Batman Begins (at Fifty)

Today is Frank Miller's 50th birthday.

Miller is the creative force behind the resurgance of the DareDevil comic book character, the transfornation of Batman into a gritty vigilante, the Sin City sagas and the 300 (soon a major motion picture).

Frank Miller has created quite the buzz in the blogosphere recently for both his views and his movie 300 (a take on the Spartans stand at Thermopylae). Miller proved to be quite the anti-idiotarian in a recent appearance on NRP. So much so that Little Green Footballs dedicated a thread to his seeing the enemy for what they are viewpoint.

Much has also been made about his upcoming film 300. Just watch the trailer and you can see why.



Even classical scholars like Victor Davis Hanson are on board with praise for the film.

Again, purists must remember that 300 seeks to bring a comic book, not Herodotus, to the screen. Yet, despite the need to adhere to the conventions of Frank Miller’s graphics and plot — every bit as formalized as the protocols of classical Athenian drama or Japanese Kabuki theater — the main story from our ancient Greek historians is still there: Leonidas, against domestic opposition, insists on sending an immediate advance party northward on a suicide mission to rouse the Greeks and allow them time to unite a defense. Once at Thermopylae, he adopts the defenses to the narrow pass between high cliffs and the sea far below. The Greeks fight both en masse in the phalanx and at times range beyond as solo warriors. They are finally betrayed by Ephialtes, forcing Leonidas to dismiss his allies — and leaving his own 300 to the fate of dying under a sea of arrows.

But most importantly, 300 preserves the spirit of the Thermopylae story. The Spartans, quoting lines known from Herodotus and themes from the lyric poets, profess unswerving loyalty to a free Greece. They will never kow-tow to the Persians, preferring to die on their feet than live on their knees.

Perhaps my favorite Frank Miller quote comes via his mini-biography on IMDB:

"I figured Daredevil must be Catholic because only a Catholic could be both an attorney and a vigilante."