If you can’t sit through a history lesson without falling asleep, one thing is for sure, if you get to watch hundreds of guys with tight abs wearing tiny red underwear who for the first half hour manage to go head to head with other considerably more clothed individuals and not get a scar anywhere on their bodies – you’ll be more than wide awake to see what happens next. Zack Snyder’s movie 300 is based on the actual Battle of Thermopylae, and that was adapted from the graphic novel by Frank Miller.

Though the movie has been selling out theatres since the first openings days, like most historical works brought to life with the help of Hollywood, not everyone is happy with the end result.

During the first half hour the thought briefly ran through my head, “This is kind of racist…” But, at the same time, if there weren’t a classic good guy / bad buy scenario on screen would people still shell out $15 dollars to see it in IMAX? The point is this stuff sells, especially in America. If it has gore, violence, sex, excites us, is visually stimulating for over an hour and gives us an underdog to root for the average joe will probably empty their wallets at the door. People won’t care if one group looked better than another, just as long as blood was spilled and at least one head got lopped off. When the whole audience gave the movie a good minute long applause I’m fairly sure no one was thinking about how horrible the Persians were represented. But like any controversial movie, the rest is history, in this case – literally.
—Eming Piansay