05-10-2006, 01:39 AM
Ah Gladiator...
Since you have opened the door Vortigern, allow me to walk in.
On the train ride home this afternoon I came upon the following in a book I am re-reading. (1.5 hrs on the train each way gives me a lot of time for reading.) This passage bears on both Gladiator and the accuracy of films about Rome, and the general level of knowledge about Ancient Rome. It is a question of the Rome of our imagination and the Rome of history which is at the heard of Woadwarrior's initial post.
Well into my adulthood, most of what I knew about ancient Rome
was learned from Hollywood and television. In my head were
images of men in togas, striding about marbled palaces, mouthing
lapidary phrases in stage-mannered accents, and of course images
of chariot races and frenzied arena crowds giving thumbs-down to
hapless victims.
In my woeful ignorance I was no different from many other educated
Americans who have passed from grade school to the postdoctoral
level without ever learning anything sensible about Roman history.
To this day, dubious film representations about ancient Rome
continue to be mass-marketed. In 2000, while I was working on
this book, Hollywood brought forth Gladiator, a swashbuckling epic
about revenge and heroism, offering endless episodes of arena
bloodletting. Unencumbered by any trace of artistic merit, Gladiator
played before packed houses in the United States and abroad,
winning a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award.
Worth noting is how the Roman Senate is depicted. We are asked
to believe that the Senate was populated by public-spirited men
devoted to people's welfare. But the people themselves are
portrayed as little more than a rabble. In one scene two Senate
leaders are seated in the Coliseum. When one of them complains
of the unsavory proceedings blow, the other opines that the
crowd is interested only in bread and circuses, war and violence.
"Rome is the mob....The beating heart of Rome is not the marble
of the Senate. It is the sands of the Coliseum. The Emperor will
bring them death and they will love him for it."
This view of the Roman populace as mindless riffraff unfortunately
remains the anti-people's history purveyed by both the entertainment
media and many classical scholars.
From: The Assassination Of Julius Caesar A People's History Of Ancient Rome
By Michael Parenti 2003 The New Press ISBN: 1-56584-942-6
This is just my attempt to keep the conversation lively.
:wink:
Narukami
Since you have opened the door Vortigern, allow me to walk in.
On the train ride home this afternoon I came upon the following in a book I am re-reading. (1.5 hrs on the train each way gives me a lot of time for reading.) This passage bears on both Gladiator and the accuracy of films about Rome, and the general level of knowledge about Ancient Rome. It is a question of the Rome of our imagination and the Rome of history which is at the heard of Woadwarrior's initial post.
Well into my adulthood, most of what I knew about ancient Rome
was learned from Hollywood and television. In my head were
images of men in togas, striding about marbled palaces, mouthing
lapidary phrases in stage-mannered accents, and of course images
of chariot races and frenzied arena crowds giving thumbs-down to
hapless victims.
In my woeful ignorance I was no different from many other educated
Americans who have passed from grade school to the postdoctoral
level without ever learning anything sensible about Roman history.
To this day, dubious film representations about ancient Rome
continue to be mass-marketed. In 2000, while I was working on
this book, Hollywood brought forth Gladiator, a swashbuckling epic
about revenge and heroism, offering endless episodes of arena
bloodletting. Unencumbered by any trace of artistic merit, Gladiator
played before packed houses in the United States and abroad,
winning a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award.
Worth noting is how the Roman Senate is depicted. We are asked
to believe that the Senate was populated by public-spirited men
devoted to people's welfare. But the people themselves are
portrayed as little more than a rabble. In one scene two Senate
leaders are seated in the Coliseum. When one of them complains
of the unsavory proceedings blow, the other opines that the
crowd is interested only in bread and circuses, war and violence.
"Rome is the mob....The beating heart of Rome is not the marble
of the Senate. It is the sands of the Coliseum. The Emperor will
bring them death and they will love him for it."
This view of the Roman populace as mindless riffraff unfortunately
remains the anti-people's history purveyed by both the entertainment
media and many classical scholars.
From: The Assassination Of Julius Caesar A People's History Of Ancient Rome
By Michael Parenti 2003 The New Press ISBN: 1-56584-942-6
This is just my attempt to keep the conversation lively.
:wink:
Narukami
David Reinke
Burbank CA
Burbank CA
