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• Chris

  

  • 1441 posts
   

  June 5, 2014 12:58 AM EDT

  Now, many people have decried the movie for being racist, since non of the actors playing the parts are actually of the race, or how it's not historically accurate. As a fellow history nerd, and an avid fan of Greco-Roman culture and mythology, I get that. But,you have to remember, in the end, *Spoilers* The half blind guy (forgot his name), is telling the story to a large group of Spartans (and probably other Greeks aswell), including bits where he couldn't have known what happened, since he had already left on Leonidas' orders. The way he frames the tale, and the way he speaks, it sounds more like wartime propaganda, made to encourage the Greeks to finish what Leonidas' started, and defend Greece from Persia. Now, with Gerard Butler (amazing actor, especially in Phantom of the Opera), and his Scottish accent. Playwrights have, when doing Greek plays, gave the Spartans Scot-ish accents. Now, what do you guys thinK?
• Teccam

  

  • 189 posts
   

  June 5, 2014 1:58 AM EDT

  I too browse /r/AskReddit. There are a lot better ones in that thread than this, FWIW. Any [aspiring] film buffs out there should take a few minutes to read through this thread.

  Also, for the record: Leonidas explicitly tells Dilios to dramatize the events before he sends him back to Sparta, to tell of the warriors' sacrifice and inspire Greece to unite against Persia. This isn't some secret layer to the film or anything.

• Chris

  

  • 1441 posts
   

  June 5, 2014 1:59 AM EDT

  It was in response to the criticism that it was inaccurate. It plays out much like a Greek/Norse Epic.
• Tae-Rai

  

  • 622 posts
   

  June 5, 2014 7:23 AM EDT

  Good movie but historically inaccurate,
• Vazgen

  

  • 1483 posts
   

  June 5, 2014 7:31 AM EDT

  I think it's a bad movie. The old one (The 300 Spartans) was much better IMO. 

• Matt Feeney the New Guy

  

  • 1124 posts
   

  June 5, 2014 7:43 AM EDT

  Vaz, I'll just stick with the crazy ninja spin moves and the heavily armored gym buddies. Historical accuracy really means nothing to me, especially if it's not trying to be.
• Vazgen

  

  • 1483 posts
   

  June 5, 2014 8:11 AM EDT

  Frankly, I'm not much for historical accuracy either. However those dumb slow motion action scenes are getting on my nerves 

• Chris

  

  • 1441 posts
   

  June 5, 2014 9:41 AM EDT

  It's meant to,be framed like propaganda told by Diios to inspire the Greeks on orders of Leonidas, most of the main battle he never saw, so of course it's biased. Diios is meant to rally the troops against Persia. And it's based on the old idea that the Athenians invented Democracy, while the Persians were ruthless tyrants.
• Teccam

  

  • 189 posts
   

  June 5, 2014 2:57 PM EDT

  Bullshit, it's completely relevant. This isn't a documentary meant to educate, it's a movie meant to entertain. It'd be one thing if it was inaccurate due to poor research or lazy writing, but they literally explain the reasoning for the inaccuracy (along with the visual style of the film, the excessive violence, etc.) in the movie itself -- and also in the graphic novel. That's purely a stylistic choice, and IMO it works quite well.

  How do you feel about Braveheart? The Searchers? Inglourious Basterds?

  I'm not saying I think 300 is a good movie, for the record. But to say that it inherently fails by virtue of the historical inaccuracies is a copout that undermines the entire purpose of the film. So again, I say, bullshit.

• Teccam

  

  • 189 posts
   

  June 6, 2014 5:07 PM EDT

  Your criteria are flawed. These are not documentaries, nor do they claim to be historically accurate. To judge them solely on the merit of their historical accuracy is utterly nonsensical.

  I'm not saying you should completely disregard the historical inaccuracies -- it's good to be aware of such things, and there's nothing wrong with giving them a bit of weight with regard to your overall assessment of the film. But it's simply absurd to base your entire opinion of a film's quality on its historical accuracy. Especially in cases where historical accuracy was a conscious design choice that actually supports the narrative.

  To make 300 100% historically accurate would have conflicted with the entire purpose of the film. In truth, this would have made it a worse movie, due to the narrative inconsistencies that it would have created.