Throwback Thursday: Wiping Away the Blood and the Gore of 300

I’m sure everyone knows about or has already seen 300: Rise of an Empire, the sequel to the blockbuster hit 300. This second movie picks up where the first one left off with King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans lying dead and taking over as the main Greek hero, General Themistockles continues the battle on water  in the Battle of Salamis up against the beautiful and cunning Persian naval commander, Artemisia.

While this movie franchise is a hit with moviegoers for its over-the-top display of blood spouting limbs and topless women, the sequel also contains the same added discriminatory and historically inaccurate elements that had Iranian critics up in arms when 300 was first released.

The author of this article, Lena Roos, points out that 300 is set up so that viewers are moved to identify with the Spartan warriors as defenders of reason and justice. As a result, the viewers are then made to feel repelled by the Persian invaders, portrayed as monstrous, superstitious, and sexually perverted. This connection of religion and sexual perversion with the image of the Other is a feature added to the story of Thermopylae by the creators of 300, and one that Roos thoroughly explores in her article as a promotion of normalcy in line with mainstream, heteronormative Western values —a trope that is sustained in the sequel currently in theatres (1).

The lethal combination of religion and sexuality is not the only extravagance added to Herodotus’ ancient account of the Greeks versus the Persians, and there is no doubt in my mind that many scholars, from classics to religious and cultural studies, will have a lot to say about this second installment of obtuse historical inaccuracy for the sake of entertainment.

Interested in learning more about Lena Roos’ opinion in her article “Religion, Sexuality and the Image of the Other in 300” published in the 2010 or other analyses of popular culture phenomena? Consider subscribing to The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture.

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