Posted by
Daniel Crandall on Friday, January 26, 2007 11:28:10 AM
Over at
Chud.com well-known comics writer, screenwriter and director Frank Miller shows he's a bit more than your typical knee-jerk Liberal.
When asked whether comics should be about politics Miller responds,
"I think it's an easy fit for policital satire. ...you drop The Flash into a world that has Donald Rumsfeld into it, and you end up with something insanely funny."
Ok, so a reference to The Flash vs. Donald Rumsfeld wouldn't be my first choice. Of course, who can forget Miller's Batman vs. Ronald Reagan from the Dark Knight books. I would much rather see Al Sharpton, Hillary! or 'Baghdad' Jim McDermott attempt to face down an outraged superhero.
Thinking that he's found just another anti-war Liberal, the interviewer askes Miller the following question about his anticipated film "300", "With [300] are you trying to comment on the excesses of war? With scenes like guys up on spikes?" Miller throws a bit of a curve:
"No.
It’s just a sign of the Spartans’ barbarity. They’re the oldest
society, and they were quite brutal. The most offensive thing they ever
did was tossing all those messengers into the well because you never
kill the messenger; it’s considered blasphemy. But the Spartans didn’t
give a damn, they’d commit blasphemy.
"You have to understand,
these people were all slaveholders. They were trained soldiers. There
were 15 slaves to every Spartan citizen. They were a very rough crowd.
Because they’re the heroes of my story I try to make them look as good
as I can, but I wouldn’t want to have dinner with any of them.
"It’s a wonderful paradox about Spartans – they made possible a wonderful civilization they could never have realized themselves."
The Spartans - brutal, barbaric, slaveholders - who also just happened to make "possible a wonderful civilization".
The American military in Iraq? Mr. Miller ... any comments? Maybe if the Marines did their job in leather underwear Frank might find a soft spot in his heart for them.