Portrayal's of Persians in Aeschylus' Persians and the Film 300 - Essay Example

Portrayals of Persians in Aeschylus' Persians and the Film 300 (2007) The Persians is on an Athenian tragedy by the Greek playwright Aeschylus. It was first produced in472 BCE. It is one of the oldest plays surviving plays, produced alongside three other plays. The Persians movie takes place in the capital of the city of Persia, Susa. The beginning of the play is by a chorus, which represents Persians nobles, and the queen waiting for the war news (Spencer 193). This was not the normal begging of the play by Aeschylus as the chorus in his movies usually come slightly after the speech by a character.

A messenger arrives and delivers a message of defeat, as well as the detailed information of the Greek leaders killed in the war. The queen Atossa goes to the tomb of the husband Darious who appears to him as a ghost but is unaware of the defeat. The appearance of the ghost is a unique occurrence in the Greek tragedy. She goes on to explain that the Persians did not win because of the abomination of his son who constructed a bridge of boats across the Hellespont offending the gods. Xerxes does not appear until later in the play, when he returned in defeat and shame.

The play has a characteristic of many lamentations by Xerxes and the chorus. The film 300 is an American fantasy action packed film, based on the comic series, by Frank Miller. It is a fictionalised movie that tells the tale of Thermopylae. The plot of the film spins around a king called Leonidas, who leads about three hundred Spartans against the Persians god king Xerxes, and his massive army of over a million soldiers. As the battle fumes, the queen tries to win the support of the Sparta for her husband.

The story is framed by the narrative voice of one of the Spartan soldiers Dilios. The two films are similar since they revolve around the ancient Persian history. Both movies received acclamation for their originality in the visuals and the styles deployed. Both films have critiques for their favour of the visuals over characterization and their controversy in the way they depict the Persians (Spencer 188). Aeschylus was not the initial one to develop the play about the Persians. Phrynichus had also written the Phoenicia in the year 493 BC.

It apparently mocked the Persians and praised the Greeks, despite the victory of the Persians over the Ionian. He was fined for producing such kind of work. The films employ different forms of narrative techniques. Both films play a significant role in showing the historical importance of the Greco- Persian war, which took place during the second invasion of the Persians in Greek. In addition, songs play a vital role in the film. For instance in the play by Aeschylus, the play opens with a sombre song and dances performed by the Persian elders.

Chorus is the defining feature of a Greek drama. It consists of 12 people who are equal in terms of identity and social status. In this play, the chorus has the most lines, and the chorus reckons the principal character. However, the most common difference between the play is that the film of Aeschylus Persians is that the battle of Salamis is told from the point of view of the losing side. In the play writing, the play for the audience is set on the point of the winning side. The film focuses on the Greeks, as well as the point of view of the Trojans, alleged to be their enemies.

What is striking about the movie the Persians is that it exclusively focuses on the barbarians and their subjectivity, as well as their loss. They mourn the loss of their dead ones. The Xerxes of the movie 300 produced by the Warner Brothers has a different look from the fantasy of the movie the Persians. From the movie, it is difficult to identify the person wearing more make up because of the helmets. There is a common gender bending history of an enemy, transgendered by different modern technologies, which was not common in the film Persians.

In addition, there is emasculation of the Persian men by their engagement on extensive lamentations that the Greeks would have associated with their women. In addition, there is difference in the two films in that the Persians film focuses more on the Salamis war while the film 300 focuses on the war against the Thermopylae. The version of history that is portrayed in the holly hood film 300 is more stylized, and its theme remained only relevant to the comic book. The film hardly mentioned the three hundred Spartans.

The Greek had heavy armour while the Persians wore light ones. From the two films, the Persian film by Aeschylus is more sympathetic than the film 300. The way the film begins with a chorus to the queen about the loss of all the warriors makes the audience sympathise more with the queen. The Athenians feeling of the tragic play, which were fighting, not for themselves but for their country, which was staked upon strive. The films subject matter was taken form the recent, historical event and the play producer Aeschylus had participated directly in the battle.

Because of this reason, the play marks an exceptionally valuable historical event. Aeschylus knew the facts of the battle and presented it from the first person pint of view. Work Cited Spencer, Tucker. Battles that Changed History: An Encyclopaedia of World Conflict. ABC- CLIO, 2010. Pg. 184-198.