the Bush years as 300

Eight years 300 spartans

The problem with picking a film to be a symbol of a political era is that it has to be many things to many people. George W. Bush might exit office with an abysmal approval rating, but it is worth remembering that he was a two-term president who sustained an astonishingly high approval rating for several years after the September 11th attacks. He was re-elected with more than 50% of the vote. So the key is to pick a single film that best encapsulates the myriad reactions that American have when they think about George W. Bush.

My nominee is Zack Snyder's 300, based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller, and starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, and enough CGI to choke George Lucas. The reason 300 works so well is its dual appeal. Both supporters and critics of the president can find aspects of the movie that epitomize the themes of the Bush administration.

For supporters, the meaning of 300 is clear. The movie tells the (highly stylized) story of three hundred Spartans who stood their ground at the Battle of Thermopylae against the might of the Persian Army. Although they lost, Persian losses were so great that the battle rallied the city-states of Greece into opposing Persia in full force. As the Wikipedia entry about the battle suggests, many writers have used the Battle of Thermopylae as an exemplar of the superior power of a patriotic army of freemen defending native soil.

Filmmakers too —which is why 300 plays so well with Bush's supporters. In the movie, King Leonidas exhorts his soldiers (in his best Scottish brogue): "A new age has begun. An age of freedom!!" Sharp contrasts are made between the martial virtues of Spartan warriors and the decadent, authoritarian methods of the Persian empire. Contrasts are also made between Sparta's warrior caste and its venal politicians. It is not that difficult to draw the parallels between this conflict of the ancients and a modern clash of civilizations. Kerill O'Neill, a classics professor at Colby College, told ABC News at the time of the film's release, "the rhetoric of the Spartans about defending freedom is comparable to that said by the administration and the treacherous politicians who seem to be selling out to the enemy could be seen as Democrats who are soft on terror."

The great thing about 300, however, is that because the film is so cartoonish, critics of Bush can have their fun as well. The film is based on a graphic novel, not actual history, so there are a few problems with the film as told. The notion of Sparta as a freedom-loving country, for example, clashes somewhat with its actual existence as a slave-based economy. For all the verbal claims of heterosexual lust made by the film's protagonists, it is impossible to look at the Spartans and not think that you are watching the most homoerotic mainstream cinema since the volleyball scene in Top Gun. In other words, all the special effects, all of the hoary speeches, all of the historical inaccuracies succeed in subverting the film's stated themes. Like the Bush administration, the best intentions of the movie are undercut by its execution.

The release of 300 also reveals two other themes that fits with the Bush administration. The first is the law of unanticipated consequences. As hokey as the movie was, it provoked outrage in Iran, because of its negative portrayal of Persians. Rumors swirled in Tehran that the Bush administration bankrolled the film to whip Americans into a frenzy about attacking Iran. The final theme is the ephemeral nature of the Bush era. Two years after its release, 300 is remembered, if at all, as an amusing action flick. With luck, memories of the outgoing administration will fade just as quickly.