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300‘s (male) body image

February 1st, 2007
Author Kevin Melrose

Entertainment Weekly‘s PopWatch blog wonders how all the oiled-up male flesh in 300 will play with film’s apparent target audience:

… [I]t’s saturated with stylized, video-gamesque violence and fanboy geek-out visuals. Not to mention that it has both half-naked, uber-buffed-out men and half-naked, lithe women (nipples all around!) — in other words, something for everyone. Then again, will the adolescent and twentysomething straight guys this film seems to be targeting be comfortable with the movie’s unmistakable male body worship?

The film opens on March 9.

 
11 Responses to “300‘s (male) body image”
  1. JK Parkin Says:

    I doubt it matters. The WWE audience falls into that same demo, and wrestlers don’t wear much more than that.

  2. Jesse Says:

    As one of the twentysomething straight guys this film seems to be targeting and I’m comfortable with it. Hell I watched Rome and was comfortable with the most recent episode of it.

    It could be worse. It could be 100% accurate to the comic and all the dudes could be walking around flapping in the breeze.

  3. Live Free or Dan Coyle Says:

    Man, all this talk of slash and homoeroticism might send Frank Miller into seizures, becuase as 300 bent over backwards to stress, SPARTANS NOT GAY!

    I’d like that.

  4. Live Free or Dan Coyle Says:

    To clarify, I find it amusing that this is being discussed when Miller’s homophobia was a much discussed topic on 300‘s initial release.

  5. t Says:

    Live Free, that’s so funny. I just want to point out to anyone else who reads this comments section that the spartans were VERY homosexual. They thought that if a man and his lover were fighting side by side, they would fight harder and stronger. Meanwhile, the women ran things behind the scenes, slept with each other and mated only for offspring. Hee, go lesbians! That would make this movie so much more interesting!

  6. Elayne Riggs Says:

    Hey, half-naked is still cheating, them Spartans weren’t big on wearing ANY clothing in battle…

  7. Kevin Melrose Says:

    Maybe they’re saving that for the director’s cut DVD. ;)

  8. Live Free or Dan Coyle Says:

    Elayne: I think the sight of Gerard Butler in the buff would be so wondrous it would be too much for audiences to bear.

  9. DrObviousSo Says:

    #1 hit it on the head. We’re comic fans, we eat homoerotic undertones for lunch.

  10. jon Says:

    The Spartans wore 40+ lbs of bronze armor into battle like the rest of the Greeks. Them being naked is all from Frank Miller’s imagination. I think it’s pretty much a certainty that people are going to see homoerotic undertones when you replace armored soldiers with men in thongs for the aesthetic effect.

  11. Delmy Szwejbka Says:

    Eh Gerard, what a guy

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