representations
300
: philosophical and semantic analysis of the film The film
300
has welcomed over one million five hundred thousand entries in France. This peplum based on Frank Miller comic of the same name (also author of Sin City
appears to have advantages for its beauty and vitality. Yet, although one would complain about the weakness of the script and predictability of the rebound,
300 offers a brilliant view of a pedagogical point of view. Indeed, the ancient philosophy has been fully respected and emphasized its uniqueness vis-à-vis the antithesis of Sparta: The Persian Empire . After our gaze lingered on the paradigm Veterans and their Persian enemies, we will try to overturn a misleading first impression on the political significance of this work.
When we approach the objectivist approach, we must understand that this is a reading grid centered on the object studied. It was much later that the idea we have of the object is at the heart of the analysis, we then speak of subjectivity (the subject is at the center).
In ancient philosophy, man is passive, contemplative. Not only the world but also society, the city predate him. The right is in things, in objects that surround him, they are an inseparable part. Man may try to decipher the nature of things but will not develop a general model for understanding: in physics aristotiélicienne, the stone falls because it "loves the earth." Likewise, natural phenomena are driven by the will of the gods, secured to objects. The Latin scholars are familiar with the mnemonic: "In every tree lurks a nymph in every river a bearded god." There is talk of confusion between being and ought to be: the right thing because it coincides with what is of consciousness, an intellectual journey. Truth is objective, man can not depart from it. For St. Thomas Aquinas, who will relay the ancient philosophy of Christian Middle Ages (especially in the ninth to twelfth century), God only acts as a power orderly, not like any power (in this he s opposes the affirmative fransciscains like William of Ockham). In the wild, so there are standards that guide the behavior of men under the command of God and it can detect by using his reason. It is his duty to comply.
approach of Veterans State follows: nature provides that social animals are organized into family units, which are themselves hierarchical. These families will aggregate into larger assemblies due to intrinsic causes (population growth) or extrinsic (wars, famines, natural disasters). Another cause of the organization can result in conditions for the development of civilization. For example, choosing to settle generally creates loan networks seeding in case of problems, the Egyptians will centrally manage the flood of the Nile waters (see the Chinese development model around their greatest rivers). It is the nature of the organization that determines the rules on a case by case (casuistic). Sparta is a city warrior, as ruthless with the enemy with his own. A eugenic process occurs at birth (the constitution of the individual allows it to fit or not, deserves the Christian has no place here), and the hardships endured by young males are extremely demanding . No exceptions, not even for the King Leonidas: the individual gives way to the rules arising from the group.
On the other hand, and intervening early in the film, the Persian Empire follows a different vision. In philosophy, we can speak of voluntarism. II Voluntarism Universalist Persian It's the look on old Persian civilization that is relevant: this brilliant civilization is an aggregate of kingdoms submitted by Xerxes. The god-emperor's ambition to dominate the world as well. While Sparta wants to make an exception, the Empire has a universal vocation. That's where the clash occurs. Ancient Philosophy does not contemplate the universality of a model but provides a grid of understanding of the standards of any model that could arise. Xerxes divine avatar, may instead substitute its will on the natural order of things. As for King of the Little Prince, the fact that it is not really totipotent forced him to call, but the legitimacy of his command is not from the Being, but the supremacy of its authority. When the messenger of Xerxes appears threatening against Sparta, he disrespect to the queen, he meets his own standards. Leonidas does not support the insult and pushed back towards a well. The messenger reminds international customs: the immunity of diplomats, He said that the conduct of the king is madness. Leonidas responds before finishing him and his guard: "Folly? Sparta is here!" Casuistry does not bother other customs, even international. In Rome, has now in Rome.
Ephialtes or III instead of the abnormal
Ephialtes is a crucial character in the film.
deformed, his parents refuse to sacrifice of his birth and raise outside the city walls. It can find its place among the Spartan phalanx, because of his disability. Its nature is the law arising out of the Spartan society objectively.
Xerxes will welcome and allow him to take revenge on those who have rejected it. Against the promise of earthly pleasures and a Persian army uniform, Ephialtes indicates a secret path that will take the Orientals
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rear. However Xerxes Leonidas leaves the possibility of escape, but he and his followers refuse to get in contravention of the Act. Again, the whole outweighs the individual in a burst of complicity with the totalitarian. However
opposite the Greeks, the empire is no more morally bondable: Kelsen criticized the voluntarism of the Third Reich as devoid of basic norm (the constitution) binding to the will of the executive, leaving discretion to conduct arbitrary requirement (covered by the theories of James Austin).
By committing suicide, Ephialtes does not owe its acceptance of an act of will, but would forever frustrated recognition of merit. A very human dilemma.
IV Clash of Civilizations upside
300 provides two degrees of political reading.
the first stage, the West is Sparta, the East and the Muslim world from Persia. He would then understand that the West must buttress its values, not to give an inch to the barbarous enemy, which demands nothing of its soldier or fighting skills, nor honors, but simply submission and sacrifice. He should also understand that this task is the least degenerate of them: the Americans who are dedicated to defending the ideals of the West have at their side as allies weak and invested. The last scene of the movie would then show the usefulness of this undertaking, when the load of the Greeks against the Persian army, "only" one against three this time. It seems that this thesis defended by Frank Miller, which has heightened a debate in my opinion based.
the second degree is the opposite message in front of us. The Persian Empire is universalist. He wants to impose its model to other nations. As the time of colonization, were not asked often little subject peoples: a passage (Suez, Gibraltar), a beachhead, or natural resources. However, imposing a toll, forcing Xerxes Leonidas to follow her doctrine of submission, appeasement for Sparta against its criteria, since the Athenians less belligerent and homosexuals have refused without consequence. In this second vision, we become the Persians, wishing to impose a democracy ready to use, a standard that does not match the course adopted by our organization overlooked. The
300
become fanatical warriors, just as sacrificial who oppose the West, represented by its army, its culture (its influances), or even its existence.
In conclusion, despite a single frame, 300 is a film that portrays a Manichean historical reality and contemporary politics less simple than it seems. The contribution to the spectator a philosophical point of view remains implicit but real but should have insisted on the delicate exercise of role reversal.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/L% C3% A9onidas_Ier_de_Sparte
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/300_% 28film% 29
http://www .denistouret.fr / ideologues / Kelsen.html
http://www.denistouret.fr/geopolitique/Aquin.html
http://www.denistouret.fr/ideologues/Aristote.html
http://www.denistouret.fr/droitsoc/
Images: http://www.fichesducinema.com/spip/IMG/jpg/300-t.jpg
http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/300/05.jpg
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Credit: French documentation: Member countries of the WTO. 
In ancient philosophy, man is passive, contemplative. Not only the world but also society, the city predate him. The right is in things, in objects that surround him, they are an inseparable part. Man may try to decipher the nature of things but will not develop a general model for understanding: in physics aristotiélicienne, the stone falls because it "loves the earth." Likewise, natural phenomena are driven by the will of the gods, secured to objects. The Latin scholars are familiar with the mnemonic: "In every tree lurks a nymph in every river a bearded god." There is talk of confusion between being and ought to be: the right thing because it coincides with what is of consciousness, an intellectual journey. Truth is objective, man can not depart from it. 
, that I will (with shells) to anyone who asks me to do (sediffuser@hotmail.fr). 
