The document provides information about and compares the 1962 film 300 Spartans and the 2006 film 300. It summarizes key details about the plots, historical accuracy, depictions of women, and societal contexts of the two films. It also analyzes differences in how the films portrayed Spartan armor, warriors, and key characters. The document suggests both films were influenced by the sociopolitical climates in which they were released but adapted the source material differently.

1. The 300 spartans Task 2 Units 25,26 Adam Andrade
“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’. ​When it was released in 1962, critics saw the movie as a commentary on the
Cold War, referring to the independent Greek states as "the only stronghold of
freedom remaining in the then known world", holding out against the Persian "slave
empire".
The given budget for 300 Spartans was $8.5 million US dollars
which was a high budget film that was being produced than any
other released back then some 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.

2. Finally, 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.
However the total amount of gross revenue 300 Spartans made was $76.5 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,

3. 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 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.

4. 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
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."

5. 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.
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

6. 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."
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.

7. 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’
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."

8. 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.