When it comes to movies, there are very few that even come close to portraying the male gender role the way 300 does. Gerard Butler portrays the main character named Leonidas, and him and an army of 300 soldiers fight an entire nation of Persians in a battle to save their nation from being conquered. The first and most noticeable gender role that appears is the one of having a muscular and strong physical appearance. Every soldier shown in the movie has a six pack, and there are many scenes, that showcase their physical abilities at fighting. One of my favorite scenes is when such when Leonidas jumps off one foot and goes about 50 feet in the air to stab a Persian on an elephant.
Besides the appearance of a man, the movie also promotes the gender role of a man being brave, fearless, and violent. It shows how Spartan boys are taught these qualities at a young age, and that if you don’t display these qualities you are rejected from society. If a baby doesn’t meet the physical criteria to be a soldier at a young age, due to a birth defect or a lack in size or weight, they throw it off a cliff because fighting is that important to their society. There’s also a scene where a hunchback, deformed man tries to join their army because his father was a soldier, and Leonidas denies him no matter how hard he tries to be accepted as a Spartan.
As for the female gender role, they also portray them as being strong, independent, and beautiful. When the rulers of the Persians, named Xerxes, threatens to make all of the women in Sparta slaves, Leonidas responds “well in that case I can assure you that you haven’t met our women”. Towards the end of the movie Leonidas’ wife actually kills a senator because he tries to act in his own interests, and this shows that women also have power in their society.
Your blog post was very well written. 300 is also one of my favorite movies and I cannot think of a better movie and example of media that shows as much physical masculinity as this one.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog post. I have never seen 300, but it definitely sounds and looks like the men in this movie completely fit the physical and mental stereotype of a man. This post was very interesting and maybe I will see this movie at some point.
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