300 | "Antike im Film"

In the organizer's words:

300 (English OmU)

Lecture and film series in cooperation with the Department of Ancient History and Epigraphy at Heidelberg University in the summer semester 2025

Date: 12.05., 19:00 h
Lecture: Dr. Jonas Osnabrügge

USA 2006 | Director: Zack Snyder | 116 min. | FSK 16
Cast: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, David Wenham, Vincent Regan

Season 3 of "Antiquity in Film" kicks off with a modern classic: Zack Snyder's 300, based on the comic book by Frank Miller. The martial film revolves around one of the greatest propaganda successes not only in ancient history: the defeat of the three hundred Spartans and their allies in the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, which was stylized as a heroic self-sacrifice par excellence and is still relevant today. This is shown not only by the numerous memes that the film spawned, but also by its reception in the new right-wing scene. For the 'Identitarian Movement' in Europe, which borrowed its logo from the film, and the 'Alt Right' in the USA, the film forms an important point of reference for identity. The received themes include the heroic defence of Europe and the 'West' against a threatening Orient constructed as multicultural and unmanly, the propagation of a militant nationalism and, last but not least, martial images of masculinity, personified by muscular, half-naked Spartans.

The lecture on the film by Dr. Jonas Osnabrügge (Department of Ancient History, Heidelberg) will explore the pop-cultural references to antiquity of the New Right movements.

Price information:

7 € for students