Adrienne Davis Mrs.

Adams Composition 102 3 October 2010

Thermopylae War

We are Spartans, based on an event that occurred 2,500 years ago at Thermopylae consisted of three hundred men. Well from my understanding, such events did happen but not exactly the same way as shown in the movie, 300. The comparison between the movie and history would have the history part more detailed than the movie. While watching and grasping the concept of the movie and understanding how its related to history, I realized that in history the real reason the war started was over revenge; but in the movie it was over sharing their profit. 300, a movie about a war just because the Persian king asked for a small amount of Spartans earth and water as a token of submission (Griswold). But, the history behind it all isnt as different from the film; the Greek just supported the Athens because they were also against Persia. Do you think the whole film matches the definite facts behind history? The movie 300 made me think about history as a subject worth paying attention to because the movie made the actual events very interesting. On certain parts of the movie I was thrilled as when the Spartans were winning against the Persians; however there were some parts that made me gloomy or disappointed at points of how certain ones died. The movie made history more interesting and worth understanding the past better. When I found out that specific parts of the movie were inaccurate, I wasnt surprised because the directors cant get every detail of what happened during that time in life. Even though I would have preferred the movie to be exactly accurate, so I could focus more about historical events that occurred way before me. But the movie was close enough to what actually happened thousands and thousands of years ago and I could understand it better when I watched the film. I would say the movie was meant out to be mainly inaccurate; but I was fascinated because of the possibly of only three hundred men going against that many people starting out and how they were trained to become a warriors. The techniques the Greek (Spartans) used to overcome the Persian army. The movie showed that, thats how their lifestyle was during that time. For example, the women werent allowed to speak out of turn, the richest and more

powerful thought that they could control over all and everything, including the Greek. Their clothing in film was somewhat the same way as it was during sometime in 490 B.C. Also, at the beginning of the movie; the Persian messengers/diplomats were actually pushed down the well because of their cruelty when presented to the Spartans for their part of land. This is a great movie just because of the events that occurred and how the Spartans stood up for their own, not being a slave to the Persian king. However, I know that the whole movie is not accurate because the moviemakers have no way in revealing all the facts about the war between the Persians and Greek. The goal was to stand up for what is right, do what you think is right in situations that you are placed in and thats exactly what the Spartans did. Furthermore, I believe that this movie was based on the sake of making the story more interesting. It was the sake of making the story more interesting because of the construction used for effects to make it more exotic; the more detailed graphics the moviemakers used to give the movie a more captivating and appealing description due to the interest of citizens. When basing fact and fiction from the movie, I can say that the movie is both but more fiction. The reason I stated that is because of the situation and changes that happened during 490 B.C. One example I stated before was when the Spartans pushed the Persians down a well, but it is said that it happened at least 10 years ago. Another fact would be that the Greek army did consist of three hundred men at the beginning of the war. Furthermore, a scene within the movie was supported by the evidence shown when the Greeks used phalanx; the formation of men in a row with overlapping shields (Griswold). Basically, referring to what strategy used to defeat the Persians while Greek formed this single impenetrable unit (Griswold). So, when fighting against their enemy, they made it hard for the Persians to defeat them. Nevertheless there are many fiction parts within this film, starting with how the war started. The war really started because of revenge, the son of the Persian king Xerxes resumed his fathers unfinished business with Greece since the Athens decided to assist the rebels. The [people] of Greece revolted against Persian rule and expelled the Achaemenid administrators (Traditions & Encounters). Subsequently the war started just because the Persian king couldnt the satisfaction he wanted from Greece. So before the war started, within the movie a messenger tells Leonidas that Xerxes (son of the Persian King Darius) army drinks the rivers dry; explaining as metaphor how huge his army is and how the Spartans were going to be able to defeat them with only three hundred men (300). Nonetheless, in real life the historians only estimated his army to be from a range of 150,000 to 200,000;which is still a lot of men (Griswold). Even though Xerxes army was very large, with the techniques and skills shown to the Greeks, the Persians lost against them. Consequently, the views from the movie compared to the actual history would be somewhat vice versa. The reason of vice versa would be because the movie tried to give a sense of how and what the Spartans went through, throughout this process. Yet the movie is not the

exact way as it is in history, but you still know what actually happened before, during and after the conflict of the war between Persia and Greece. You can learn parts of history while watching this movie, but I wouldnt go by every aspect of the movie when learning about history. The movie falls into category of balanced and appropriate representation since the movie; with all the information and comparison given, its shows that the movie is more helpful than a problem when it comes to understanding the facts from the past. The movie was made to please people but also to grasp everyones attention on how this movie is in fact based on true events. The movie was great and it caught my attention after the fact that it tries to parodies the historical event. Overall, the movie wasnt as different as it was in during the actual moment thousands of years ago. The same amount of men that Greek took with them was the same amount in historical events, when they first started out to battle against Persia. Also, the same strategies used to defeat Persia were used the same way as it did 490 B.C. However the Persians not having the amount of soldiers that they claimed in the film showed that the movie wasnt all accurate. But, of course the movie wouldnt be exactly the same as it was 2,500 years ago because they wanted the movie to be exciting and something everyone would enjoy. So, do you still think that the movie matches the historical events?

Work Cited

300. Dir. Zack Snyder. Perf. Gerald Butler, Lena Heady, David Wenham, and Dominic West. Warner Bros, 2006. DVD.

Griswold, Doug. 300 vs. History. Mercury News. 18 Mar. 2007. Web. 1 Oct. 2010.

Bentley, Jerry H. Traditional & Encounters. 4 t h . 1 . N e w Y o r k : M c G r a w - H i l l , 2008. 239-40.Print.