The film 300 coded Spartans as white and Persians as monstrous racial others

Evidence

In the YouTube clip, the Spartans, who fought different arms of the Persian Empire, were portrayed by white British actors and actresses with very little appearance-altering CGI. In contrast, a racially diverse cast played the Persians and were, through “movie magic,” monstrously proportioned with CGI and prosthetics and had their voices deepened. They were also in two extreme states of dress throughout the film: naked, save for strategically placed chain jewelry, or fully covered in swirling robes and head wraps. — Neda Maghbouleh, The Limits of Whiteness, 436

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the author’s larger argument about Iranian Americans’ liminal whiteness; also gestures toward Orientalist visual coding that parallels Edward Said’s framework.