Fact of the Day - The 300

The film makers took a nice little jab at religion at the end. The lone survivor of Thermopylae is shown to lead the Greek army against the Persians at the end and he says that they're fighting to save the world from "mysticism" and to promote "reason". I laughed.

I had to throw historicity to the wind for this flick. But I freaking loved it. Ahmadinejad might have a point, but considering he decides simply to "revise" parts of history himself (the Holocaust) I don't think I'll be placing much weight in any of his statements.

Seriously, I thought the warring Mastodons, Rhinoceros's, giant troll?? and other strange creatures would make it evident it wasn't supposed to be historically accurate.

I remember there being a few different colors of skin in the Persian army in the flick, specifically the Asian-looking guy who got slaughtered first. I thought it was consistent with the theme in the movie that Persia's empire extended to far regions and the King sent the best warriors from every nation/ethnicity under the Kings rule. I didn't take the King of Persia as a black man. The guy who plays him is Brazilian. He looked kinda like Yul Brenner. I think latent racism is reaching a little.

Definitely would have made for a lame and confusing movie if they had portrayed Spartans accurately- you wouldn't really want to root for them.

Spartans were bad, mmmmkay.

I actually want to see it again. But this time in IMAX.

Dees,

I am guessing the war historian meant that the Spartans were better in a military sense rather than an ethical sense. But it does seem that in this scrap there was not a team you feel like rooting for. But we Americans, who threw off the dominant world empire to gain our "independence" always seem to cheer for the underdog. Which in this case was an immoral military city state that fought like hades to hold of Persia. As we talked tonight, I think Josh made a good point about the race issue.

Now, for the dudes who have seen this flick - are the sex scenes freaky naked deals? I try not to see that stuff...but this movie looks so interesting. Counsel?

Further interactions about the Persians...

LETTER TO THE FACT OF THE DAY EDITOR

Dear Editor,

Having not seen the film The 300, I am hesitant to comment on it. I would, however, say a few words of caution before leveling charges of racism and ahistoricity.

While I understand most people will hear Persian and think of Iran, the Persian empire and Iran are two very different realities. The Persian empire under Xerxes stretched from India and Afghanistan in the East to the Sudan and Austria in the west. Its army would have been drawn from all across the empire, including Indians, Central Asians, (black) Africans, Egyptians Persians, Israelites, Syrians, Turks, Armenians, Lybians, and even some southern Europeans. In other words, the "Persians" weren't so Persian. The Greeks, however, would have almost all been Greek, and thus more "white" than those making up the Persian army.

We know about the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC (almost soley) through the works of the Greek historian Herodotus, writing c. 440 BC. I'm not sure where the claim that the story has been "transmuted from history to legend so many times that they've become blurred" comes from. Of course, ancient histories (of which we have many) are not as strict as modern, scientific method, test tube histories. Herodotus, however, having visited the sites, interviewed people who fought, and consulted written sources within a 40 year period, is considered generally reliable for an ancient source. The Gospels, even the most conservative, are put after 60 AD, so at least 30 years after the events.

Finally, if The 300 (and the comic book on which it was based) were based on Herodotus, then you could hardly expect the Persians to be depicted as anything but lecherous, while the Greeks would be virtuous.
Herodotus was a Greek writing for Greeks. The Greeks always portrayed the 'East' as effeminate and morally lax, just as the Romans 300 years later always depicted the Greeks (their 'East') as effeminate and morally lax. It is very possible that latent racism and ethnocentricism seeped into the film from the film makers; it is also possible it seeped into the film from the 5th century BC.

Sincerely,
Benjamin Schellack

Dear Benjamin,

First, I would contest your assertion that Herodotus is our "almost [sole]" source on the Battle of Thermopylae. There are a number of other historians, including Diodorus, Justin, Plutarch, Isocrates and many others who also wrote about the Battle of Thermopylae. These historians produce divergent and (in some cases) more historically accepted versions of the battle. For other sources about the battle, I find the following website instructive:

http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/warsbattles/a/Thermopylae.htm

So when I say that this battle went back and forth between legend and history, what I mean is that there are divergent accounts, and that the story is almost too good not to exaggerate a bit.

