Battle Of Thermopylae: Movie Analysis

300 Movie Review The Battle of Thermopylae is a famous historical event, many people have known of it probably after watching the great movie 300 that was released back in 2006. The movie tells the story of king Leonidas and his 300 men fighting a fierce battle against the Persian army that came to invade Greece. However, like any other Hollywood movie that is based on an actual historical event, this movie is no exception from rewriting some of the historical facts. After a brief comparison between the real Battel of Thermopylae and the movie 300, one can identify some changes in the movie. Although the movie did a great job recreating this great historical event, there was still some facts about the Spartans military that were changed in
the movie Sparta was known as a military society unlike Athena that was famous for its philosophers, artists, and educators. Spartans military consisted of bloodthirsty, well trained, tough soldiers, and they were known for their cruelty. On the other hand, the movie showed them less cruel and more heroic. The director Frank Miller said about that, “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" (History vs Hollywood). The director of the movie changed this fact to make it more appealing for a modern day audience, or at least that what he claimed. Another detail that I noticed was the armor the soldiers wore in the movie.
Going back to real Spartans soldiers, they wore bronze helmets with plums on top, breast plates to protect the chest area, and scarlet caps as a sign of being Spartans. On the other hand, in 300, soldiers wear the almost the same uniform with some differences. Some of the changes are plums on the bronze helmets. Historically, all Spartans soldiers had plums made from horse hair on their helmets; however, in the movies, only the king Leonidas has a plum on his helmet. The director Miller claimed, “Another liberty I took was, they all had plumes, but I only gave a plume to Leonidas, to make him stand out…” (History vs Hollywood). The movie shows Spartan’s soldiers going to battel bare chests with no chest plates unlike the real soldiers that I mentioned wore breast plats to their battels. The director of 300 explained why he decided to remove this particular piece of armor, “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” (History vs Hollywood). Finally, the caps, one can notice that in the movie soldiers and Leonidas wore their scarlet caps the whole time, even at battle scenes. However, according to ancient military, the caps were never worn while
fighting. In my opinion, I cannot say that Hollywood aids the history all the time. The reason for that, is any movie they want to produce is going to cost millions of dollars; therefore, production companies want to make sure that the movie is a success and it will bring them profit. Sometimes, producers and directors tend to change some facts from the history to make their movies more attractive to the audience, like I mentioned earlier. In conclusion, Hollywood movies are not always a good source for historical knowledge for some facts might be changed to suit the modern day audience. If people would like the accurate knowledge, then they should read historical books or watch documentaries. These sources tend to be more accurate because their goal is to educate not to mainly entertain.