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Interested in more high-brow commentary like this?! Join me for #ClassicsTwitterMovie today at 2pm EST to discuss all things 300! #CLAS2500 https://twitter.com/vicky_austen/status/1319370594505293824
Just before we kick off with #ClassicsTwitterMovie I just wanted to share a view readings that I have found useful in preparing to think about 300 and the depiction of Spartan culture in general. First up is @SarahEBond's fantastic @eidolon_journal article https://eidolon.pub/this-is-not-sparta-392a9ccddf26
Matt Sears has also written on the connection between Spartan culture and the 2nd Amendment in this Washington Post article #ClassicsTwitterMovie https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2018/02/21/what-the-ancient-greeks-can-teach-us-about-gun-control/
And @pharosclassics also has a number of pages documenting misappropriation of Spartan culture - notably this essay responding to Spartan helmets making an appearance at protests in Berkeley in 2017 #ClassicsTwitterMovie http://pages.vassar.edu/pharos/2017/11/18/this-is-not-sparta/
Finally, (along with the @SarahEBond piece), I also assigned my students this article on "Discourse, Gender, and the Orient in Zack Snyder's 300" for their #CLAS2500 reading this week https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004241923/B9789004241923_006.xml #ClassicsTwitterMovie
Anddddd LET’S GO! #ClassicsTwitterMovie #CLAS2500
This opening montage on how Spartan agoge (education) works is very important for establishing the gender discourse at play in this film - this is about establishing Spartans as “real men” (which I naturally have THOUGHTS about 
) #ClassicsTwitterMovie
) #ClassicsTwitterMovie
The framing of the action through the eyes of a narrator is also very important - because we must remember that all the action is being recounted through a very specific lens #ClassicsTwitterMovie #CLAS2500
Sound the alarm! #ClassicsTwitterMovie #CLAS2500
Fun fact: only one scene in 300 was actually filmed outside (horses galloping across the fields). Everything else was against a green/blue screen - this allowed the creation of the graphic-novel-esque backdrop #ClassicsTwitterMovie #CLAS2500
When Gorgo tells Leonidas to either return “with his shield or upon it”, this is a reference to Plutarch (Mor. 241) #ClassicsTwitterMovie #CLAS2500
More referencing to the concept of “real men” in the narration in this scene - “no room for softness”, “only the hard, only the strong”, etc. There is only room for one type of masculinity here #ClassicsTwitterMovie #CLAS2500
It’s all abs and underpants in this scene #ClassicsTwitterMovie #CLAS2500
An extension of “real man” narrative in this film is its ableism - note that Ephialtes is “not a real Spartan” because he is unable to fight - his misshapen body is a grotesque exaggeration of this black and white dynamic #ClassicsTwitterMovie #CLAS2500
So Xerxes is very obviously set up as everything Leonidas is not - they are the focal point of the problematic East vs. West dynamic on display here #ClassicsTwitterMovie #CLAS2500
Xerxes is dripping in jewellery, he stays away from the fighting, and is covered in make up (code for “effeminate” here) - he is NOT a “real man”. So East vs. West also become feminine vs. masculine - it’s all very binary #ClassicsTwitterMovie #CLAS2500
There’s also an interesting contrast between Leonidas and the Spartan way of fighting (all team work - no better than your weakest man) vs. Xerxes who is presented as a “god-king” and “above” his soldiers #ClassicsTwitterMovie #CLAS2500
I’m sorry but I just do not have the energy to dissect this harem scene... just.... #ClassicsTwitterMovie #CLAS2500
Another problematic binary on display: Leonidas and the Spartans’ actions (the West) are framed as “fighting for freedom” (one of the elements picked up on by the Alt-Right) against “subjugation” of The Persians (the East) #ClassicsTwitterMovie #CLAS2500
And part of why this is so simplistic and inaccurate is because it completely erases the Helot population subjugated by the Spartans themselves #ClassicsTwitterMovie #CLAS2500 https://twitter.com/vicky_austen/status/1320449654509637632
A note on the narrative perspective - Delios is the narrator BUT he’s now left the battle (and he wouldn’t have been at the harem either) - which forces us to question the bias in his retelling of the tale. How much is “real” and how much is “legend”? #ClassicsTwitterMovie
Andddd we reach the end of our 300 journey for #ClassicsTwitterMovie! Thanks for following along 
No link up next week with #CLAS2500 but I’m sure @GregoryStringer will have something spooktacular lined up for you!
No link up next week with #CLAS2500 but I’m sure @GregoryStringer will have something spooktacular lined up for you!
