The 300 were gay

Last week, The United States' top military officer, General Peter Pace, came out against gays in the military. "I believe that homosexual acts between individuals are immoral," he said, "and that we should not condone immoral acts."

Note to General Pace: Some of the fiercest fighters in military history were gay.

Anyone with a college-level knowledge of Greek history should know that the Spartan Army -- that same Spartan Army celebrated in Warner Bros.' "300" -- was not only a largely gay force, but encouraged homosexual relations among soldiers. Usually, such romance concerned an older mentor and a younger boy.

Wikipedia:

The lover was responsible for the boy's training...The Spartans, claims Athenaeus, sacrificed to Eros (the god of love) before every battle: "Thus the Lacedaemonians (i.e. Spartans) offer preliminary sacrifices to Eros before the troops are drawn up in battle-line, because they think that their safe return and victory depend upon the friendship of the men drawn up."

Now, to state the obvious, we're not condoning sex between men and boys (just as we're not encouraging the abandonment of weak babies in the wilderness, another Spartan societal norm). But to General Pace's point, not only is homosexuality in the military not a bad thing, it was the cornerstone of one of the most powerful fighting forces ever known.

Of course, this historical detail did not make it into Warner Bros.' "300." But that's not what bothered many gay bloggers.

Writing on After Elton.com prior to the film's release, Joe Palmer and François Peneaud say the real issue isn't that these same-sex practices weren't recognized in the film. They understand that "This is an action-adventure comic and movie aimed at young straight men, meant to pile up book sales and box-office cash by piling up dead bodies as graphically and artistically as possible."

The real problem is the inversion of historical fact.

After Elton:

Hot, shirtless, muscle-bound actors aside...gay history has been erased from 300 and replaced with negative stereotypes.

The first is the way the (evil) Persian king Xerxes is portrayed in the graphic novel. Continuing a shameful tradition of Persians as perverts, Miller gives us a king who's all piercings and useless fashion accessories, his head and faced shaved, combining to create an air of effeminacy. In comparison, (Spartan King) Leonidas is hypermasculine and appears to be stereotypically straight, with broad shoulders and a full beard and mustache.

As seen in this photo taken from 300 promotional materials, Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) is a jewel-clad effete sporting what appear to be manicured nails and plucked eyebrows. His hands, adorned with gold rings on every finger, lie suggestively on the shoulders of King Leonidas (Gerard Butler), a hirsute, rough-hewn man who looks every bit the opposite of Xerxes.

Funny then that, as Deadline Hollywood Daily's Nikki Finke reported yesterday, "one of the biggest audiences for Warner Bros.' 300 is gay men."

Why?

Even with negative stereotypes and no explicit gay sex scenes, shirtless, violent men with "8-pack abs" are "Yummy," she says.