This is my task 2 for my unit 25 26

1. Task 2 Jack kilminster
“The Spartans” is a 1962 film
that consists of more than one
genre, the film is a hybrid of
both historical epic and action
genres that are based from
the battle of thermopylae, it is
based on real historic events
from nearly 2500 years ago in
480 BC. The film 300
Spartans(1962) was directed
by Rudolph Mate who has
also created other films in the
past such as D.O.A and When Worlds Collide. 300 directed by Zack Snyder was released in
2006 film that is also more than one genre, both action and fantasy. It contains the same
story of the spartans fighting the persians but it has other beings appealing to the fantasy
side, the creatures which were used in the film 300 took inspiration from miller’s comic.
Frank Miller’s comic book series “300” was made in 1998. It is also considered an Action film
as there is a lot of blood and violence used in this film while actors look aggressive and
strong language is slightly used.making the movie appeal to a larger audience. Since the
directing of 300 it has allowed Zack to direct many other big films such as Watchmen, legend
of the guardians and Justice League.
The cast and crew of the film had even used the actual locations of where the ‘Battle of
Thermopylae’ had taken place to reflect the scenery of the time. The armory used as well
were designed to match the warriors from that age, so the average person could portray
what originally the soldiers would look like, adding to the realism of the film making it fall
under the genre of ‘Historical Epic’.
The given budget for 300 Spartans was
$8.5 million US dollars ($8,500,000)
which was a high budget film that was
being produced than any other released
at the time. A few reasons for this was
because, due to wanting to film at real
locations, the producers had to pay for
using Greek lands they filmed in and the
whole cast and crew including
equipment had to be flown out to Greece, along with paying for their accommodation and the
catering which must of been costly due to the amount of hungry actors (300+) on set. Lastly,
the actors had to be paid for their share in the film and was obviously not going to cost
cheap as there were pretty big names starring in the project.
Another reason for the budget being so high is due to the making of props and sets which
were built from scratch to create verisimilitude. Not to mention paying for the film’s promotion
such as printing out posters and advertising the trailers in cinemas. 20th Century Fox who
are both producers and distributors of the film had given such a high budget for the film also
because at the time there were other Historical Epic films released that made a lot of money,
so they probably decided if they were to invest more money in the film, they would gain more
back. The

2. Task 2 Jack kilminster
total amount of gross revenue 300 Spartans made was an incredible $76.5 ($76,520,000)
million US dollars meaning about $68,000,000 million US dollars was pure profit. The reason
for this being is because, the audience wanted to watch their favourite actors (as mentioned
before) and the use of real locations attracted the audience even more as well as the genre
being so popular at the time. Also back then, the only platform available to watch films was
the Cinemas, so people would have had to purchase a cinema ticket. It wasn't until later
years when technology advanced and people were able to watch films comfortably at home
on VHS.
The 300 Spartans does a fairly good job of following the facts of Thermopylae as we know it.
The film opens with the Persians marching into Thrace. Xerxes (David Farrar) has a chat
with the exiled Spartan king Demaratus (Ivan Triesault) in which some of the dialog is draw
straight out of Herodotus. In fact, the film repeatedly uses famous Spartan comments
reported by the Greek historian, which right there puts it a whole level above Snyder’s work
in terms of basic accuracy. And there’s a good deal more concern to depict the Persians
wearing things actual Persians wore (although
there are a lot of generic Hollywood belly-dancers
too).
Where the film digresses is with the insertion of
an invented Hollywood romance. Whereas in 300,
the love relationship is between Leonidas and his
queen, Gorgo, in this film, it’s between Gorgo’s
niece, Ellas (Diane Baker) and Demaratus’ son
Phyllon (Barry Coe). They want to be married,
but because Demaratus has been accused of
helping the Persians, Leonidas refuses to allow
Phyllon to marry or fight with the other Spartans.
This sets off a tedious sub-plot in which the two
lovers chase after Leonidas’ army, and then
stumble across an elderly couple whose lecherous son Ephialtes falls in love with Ellas, thus
providing him with a motive to betray the Spartans to the Persians by showing them how to
get around the pass at Thermopylae.
Meanwhile, Xerxes is consorting with Queen Artemisia (Anne Wakefield). In contrast to Eva
Green’s man-hating fury, Wakefield’s Artemisia is a fairly traditional evil woman for the
period. She uses her feminine wiles to get what she wants, and Xerxes’ libidinous dalliance
with her is used to demonstrate that he’s a lousy ruler who ignores the good advice of his

