Pulp Fictional History by Tomas Engle

Pulp Fictional History by Tomas Engle: "While the graphics never went downhill, the script proceeded to practically nosedive into a redux of Bush's 'freedom and liberty' Inauguration speech whenever Leonidas opened his mouth. Before the major battle even begins one is besieged by inconsistencies and blatant parallels. 'Reluctant to battle' Sparta is forced into a war with Persia in order to 'defend logic and reason' from the 'tyranny and slavery of Asia' and are being hampered at home only by the Spartan council politicians who are being paid off by the enemy to not fund the Spartan army; it was like National Review commissioned its own version of reality."

Sparta and the Battle of Thermopylae by Dennis Behreandt

Sparta and the Battle of Thermopylae by Dennis Behreandt: "300 is not the first to posit that the Spartans at Thermopylae were fighting for their freedom against the invading hosts of an oriental despot. That has often been the way in which Thermopylae has been portrayed. But for all its noble heroism, Thermopylae was not about freedom, for the Spartans were not free, not as we understand freedom today."

300 by Max Raskin

300 by Max Raskin: "How can a society where young boys are kidnapped and trained for military service possibly be considered free? A scene in the movie portrays the 300 approaching a group of non-Spartan Greeks; when the ragtag Greeks explains that they are bakers, farmers, and potters by profession, the Spartans reply with a jockish 'ugh,' announcing that they are killers by profession. How can a society where all men are killing machines possibly maintain a division of labor and produce valuable goods and services? When the State forces the resources of society into war through conscription, taxation, and inflation, those resources are diverted from other more useful projects…like producing togas."