Are You Not Entertained?

Are You Not Entertained?

As I sit and contemplate how to begin this essay I must initially tip my hat to the writers, directors, producers, and actors who participated in the production of this great movie. My excitement started during the soldiers' anticipation for war in the beginning of the movie and the answer of sending a headless horseman as confirmation allowed me to assume a great movie was to come. This rendition of ancient world epic films according to the article, The Return of the Epic?: Gladiator, was considered the "...re-animation of the 'dead genre' of cine-antiquity." (216) There are numerous reasons why this film was successful in its' revival. The first is the mass production of televisions which was a '...medium for film exhibition". (218) Imagine sitting on the couch and a commercial ignites into your living room showcasing the trailer for an upcoming movie...it has your attention by the mini-clips of excitement. You must go see it!

The creation of television also allowed available slots for Roman epic films to air over a specific period of time ..."Sundays and public holidays..." (218). For example, two of my sons' favorites are Rome and Spartacus that air regularly in the summer and fall seasons. In viewing these television versions of Roman history ignites curiosity in its' viewers. Therefore, when the commercial airs epic movies, people wish to rush to the theater to see it. The "...continual rescreening both reinforced the familiarity of existing viewers with the conventions of the epic-their spectacle, grandeur, and presentation of Ancient Rome-and introduced them to new viewers." (218) In reference to the revival in the movie Gladiator, the depiction of the emperor, gladiators, spectators and the coliseum itself could be viewed and interpreted as actual historical episodes.

The movie was enriched with detail and personas one can imagine as actual, especially the behaviors of Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus. The issues of trust, love and greed were the linking relationship between father/son and emperor/expectant heir. On one side of the spectrum, Marcus Aurelius knew his son was incompetent to run an empire without destroying its' concept or people. He felt Commodus was not a "...moral man..." and would have clashed with "...the politics of Rome..." which he saw as immoral as well. In traveling to the other side of the spectrum, we have self-centered, vindictive, murderous Commodus who yearns for love and acceptance from his father. But he is "...false as a son..." and in hearing