3. Task 2 Jack kilminster
generals. But this Artemisia isn’t that important to the plot; once the fighting starts she is
almost completely forgotten.
One thing The 300 Spartans shares
with 300 is a general disinterest in
recreating actual hoplite warfare.
Both the Spartans and the Persians
are dressed more accurately in The
300 Spartans (for example, the
Persian Immortals are correctly
shown carrying wicker shields), but when it comes to combat the film either doesn’t know
how to depict a hoplite phalanx in action or it simply doesn’t care. The Spartans just stand in
long lines, single file, with the next line standing 30-40 feet behind them doing nothing.
Instead of showing how the Spartans successfully employed the hoplite system to maximum
effect for the terrain available (and chose Thermopylae because it would maximize the
power of the phalanx by negating the Persian advantage of numbers), the Spartans in this
film are just better fighters.
They repeatedly repulse waves of
Persians who employ ludicrous
tactics. In the first attack, Xerxes
orders his cavalry to advance behind
the concealment of his infantry. The
plan is that at the last minute the
cavalry will ride through the infantry,
catch the Spartans by surprise and
capture them all so Xerxes can
publicly execute them. None of that
makes much sense, and it doesn’t fool the Spartans at all. When the cavalry charges, the
Spartans just fall down and let the cavalry ride over them, and then stand up and turn around
to trap them between two groups of Spartans. The fact that the front row of Spartans are
now standing with their backs to the Persian infantry is just ignored.
Then Xerxes sends in chariots, which the Spartans defeat with arrows and javelins. When
the Spartans use their spears, it’s mostly to throw them, and they prefer to fight with what
look to be Roman short swords instead. Then the Immortals get sent in and the Spartans
trick them into advancing past a flammable pile of hay which they then light on fire, trapping
the Immortals. The film exhibits absolutely no idea about how phalanxes actually worked.

4. Task 2 Jack kilminster
But there is one nice detail I have to commend,
because I complain about it in other war scenes.
When the Spartans are finally outflanked and
surrounded at the end of the film, refusing to
surrender Leonidas’ body, Xerxes does the smart
thing. He doesn’t send in his infantry to fight them.
He lets his archers pick them all off, because a unit
of infantry in stationary formation is vulnerable to
missile fire.
The 300 Spartans has not aged particularly well. The acting is the usual turgid 50s style, the
female characters are good for nothing except being love objects, the soundtrack is
obnoxious, and the stunt-work is thoroughly unconvincing.
The Spartans were not as 'good' as the movie portrays them to be. Greeks, including the
Spartans, conquered neighboring areas to acquire more land and to build their slave labor
force. Many of the Greek soldiers, who fought with the Spartan elite at the Battle of
Thermopylae, were forced to fight because they were slaves. Frank Miller, author of the
graphic novel 300, talked about the nature of the Spartans in an interview, "The Spartans
were a paradoxical people. They were the biggest slave owners in Greece. But at the same
time, Spartan women had an unusual level of rights. It's a paradox that they were a bunch of
people who in many ways were fascist, but they were the bulwark against the fall of
democracy. “I didn't want to render Sparta in overly accurate terms, because ultimately I do
want you to root for the Spartans. I couldn't show them being quite as cruel as they were. I
made them as cruel as I thought a modern audience could stand."
The movie 300 presents a strong willed Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey), who advises her
husband on both military and political matters. At one point in the film, a Persian messenger
insults the Queen after she offers her input during a political discussion. The Persian felt that
the Queen (a woman) should not speak on such matters. The film's depiction of the role of
Spartan women is accurate. The relative freedom and empowerment of their women helped
to further set the Spartans apart from other cultures. The empowerment of Spartan women
could be compared to the freedoms of modern day American women versus the restricted
roles of many present day Middle Eastern women. Headey suited the role of the Queen as
she is an attractive woman and a capable actress to portray a powerful Queen and present
women different than the ones in 300 Spartans.
In the film, 300 Spartans, Men are shown to be far more superior than women and this was
to show just how women were displayed and treated back thousands of years ago.

