The 1960 Stanley Kubrick directed film Spartacus stars Kirk Douglas, who plays the old, but very wise Roman Gladiator. This movie was far more interesting than the others we watched in class and appeared to be very authentic at first glance. Spartacus starts the movie as a slave working in the mountains moving rocks. He is then purchased by a wealthy Roman and brought to gladiatorial school. It is here that the movie takes an unauthentic turn.
The facility Spartacus was brought to, is one far different from the one we learned about in class. In lecture 30 (“Literature and other entertainment”) on slide two, we looked at a map of a gladiatorial training center. This map shows a much more open facility than the one in the movie. This authentic gladiator training center has places to lock up people, but it is not like a prison. If gladiators wanted to escape, or didn’t want to be there, it looks as though they could without an entire group uprising like the movie portrays. The movie facility had them locked in, “forcing” them to train. The reality of the situation, similar to what we discussed in class, is gladiators wanted to be gladiators, they had a desire to stay and train. They were similar to modern day celebrities and they enjoyed the fame that came with it. This unauthentic
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depiction of a gladiatorial training center clearly tells us our cultural tastes lead towards brutality, violence and imprisonment. Another unauthentic part of Spartacus was the portrayed purpose of these battles.
According to page 235 of “Ancient Rome: A New History” the origin of gladiatorial combat comes from funeral games. It was here that “military virtues of society were celebrated” and gladiatorial combat was introduced. Spartacus the movie aims the purpose of gladiatorial fighting towards audience entertainment and revenue generation when in fact, this was not the original purpose for these matches. This puts the glorious idea of a gladiator into context and allows the viewer to understand what their original purpose was. It turns a pointless fight into a meaningful entertainment source with a
history. Stanley Kubrick’s scene where Spartacus and three other gladiators are picked to fight to the death in front of the whole gladiatorial school as well as the two couples who funded this event and insisted on this being the case portrays a common misconception of gladiator fights. The myth is that all fights end up with someone dying and the movie confirms this misconception with the graphic fight scene where two of the four gladiators die. The reality is these individuals are highly trained and are huge assets to their owners and all of Rome because of the show they put on and the revenue they can generate. It is not efficient to have a gladiator killed in every fight. In fact, it is about one out of every six fights that yields a dead gladiator. In fact, in some instances “the imperial authorities tried to restrict the danger of the games, and (they) even supported fights in which gladiators fought with wooden weapons” (Ancient Rome pg. 235) to reduce injury and chance of death. According to page 235 of “Ancient Rome: A New History,” another one of the unexamined and highly overlooked problems is the wounds. Gladiators would more often die because of the wounds that got infected or were not treated properly then they would die in battle. The movie gives no elaboration to this more common way of death. This difference between myth and reality tells us that regardless of inaccurate the death rate portrayal of the movie is, our ancient culture and modern culture both turn to violence for entertainment. After putting the highly publicized glorious image of what it is to be a gladiator under the microscope, it is clear that our perceptions and what the 1960 film Spartacus portrays are far from the truth. Gladiators were not held or locked up, they had a desire to train and succeed and they enjoyed the fame that came with the dangerous sport. Gladiators and their combat were not founded to fight for revenue, entertainment or for fun. They had a purpose and our modern image of them loses sight of this original purpose. Finally, the biggest misconception of all: not every gladiatorial fight ends with the death of a gladiator. It is true that some occasional fights led to the death of a gladiator, but it was more common that they would put on a fight and their lives would be spared for future entertainment. It is these three big misconceptions that the 1960 film Spartacus inaccurately portrays in their movie giving the viewer misleading information about gladiatorial life and combat.
The story of Gladiator takes place in Ancient Rome and contains intense action, great acting, and fantastic storytelling. Although most of this action drama is mostly fictitious, some certain events and characters appear in the history books.
A student reading this book could become confused after reading about one event after another out of sequence. Therefore, sequential text structure helps the audience understand the cause of the rise and fall of gladiator duels. Telling about events is like presenting instructions. Order matters because audiences are learning in both ways, so the correct information should be stated. Now, picture this. The author states that Honorius abolished gladiator fights before mentioning that a “Christian monk named Telemachus jumped into an arena in Rome” to bring a gladiator fight to a halt. This sequence is not true to history and facts. The monk was torn “limb from limb” in the arena, which then caused Honorius to ban the
"Gladiator", comes from the latin word "gladius", for sword. They were primarily made up of slaves, criminals, prisoners of war or even volunteer free men. The crimes that could lead one to the arena included treason, robbery, and murder, among others. Some free men became gladiators of their own free will in hopes of gaining notoriety and patronage amongst the wealthy citizens. By the end of 50 BC almost half of the gladiators fighting in the Colosseum were free men.
A gladiators life was far from easy. Most were slaves, prisoners of war, or hardened criminals, therefore they were not free men. Often times they were trained and forced to take part in the events, hoping for their freedom if they were to conquer their grim fate and survived for a few years (wik). This was depicted in the most recent movie GLADIATOR. In this film Russel Crowe Maximus' starts out as an army general under Marcus Aurelius, until Commudus murders his own father out of spite for his fathers loyalty to Maximus and not him. He then inherits the title of king, and condemns Maximus to a gruesome fate as a slave/gladiator. Though this doesn't sound like the ideal life, to some at the time is was an appealing, so much so that some free men degraded themselves so they could battle in the games. Was it for basic living? Possibly but more than likely it was for the Fame and Prestige of a Gladiator. These free men were known as Professional gladiators.
