Glory of War

So, over the past several posts I have commented on how the film 300 defamiliarizes us to our normal ideas about war and the horrors and tragedies of war. 300 is quite a different depiction of the battlefield. In fact, it is as though the entire movie is a glorification of war or at least an attempt to make the glory that can be found in war glorious again. I feel that the way in which this particular battle scene is portrayed shows this ideology. It defamiliarizes us in many ways and there are various ways in which Zach Snyder, the director, purposely created the scene to do just this very thing. First off, the transitioning from slow motion to fast action filming defamiliarizes our perception of warfare by causing us to become focused on the relentless passion Leonidus has for killing his enemies. The clinging and clanging of the weapons providing the background music almost makes us think about war as being melodic, a form of art. The clinging weapons create the music that guides King Leonidus in this scene as he dances through the bodies of the Persians. The way the blood of the Persians he is killing is shown distorts the reality of war as being glorious rather than gruesome and horrid (compare it with the beach scene from Saving Private Ryan). I mean, I would say that the way that Snyder portrays the actual blood, killing, and fighting that takes place between the Spartans and the Persians ultimately defamiliarizes us further to this ideology. Rather than feeling a sense of sorrow or repulsivness over men killing other men, the film ignites a sense of passion and excitement in my heart as I see how AWESOME war can be (I say that based solely in light of the film) and the glory that can come from killing your enemy on the battlefield. I mean the film's portrayal of battle really is unfamiliar to us as viewers because it makes war seem so freakin' cool!!!

Leonidus goes ham!

Also...compare the portrayal of the 300 scene to this scene from Saving Private Ryan. Watch from about 4:30 to 7:00 on the clip to see what I am really talking about!