Frank Miller - 300 - 7

[PolarisDiB]

300

I have to admit, I've never read a Frank Miller graphic novel until after I've seen the movie. From there, I tend to regard the novels as prototypes for what I see in the movie, and try to compare how successfully the adaptation worked.

Instead of Sin City, though, I believe there is a huge difference between the movie and the book. Sure, the adaptation uses the same processes... green screens, direct frame-to-frame composition, etc.... but what is very interesting is that the tone is very different. In fact, 300 the book is, and will always be, much better than the movie (no matter how popular that movie is right now).

The thing is, though both contain roughly the same elements and lines, the movie comes off as jingoistic propaganda, whereas the book just seems to be an exercise in postmodern Greek Hero making. I believe that difference lies entirely in tone. The movie chooses for you the voice and the physicality of the characters, but Frank Miller's graphic novel is not nearly as loud, strong, and centralized. When you have time to look over the beautifully detailed images, and you set the pace between the frames, and above all you use your own voice for the characters, the book 300 has a lot more heroism and a lot less misguided patriotism than the movie could ever be.

I'm predicting a rather large depression of interest in the movie after it comes out on DVD and people have some time to get over its initial hype and learn that it's not really that well made. However, I hope that depression doesn't take away interest from this book.

--PolarisDiB


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