I certainly agree with you that it is likely that many of the 300's biases stem from Herodotus's biases. That, however, doesn't make them okay. The movie was not billed as a film adaptation of Herodotus's account of Thermopylae, but as a historical account. As Zack Snyder, the director, put it, "The events are 90 percent accurate. It's just in the visualization that it's crazy. A lot of people are like, 'You're debauching history!' I'm like, 'Have you read it?' I've shown this movie to world-class historians who have said it's amazing. They can't believe it's as accurate as it is."

Good luck finding such "world-class historians", however.

So that's a big part of the problem: if this had been portrayed as a fictionalization of Thermopylae, I would find it more palatable. As it stands, it is presented as a historically accurate, but as one professor of Hellenistic history said, "[the film's] moral universe would have appeared as bizarre to ancient Greeks as it does to modern historians."
It's that distortion of the moral universe, that I argue happens along ethnic lines--Greeks good, Persians bad; West good, East bad; white good, black bad--that I find that particularly detestable.

After much consideration, I am forced to relent the point about black fighters at Thermopylae. I did some more research, and it seems that Herodotus indeed recorded the presence of Nubian archers (from what is now northern Sudan) in Xerxes's army at Thermopylae. So points to Ben Schellack for his successful correction.

Thanks for your letter,
The Editor

Tim, I would say "Jesus Good" and "us bad" - I think this is a better dichotomy.

To the editor,

(whose the editor by the way? is this post on another website? hyperlink anyone?)

The first line of the film synopsis on it's website

http://300themovie.warnerbros.com/

says "Based on the epic graphic novel by Frank Miller..."

I haven't found any source involved in making the movie claiming that it's a historical account, maybe you have.

My point from the first post was that it pretty much was always portrayed as a fictionalized, sexed-up version of Thermopylae. I find it surprising that anyone could see the previews with the visual elements and all that in it and take it for a historical movie. The previews also cite Frank Miller's graphic novel as the inspiration for the film- not the historical account.

Oh- Reid: the sex stuff. Yeah it shows a good bit of nudity. It was kinda awkward for me at that point sitting next to a female friend of mine.

Tim Dees is "the editor" of Fact of the Day :)

Oh cool. I was confused for a min there.

One more thing.

Swords for hands. Seriously. A guy with swords for hands was fighting for the Persian empire.
While being insanely awesome, there's no question about whether or not that was historically accurate.

Peace

Freaky sex stuff, yeah, there is a bunch of it. Oops, I was talking about desperate housewives or another TV show, not 300. I was embarrassed sitting beside my wife watching regular TV. I am the head of the household who has compromised. I really want to smash our TV into tiny bits and burn it in the front yard (my contribution to the mystical global warming trend). The wife has agreed to only watch a limited amount of TV. GER

Greg, I like the subtlety of your approach - smashing the TV would seem to be effective. But then I could not watch UNC basketball win another title? I just cannot imagine why you would not be a fan of Desperate Housewives?

Grrrr. Let's start at the beginning. First, the 300 Spartans were not the only people at Thermopaylae on the Greek side, and they were not the only ones who died there.

Second, Thermopaylae is nothing like the Alamo. The Alamo was, at best, a PR victory for the Texans. Thermopaylae was necessary to allow the Greeks to regroup to repel the Persian invasion.

Why were the Spartans better? The Spartans were a rough, oligarchic society, to say the least. But the Spartans were fighting for a free Greece: free from the yoke of Persian oppression. For all of Athens's pretense, Sparta resisted empire, no matter by whom imposed (Athens included!).

Lastly, this movie is not a historical account. It's a live-action retelling of a cartoon. If you want to see the story of the battle at the hot gates, wait for the movie optioned off of "Gates of Fire," which will be better than this Miller version, one hopes, because the source material is far superior. Of course, you could just read the book.