Comments on: A Gentleman's War http://www.showbits.net/2007/04/15/300-combat/ Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:30:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: kgagne http://www.showbits.net/2007/04/15/300-combat/#comment-5809 kgagne Wed, 01 Aug 2007 16:26:53 +0000 http://www.showbits.net/2007/04/15/300-combat/#comment-5809 This film is now mocked on <a HREF = "/index.php?p=40" TITLE="The Return of Statler and Waldorf">RiffTrax</a>. <a HREF = "http://rifftrax.com/showSample.php?vidID=80" TITLE="300 on RiffTrax">Click for a free sample!</a>.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('5809','kgagne'); return false;"><small class=\"commentmetadata\">Reply</small></a> | <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('5809','kgagne','This film is now mocked on <a HREF = \"\/index.php?p=40\" TITLE=\"The Return of Statler and Waldorf\">RiffTrax<\/a>. <a HREF = \"http:\/\/rifftrax.com\/showSample.php?vidID=80\" TITLE=\"300 on RiffTrax\">Click for a free sample!<\/a>.'); return false;"><small class=\"commentmetadata\">Quote</small></a></div> This film is now mocked on RiffTrax. Click for a free sample!.
Reply | Quote
]]> By: GeneD http://www.showbits.net/2007/04/15/300-combat/#comment-611 GeneD Wed, 18 Apr 2007 12:54:45 +0000 http://www.showbits.net/2007/04/15/300-combat/#comment-611 For centuries, elite warriors have claimed that it's more honorable to look one's enemy in the eye while killing him, but those same "noble" warriors have thought little of throwing masses of lower-ranking soldiers at one another using whatever weapons are available, from farming implements to arrows to machine guns. Prior to the relative ease of modern firearms, men did collide in fatal lines of massed troops, if not with the slow-motion editing and acrobatic leaps of recent movies such as <em>Troy</em> and <em>300</em>. I don't know if such personal combat restrained humanity's aggressive tendencies any more than our society's sanitization of conflict through long-range missiles, carefully controlled "embedded" journalists, and continuing demonization of "the other." To be fair, my own experiences in re-enacting, wargaming, and weapon collecting belie my pacifist ideals, but there is a difference between sanguinary entertainment and real tragedies such as those in the Middle East and this week in Virginia. Let us hope that humanity can still evolve past its taste for violence.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('611','GeneD'); return false;"><small class=\"commentmetadata\">Reply</small></a> | <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('611','GeneD','For centuries, elite warriors have claimed that it\'s more honorable to look one\'s enemy in the eye while killing him, but those same \"noble\" warriors have thought little of throwing masses of lower-ranking soldiers at one another using whatever weapons are available, from farming implements to arrows to machine guns.\r\n\r\nPrior to the relative ease of modern firearms, men did collide in fatal lines of massed troops, if not with the slow-motion editing and acrobatic leaps of recent movies such as <em>Troy<\/em> and <em>300<\/em>.\r\n\r\nI don\'t know if such personal combat restrained humanity\'s aggressive tendencies any more than our society\'s sanitization of conflict through long-range missiles, carefully controlled \"embedded\" journalists, and continuing demonization of \"the other.\"\r\n\r\nTo be fair, my own experiences in re-enacting, wargaming, and weapon collecting belie my pacifist ideals, but there is a difference between sanguinary entertainment and real tragedies such as those in the Middle East and this week in Virginia. Let us hope that humanity can still evolve past its taste for violence.'); return false;"><small class=\"commentmetadata\">Quote</small></a></div> For centuries, elite warriors have claimed that it's more honorable to look one's enemy in the eye while killing him, but those same "noble" warriors have thought little of throwing masses of lower-ranking soldiers at one another using whatever weapons are available, from farming implements to arrows to machine guns.

Prior to the relative ease of modern firearms, men did collide in fatal lines of massed troops, if not with the slow-motion editing and acrobatic leaps of recent movies such as Troy and 300.

I don't know if such personal combat restrained humanity's aggressive tendencies any more than our society's sanitization of conflict through long-range missiles, carefully controlled "embedded" journalists, and continuing demonization of "the other."

To be fair, my own experiences in re-enacting, wargaming, and weapon collecting belie my pacifist ideals, but there is a difference between sanguinary entertainment and real tragedies such as those in the Middle East and this week in Virginia. Let us hope that humanity can still evolve past its taste for violence.

Reply | Quote
]]>