5. Task 2 Jack kilminster
Women were seen to live at home, cook, clean and raise children. In the film (1962), women
have very less or speaking roles and there are far more men casted on set than women.
These same views on women and men being more superior existed within the 1960’s and
honestly till today although society is now open minded. Also the way women are spoken
about in the film is showing how men believe that they are inferior species. For example,
when Xerxes says “A woman’s tongue is deadlier than a sword”. What Xerxes is trying to
say a woman’s words can hurt even more than a deadly weapon.
There was the use of the ‘male gaze theory’ as well as women had no part in relation to the
actual relation
In the movie 300 Spartans, Diane Baker
played the role of Ellas who was a young
woman in love. She was very much on
the same level as Egan as she had a big
name in Hollywood in the 60’s. She
appears to be innocent than the other
characters in the film. In the 60’s era,
most individuals within society were strong believers in freedom, love and peace. This is
known as the ‘hippie movement’ and so it was often encouraged and grew in popularity. The
film 300 Spartans released in 1962, the right time as the film itself helped promote freedom
and democracy, agreeing with society. Before the release of 300 Spartans, other Historical
Epic films were released which were all based on similar historical wars and events. These
films were Spartacus (1960), Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and Bun Hur (1959). The release of
300 Spartans was also good as it was clear the audience and people at the time enjoyed
these forms of entertainment.
The movie depicts a small group of
European freedom fighters holding
off a large army of Iranian slaves.
Although people might draw
comparisons to modern day
conflicts, Zack Snyder said that he
did not intend to create the movie to be a commentary on current events, "Someone
asked me, 'Is George Bush Leonidas or Xerxes?' I said, 'That's an awesome question.'
The fact they asked tells me that this movie can mean one thing to one person and
something totally different to another. I clearly didn't mean either. I was just trying to get
Frank's book made into a movie."

6. Task 2 Jack kilminster
The Iranian government was not happy with the movie's
depiction of their culture just two days after 300's U.S.
release, on Sunday March 11, 2007. Javad Shamqadri,
an art advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
charged that the movie was "part of a comprehensive
U.S. psychological war aimed at Iranian culture", said the
report. Shamqadri was quoted as saying, "Following the
Islamic Revolution in Iran, Hollywood and cultural
authorities in the U.S. initiated studies to figure out how to
attack Iranian culture," adding, "Certainly, the recent
movie is a product of such studies." The movie's effort
would be fruitless, because "values in Iranian culture and the Islamic Revolution are too
strongly seated to be damaged by such plans", said the Iranian official.
During the 1960’s, society would rebel and fight for causes such as freedom, peace and
love. During that era, there were two main countries with power around the world after the
Second World War which were USA and the USSR (America and Russia now). As the Cold
War was going on, the public wanted to be free and wanted to live a life they currently are
today. Both films were indirectly based around what was happening in society and tried to
get them involved for them to find the film appealing. For example, the word ‘freedom’ was
used a lot repeatedly throughout the film to emphasise society’s issues. Furthermore, in 300
Spartans, King Leonidas was the main protagonist in the film who was fighting against the
huge army of Persians and ‘power’ indirectly portraying society’s views. This was when the
King approached the councilmen to warn them how they must fight as the Persians were
preparing for battle but as it was a religious holiday in Greece, they were not allowed.
However, King Leonidas still rebelled by taking along with him 300 strong men to fight for
what he believed in. Yet at the same time, the romantic ‘love story’ between Ellas and
Phylon (Barry Coe) was to attract a young, light hearted audience at the same time who
were attracted to ‘romance’ and ‘dreams’.

7. Task 2 Jack kilminster
The armoury used in 300 Spartans included the metal helmet, metal chest plates the
covered the whole torso, as well as the metal shin pads. However, in the film 300, the
Spartan soldiers fighting nearly naked without any form of body armor protecting them. Body
armor was a valuable asset to the real Spartan soldiers and underwear style shorts. This
was most likely to show the cunning, courageous side of the warriors in 300 not to mention
the ripped, muscular physique such as the torso (pecs and abs) probably to attract female
audiences. It also proves how the spartans in 300 are shown as if all the do is work out day
and night, training for war since children. The movie 300 has the Spartan soldiers fighting
nearly naked without any form of body armor
protecting them. Body armor was a valuable asset to
the real Spartan soldiers. 300 author Frank Miller
commented on this alteration in an Entertainment
Weekly interview, "I took those chest plates and
leather skirts off of them for a reason. I wanted these
guys to move and I wanted 'em to look good. ...
Spartans, in full regalia, were almost
indistinguishable except at a very close angle."
The main character in 300 Spartans is acted out by
Richard Egan. The role of King Leonidas was very
suitable for Egan as he was well-known in the
Hollywood industry by a lot of cinematography viewers and loved
both by men and women in his time. King Leonidas is also loved by
all his people despite being king and and is also very well-known till
this day. The role was also suitable as the audience can cheer for
King Leonidas even more as a character in the film as he is already
the favourite character. Meanwhile for 300 the main character was
played by Gerard Butler who is known for his aggression in other
roles as well as masculinity. Before 300, his name was not the
biggest within the industry and I believe he was also chosen for the
role as the producers wanted to save money for the new CGI
technologies as they were already spending a lot.