One of my favorite movies based on history is ‘300’. First of all, King Leonidas? #drool. But that’s not the main reason. I knew when I was watching it that it was fictionalized. I mean, duh, but it’s the feeling of the story. Xerxes is larger than life, Leonidas and that hunting trip when he was a child is all sorts of dark and glorified.
From the moment the film started, I know it was not just a dramatization, but a comicization of the most fantastic kind. It picked the most fantastic elements of the battle at Thermopylae and cranked them up ten more notches. Forget the Greek ships that kept more Persians from reaching the shore. What’s amazing, and fascinating, is that 300 men held of hundreds of thousands. Oh, and that treachery, and sex, and government corruption were involved.
Tasty eye and brain candy.
Which is why I also loved ‘The Social Network’. Forget that this guy created this phenomenon and grew it into a multi-million dollar empire before it had ever earned back a single dime. That’s boring. What’s amazing, and fascinating is that treachery, and sex, and corporate corruption were involved. Not only that, but they were involved in this viral epidemic that we’re all familiar with. It means in some way, we were a part of that journey. Even if you’re not a Facebook user, you know what it is. You do, right?
That’s what keeps people coming back for more. That’s what makes people not get up and walk out of the theater ten minutes in. Conflict. Watching (metaphorically speaking) 300 sexy, underdressed well-trained men defend Thermopylae against an army of thousands. Even in a more intellectual film like ‘Little Miss Sunshine’, it’s all conflict driven. We’re glued to our seats because we want to know how the hero is going to get out of each mess.
This isn’t a reminder so much for the rest of the world as it is for me. I’ve pulled back from conflict in my own writing recently and it continues to fall flat because of it. I need to figure out how to force myself to send those tens-of-thousands of Persians knocking on the hot gates. I need to remind myself that it’s okay to live a different life through my writing, and that sometimes pain is the best reminder that we’re alive.
What story conflict stayed with you long after it ended because of the drama, the emotion, or the raw reality of it?
Is it bad that the only movie of the three you mentioned that I’ve even seen is Little Miss Sunshine? I did watch the movie that mocked 300. Think I own it actually, it was on sale. “Sparta” men kissing each other and shaking hands with hot women… *giggles*
Hmm.. stories that stay with me cause of drama? I’m not sure. American Gods had an interesting conflict, well many of them, but the old and new gods topic along with what Shadow discovers is really going on. I like the movie Touch of Pink. It’s good because of the main character and how he has to deal with his mother not knowing he is gay, with his boyfriend and the fact he still has an imaginary friend “Cary Grant” from when he was a kid because his dad died and mom went away for awhile. Good enough that I can get over the cousin kiss scene.
Great post. 😉
I really liked 300. If I had to pick one movie that stayed with me for years it would have to be ‘Gone with thee Wind’.
Greaqt post.
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