My friend has a strange claim about 300

[J. Tithonus Pednaud]

Idi, I am sure you did. Films are wide open for any sort of subjective to personal proclivities, opinions and experiences. If an allegory of the current war is what you saw, who am I to argue on what you observed. However, I just personally find it highly improbable that the delivery of such a message was the intended purpose of the film.

It has always been my personal opinion that mass market films are, generally, in the business of entertainment and not subtle enlightenment. As Freud said, a cigar is sometimes just a cigar. It's the smaller personal projects or more privately controlled projects that hold true messages and insights. While directors often interpret their sources, in the case of 300 there are just too many cooks in the kitchen to plausibly give it that sort of exacting credit.

Back in my university days, I wrote a great dissertation arguing that E.T was a film retelling the story of Jesus. The concept was based on a throw away joke on the Simpsons. It's an observation others have made since - and likely before - and the idea holds pretty true when you really look at it superficially. But it is, of course, complete bullshit held as truth only in the eye of the beholder.

[sloth]

Originally Posted by J. Tithonus Pednaud

But it is, of course, complete bullshit held as truth only in the eye of the beholder.

Isn't that the only truth that matters? I'm presuming the work was not made for the sake of the author, but for the beholder?