Is 300 Racist? The Sentinel investigates

By: Monica Durban

Posted: 4/18/07

300 recently hit theaters, raking in an estimated $127 million to date. The film, which is based on Frank Miller's graphic novel, is a dramatization of an ancient battle between a massive Persian army and a force of only 300 Spartans. The film's unique cinematography and epic battle scenes aren't the only things that are causing a stir - 300 is also being accused of depicting "intense racism".

Never mind that the movie more or less accurately represents the participants of the battle, some critics have still found a way to play the race-card. What Zack Snyder and Frank Miller intended to be an entertaining piece of film has now been construed into a bigoted satire of middle-eastern countries.

300, has been banned in Iran for depicting Persians as "evil." The Iranians are under the impression that the film portrays past Persians as vicious people who only attack the Spartans out of pleasure for bloodshed.

Iran is claiming that Grecians being portrayed as fair-skinned is historically untrue and 300 intended this inaccuracy in order to portray the fair-skinned as heroes. Because of this, the country is currently petitioning to remove the movie because of the alleged inaccuracy.

But here are the facts.

The battle referred to in 300 is historically known as Battle of Thermopylae. The battle took place over a period of four days in 480B.C. Xerxes I lead an army of Persians, Egyptians, Arabians, and Asians, totaling an estimated 100,000-500,000 against 300 Spartans, who were later joined by 700 Thespians, and 6,000 Grecian allies. Xerxes I sent his army in rushes of 10,000 men to attack the Spartans. The Spartans defeated the first few rushes losing only 2-3 men per battle. In the end, Leonidas I, the ruler of Greece, sent almost half his army back to Greece in order to rally more defenses, and the rest of this battle is, as they say, history.

The claim that the movie represents this event in a racist fashion, by portraying the Persians as evil, war-mongers intent on slaughtering the valiant Spartans is ridiculous. With a little bit of time and research, you will find that the battle was fought with honor by both sides.

The Persian King Xerxes I, attempted peaceful negotiations with King Leonidas I on two separate occasions. 300 depicts one of these meetings. Through this scene, and others throughout the film, the movie presents the Persian king as a man willing to make diplomatic negotiations, and not as tyrannical war-monger.

The battle scenes show that King Xerxes I lead a diverse army of Egyptians, Asians, and Persians, and accurately portrays the inclusion of a diverse mix of races within both armies. To say that this movie is racist against Arabs, one must also assume that Egyptians and Asians should also take offense.

If one wants to argue that the skin color of the actors who represented the armies of Sparta and Persia is proof of this discrimination, they need to look no further than history books to find that the races of the armies were portrayed accurately as well. Ancient Greeks were fair skinned in 480B.C, before their blood lines mixed with the Turks to give them the olive skin that they have today. Persians and Egyptians have darker skin, while Asians, who fought alongside Persians and Egyptians, have fair skin. This also shows the army of Xerxes I was not particularly discriminatory towards one certain skin color, neither in history nor in the film. The movie accurately depicts the people who fought in this battle centuries ago.

If we wanted, we could play this discrimination blame-game and say that the Spartans were also discriminately portrayed. Because of their unwillingness to surrender, we could easily say the movie depicts Spartans as arrogant fools, who should have accepted Xerxes' demands of surrender. This interpretation might sound silly, but no more so than those that see the movie as demeaning to ancient Persians.

Even further what do the dissenters of 300 suggest that the filmmakers do? Should the filmmakers have changed history and casted men of different racial backgrounds in order to promote diversity? Of course not. It is unfair to apply today's politically correct standards to events and people of the past.

The Battle of Thermopylae was a real battle fought by real people, and 300, is only a film depicting the events of this battle. While many events in movies are exaggerated by Hollywood for entertainment, the basic principle and plot surrounding 300 is one which is based on historical accuracy, and cries of "racism" cannot change the truth that lies behind the plot.