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I saw '300' in theatres and I was quite amazed by it. It had an effective plot with action and romance and gore all mixed in. Despite negative reviews by critics, it still went on to earn $70 million opening weekend, setting a May record. However, the film continued to be criticized as being "political propaganda", promoting a vision that glorifies the white man (America) and defaces the brown/black man (Middle East). Although it is quite tempting to make that relationship, I do not see that relationship and for many reasons:

1) '300' is based on Frank Miller's graphic novel written in 1998. Although many people see it today as propaganda representing the current war in Iraq, the graphic novel was actually written 4 years before it. So, it is quite obvious that the purpose of the story isn't meant to back Bush's war plans.

2) The story is visualized through the words of a story-teller. If someone told you a massive army of 1 million soldiers were coming to get you, that's exactly what you would see in your mind. Although not historically accurate, the humongous elephants shown in the movie only represent what a listener would visualize when told of such massive beasts never before seen by the average Greek. The story told in the movie '300' IS propaganda itself, focused towards the Spartans. They begin to see the Persians as monsters, even though they aren't, in order to fight harder.

3) The black people in '300' represent the small amount of Africans that were around in the Persian Empire. Now, if ALL the Persians were Africans, then people should be irritated.

4) Zack Snyder is not a politician, he is a director. He made a movie adaptation of a graphic novel, the same way that "Spiderman" and "X-Men" are now movies. I doubt he'd make such a political statement in a movie, especially during a time where the people's support of the war is dropping rapidly. It's a comic book for crying out loud, not a history book. People are not going to believe that the Persians were black and looked like monsters.

5) Everything today is seen as poltically incorrect, and I'm tired of it. We've come to a time where Christmas trees have to be called "holiday trees". To all those people who feel that '300' discriminates against blacks and the Middle East, YOU are the biased ones. Instead of seeing everything as one whole, you quickly have to break everything down into categories. Instead of enjoying the movie for what it is (a true story of self-sacrifice), people criticize it for what it isn't.

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