SPARTA!!!

Embedded below is a video clip and Example of the movie with the personified Hero (White American) and Villian of another ethnicity (Persian).



Analysis:

As discussed in class we had covered differences between heros and villians and the obvious racial differences invovled especially in American Films and other forms of media. In the movie 300 the director, “Zack Snyder” took a unique approach with how he had used color tones as well as a stop motion feature used to excentuate the fighting sequences. It is pretty clear that the movie is a fight between two different ethnicities. Once again as described in class by Professor Newman heros in American films tend to be portrayed by young handsome and strong white men and the villian is portrayed by some other ethnicity whether it being hispanic, african american, or asian to name a few.
So lets look at 300, the main character is a King Leonidas is a Spartan who leads a 300 man army to fight against the threatening Persians from the East. The Hero and Villian of the story are easily distinguishable as King Leonidas is a once again handsome and very strong white guy as Xerxes is a very tall and extremely odd looking guy with loads of jewelry on. The fight between the Greeks and Persians is a battle for Freedom and Slavery. Leonidas is a honorable soldier and leader look at as a god as Xerxes is the ruler of the beasts feeding off of slaves. A Hero is someone that personifys all virtues as the Villian is stripped to the bear minimum of humanity and resemble beasts.
Action-Adventure films have and will continue to be a battle of “Us” and “Them”as the Villians represent a danger of difference. Yes the movie “300” seemed to be a battle mainly of almost color and beliefs its still a battle of difference. As discussed in the book by Croteau and Hoynes there are many different versions of the central determinant of the in-group and out-group. For example the usual main difference of nationality and ethnicity of the white American defeating the dangerous “primitive.” They go on to explain how this demonstration of differences used back in the 80's and 90's continue to occur in todays media and that it is slowly apart of our mainstream society. I personally don't find any offense to this observation however im not to fond of our country being attached to such ideologies. How else could we create such suspense and drama in American action-adventure films that focus on the evolution of institutions, class or individuals without a Hero and Villian?