - "That Film's Real Message? It Could Be: 'Buy a Ticket'"

I suppose the old saying that "There's no such thing as bad publicity" could apply to this topic but still...I've tried to hold my tongue for long enough about people reading too much into anything and everything these days but after this, I just couldn't take it anymore. It's depressing, but I think humans as a species have reached a new depth of stupidity I can't even fathom anymore when people start stating that a comic book writer intended for characters in his work, which were based on real people, to be comparable to a president who wouldn't be elected for another two years. This isn't to say that the comparisons can't be drawn...but to say that the comparisons were the intentions of Miller and Snyder is ludicrous.

I don't know...perhaps I'm too much of a nerd and take stuff like comics and games too seriously when I start writing blog posts like this but hey...this is my blog and I'll voice whatever opinion I want.