Post 4:MYTHS AND HEROES

  300 is a 2006 American fantasy war film based upon the 1998 comic book series of the same name  created by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley.  300 is a fictional story of the Battle of Thermopylae during the second Persian invasion of Greece.  The film is a Warner Bross Production and was directed by Zack Snydery while Miller served as executive producer and consultant. Music was composed by Tyler Bates and was released on March 6, 2007, three days before the film opened for public viewing.

The characteristic of the film is it was filmed mostly with a super imposition chroma key technique to help replicate the imagery of the original comic book.

The story related the life of the King Leonidas of Sparta (Gerald Butler) who leads 300 Spartans into battle against the Persian ‘good-king’ Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his invading army of more than 300,000 soldiers. As the battle rages, Queen Gorgus (Lena Headay) attempts to rally support  from Sparta for her husband.

In the whole film the story is framed by a voiceover narrative by the Spartan soldier Dilios (David Wenham). Through this narrative technique various fantastical creatures are introduced, placing 300 within the genre of this classical fantasy.

Let’s  examine now the relation between the notion Myths and Heroes.

First of all, we can say the battle of the Thermopylae is a Myth because it corresponds to the first definition of a Myth: 

-‘A traditional, typically ancient story revolving around the activities of gods and heroes which purpose is to explain a natural phenomenon or cultural practice and serves as a fundamental type in the world view a point’.

In fact, this story is not just a fictional film but it is also based on historical facts, when the Spartans stopped the advance of the Persians.  That was a real Persian historical milestone where the Spartans were in a big inferiority.

In another hand the figure of King Leonidas is a perfect example of what a hero model  is, as he has the skills of  two of the three definitions:

-A mythological or legendary figure, often of divine descent, endowed with great strength or ability, celebrated for his bold exploits, and favored by the gods.

Actually he is very courageous and strong, he is not at all fearful, and he challenged Xerxes. If we focuse on his battles he shows to be very strong and even the most feared warriors  are afraid of him. If we observe the dialogues between Xerxes and Leonidas, we can appreciate that Xerxes has more respect towards Leonidas, as it should be the contrary.

-A character with noble qualities who, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, displays courage and the will for self sacrifice-that is, heroism-for some greater good of all humanity.

As we have seen, Leonidas is  very courageous,  strong and he has no fear, and this three qualities are noble. Thanks to this courage he stops the advance of the Persians and he becomes a real hero. Leonidas  sacrifices himself for others and even if he knows he will die he comes in the lion´s den. But he wins time for other Greece´s cities to prepare their battles.  Thanks to him Persians lost the battle to conquer Greece.

We can conclude that 300 is the perfect example to explain the notion ‘Myth and Heroes’ as it encompasses all the aspects of the notion.