It's exaggerated, sure, but I wouldn't say it's totally inaccurate. Until a few decades ago, most of the world was incredibly racist. Should there have been black spartans cast to make people feel better?

Also, about mythological figures: You don't think what people believe influences what people do? If your gods are doing it, it's probably at least accepted. Also, 50 years from now, would you remember the news reporting on two gay men having sex? Probably not. Would you remember two famous celebrities having gay sex with each other? Much more likely.

Hah, some people see homosexualism in this movies, now others see racisim.....


I guess when I watch it I will look for the pro-life abortion undertone lying just beneath the surface of the movie. Yes the Spartans must have been pro-choice and the Persians had to have been pro-life... hah!!


I mean people, you can try to read whatever wierdo message you want to read. But it is not a movie with deep underlying messages. Or at least it doesn't appear that way.

I would say it's totally inaccurate. The tensions between the Greek states and the Persian empire were cultural, rather than based on a physical racism. They took issue with each other over things like whether or not they wore beards and skirts versus pants, not skin colour. The Persians were, after all, largely Indo-European.

No, they shouldn't have cast black Spartans; but perhaps they shouldn't have cast a majority of black "Persians" either. The only reason to do so is because black people provide an "exotic" contrast to the white heroes, and when you add in a few scars and deformities... well, that's an exotic look indeed, just great for a villain. That is what I found racist.

So I just got an email at work asking me to spend $14 to go see the movie on IMAX, I think I am going to have to.


As far as I know, the Spartans and Greeks in general loved to hold each other's testicles while swearing oaths to each other. Thats just history and who they were, but I wouldn't even closely resemble it to modern meanings of being gay. But again, this is just another example of the gay movement trying to push their selves on other people, turning what was once seen as comradely and male bonding, and making it something sexual. Just like those wacky feminist groups who insist that every romantic comedy where the guy asks the girl out first, is a symbol of male oppression. Which of course, has resulted in romantic comedies that are all comedy and no romance.

Based on what I know of the graphic novel, it is indeed racist against Persians.

I'd be surprised if it wasn't anti-Persian, seeing as they are the enemies.

Are you going to substantiate these claims, or just say "Because I said so. Besides being in the air force, I also have a master's in anthropology"?

ETA: To those whining about it being racist... harden up. Seriously. I don't see why we have to put token black people in any group of white people in movies, just so it won't offend the sensibilities of some people. Real-life Spartans were white. Real-life Persians came from all over the place, including Africa. Big deal.

Did you even read my posts? I wasn't complaining about the lack of token minorities. I was complaining that the disproportionate casting of black actors (Persians, get this, were overwhelmingly "white") and their portrayal (physically deformed, in contrast with the physically flawless white heroes) reflects a racist aesthetic, in which the dark people are villainous and abnormal. It's not a question of "harden up". My sensibilities were not "hurt". I question who made those choices and why.

That's actually a practice you find all over the ancient near east. It's a way to swear an oath on your progeny.

This shows up in the Hebrew scriptures as well, although English translations often say something like, "And he put his hand under his thigh" or some other nicety that's not quite as alien to Western sensibilities as grabbing your neighbor's package every time he asks you to mow his lawn.

Frank Miller, because that's how the genre works. Heroes are good-looking, bad guys are either ugly or deformed. You're forgetting that the Persian ruler is cast as a white actor in the movie, that most of the deformed people are white (From what I can glance from the trailer) and so on.

First I am in the Navy, second I am not an Anthropologists, nor do I make any claims of such. History is a hobby of mine, and like I told Kalodan last night when we were having a similar discussion, I will admit that I do tend to pay more attention to the history of the navy, (not just the US Navy, but all navies in general) and aviation.

And no, I feel no need to back up those claims. One, because the picture caption on the one I said is from the Etruscans says it was found in the capitol city of the Etruscans. Not a big jump there, also the art style has Italic elements, specifically the sandals the man on the left is wearing. Compare to the tongo where the solider is wearing shoes. Greeks had boots and shoes, and wore them, where as the Italic Cultures tended towards variations of sandals.

As Daganev also stated, most of those images depicted genital holding, not actual sex. One the one with Zephyr had his boy, which he later kills by the way, so I don't know if you want to use that as a symbol of homosexuality being good. The majority of Greek Legends, Fables, and Myths generally regard same sex relations among men up there with incest. It happens, and frequently, but you don't talk about it. That is why only gods and mythical beings are depicted doing it, because they became symbols and outlets to the general public, and frequently showing why the culture thought it was not good, but not bad either. All in all, they were fairly neutral about it, and opinions would change from family to family.

When was last in a history class, this was something my professor said, or at least the gist of it, been a while: "History is the most abused, twisted, and perverted course of study any one individual can take. Three people, can look at the same event, and twist it to fit whatever propaganda they wish it to fit, and then sell it, and ignorant masses will buy the one who screams and yells loudest. This is a fact, and a historians job is to try and always correct the ignorance the few fools who enter this field sow."

No one, I repeat no one, denies homosexuality happened among the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Persians, etc etc etc... What is denied is the prevalence and prosperity of homosexuality that elements of our modern culture would have everyone believe.

Again, I have no problem with homosexual people, I mean my character in game is getting married to another female. I wouldn't do this OOC, but the thought of homosexuality does not disgust me. If it is a natural thing, as so many claim, then why do they scream so loud. I believe they scream so loud because they know nothing else. The modern gay movement came in at the end of the major civil rights movements, and hundreds upon hundreds of lobbyists for vying for a job, but they were no longer needed, so the feminist movement was renewed, atheist rights and the removing of crosses from the public view became issues, and homosexuality became a political issue. Remember, homosexuality has existed in the United States since at LEAST the 1900's, where we have pictures of men engaging in sex.

You're also confusing Persia with Prussia. Where do you goto buy Persian Rugs?

Here is a wonderful map of the Persian Empire:

Yep, lots of acts are depicted and mentioned which the modern reader would see as being sexual, but most people know to not be.

Umm, most people from the middle east are white. Not as white as england, but definitly as white as Greece.

The Persians were known for hiring Mercenaries, the best and most well known of at the time being from Nubia, and the western parts of India (where you have very dark, and some black, men)

Yeah, sorry, I was commenting on the prussia thing.

Next time my friends ask me for a favor, I'm so going to be tempted to grab their balls and swear a solemn oath. Just to with their heads.

Tomorrow is going to be a fun movie-going experience. Especially since the Battle of Thermopylae has some of the most badass quotes in history.

One of my friends often does that.

Though we have convinced him its best he grab his own package, so he gets punched in the face by us less often.

But then they just think I'm weird.

Just saw 300. It has everything a good movie needs.

Nudity, Gore, Hunchbacks, snappy one-liners, and a charismatic leader.

Awesome movie. Two thumbs up.