Stanley Kubick's Spartacus In the 1960 film Spartacus, directed by Stanley Kubrick, the character called Spartacus is depicted as a revolutionary who leads an army of slaves against the oppressive forces of Rome during the first century B.C. Though the overall story is true, and most of the main characters are real, the presentation of their character is entirely fictional. Spartacus and the other characters have been split into groups epitomizing good and evil, and the story itself has been vastly romanticized. This essay will address the ways in which the story deviates from reality and finally will show how Kubrick and those before him have used such interpretations as a valuable tool for social change.
sent to the gladiatorial schools to become a gladiator, criminals thought twice before commiting a
Throughout the history of the Republic, there was a difference between the gladiatorial contests and other forms of spectacular entertainment. The Romans did not invent the concept of gladiatorial fighting; there is some uncertainty as to the exact source. One ancient source says it was the Etruscans, a non-Indo-European people who lived directly north of the Romans.
Alan Baker states in his book The Gladiator – The Secret History of Rome’s Warrior Slaves that, “attendance at the amphitheater was an essential part of being a Roman, a member of a powerful warrior state” (Baker 2000, 39). It is said that the Romans were known for their honor and glory as a reflection of the society they lived in. This may perhaps explain why the gladiator games were popular to the citizens, because the Romans enjoyed observing these characteristics throughout the battles. Most of the time the contestants were slaves, these individuals were bought and traded at the coliseum with the intentions of battling in these games until their death.
Beads of sweat travelled down my forehead as I reluctantly walked into the arena. My metal armour was annoying and irritated my skin. I didn't want to fight, but I was left with no choice. I surveyed the great Colosseum, and spotted the emperor, with his lavish and decorative clothing. If only he knew what torment and pain gladiators have to go through. Chants and yelling echoed throughout the Colosseum, the crowd antsy for a real fight after the executions at noon. There were different emotions amongst my fellow gladiators; some showing an eagerness for bloodshed, while others were afraid and miserable. My train of thought was interrupted by a loud horn, signaling the start of the fight. I stood alongside the rest of the gladiators, ready
Much like today’s athletes gladiators competed with one another to decide a victor and is a form of entertainment for people spectating. But Gladiators competed much different than professional athletes do today. Gladiators were forced to fight for the entertainment of others and were considered slaves (“ The Roman Gladiator”). Gladiators did not just fight for friendly sport either they had to fight to the death. This made the gladiatorial games so exciting for the people watching. The people loved to watch others fight and the gore that they would see while the gladiators were fighting. It may sound horrible in today’s society but back then it was the most prominent form of entertainment. Different from today’s athletes and entertainers, gladiators were slaves and were told what to do against their will. Much of the gladiators were slaves, criminals, and prisoners of war. Gladiatorial games were mostly held by the Roman Republic and forced there enemy’s to fight for their lives in the...
Gladiator (2000) is an action drama about a Roman general that is betrayed by his country and is forced to fight in the Colosseum. This particular scene, which runs for approximately 5 minutes, is the aftermath of the fight scene between Maximus, the betrayed general, and Commodus, the jealous emperor who betrayed him. This scene is not only significant because it is the concluding scene of the film, but also because it represents the end of Maximus’s enslavement and his coming to peace with dying.
Gladiators were combatants equipped for arena battles. These battles were against other soldiers, conquered enemies, slaves, and criminals. Even wild beasts were added to be part of the bloody spectacle. Gladiators were a source of entertainment for Roman crowds, politicians and nobility at the Coliseum. It was the Roman equivalent to a Packer game at Lambeau field. A few gladiators were volunteers, but most were detested as slaves. Regardless of where they came from, gladiators allowed spectators to see an example of Rome 's military principles and, how to die an honorable death. The origin of gladiator combat is unclear, evidence supports that it became an important attribute of politics
Full Metal Jacket is written and directed by Stanley Kubrick. The film was released in 1987 and it is starring Matthew Modine (Joker), Vincent D’Onofrio (Pyle), Adam Baldwin (Animal), and R. Lee Ermey ( Guy.Segr. Hartman).
As a Kuruu, a third generation slave, Spartacus knew nothing but the knowledge passed down to him by slaves “My father was a slave and he taught me the only virtue. The only virtue of a slave is to live” (117, Faust). This ideal is what would carry him through his most physically demanding trial, the Nubian gold mines. Hunt shows us one example of the brutality of Roman slavery as described by Apuleius: “Through the holes in their ragged clothes you could see all over their bodies the scars from whippings. Some wore only loincloths. Letters had been branded on their foreheads and irons manacled their ankles.” (178, Hunt). Faust depicted the gold mines in an even crueler setting, a “black
In the modern day era, we find in society a ubiquitous usage of technology that seems to be never ending and forever growing. Included with this notion, the broad subject of surveillance is of course included. Contemporary surveillance, or more specifically technological surveillance, has been described as ambiguous; meaning that it is often misunderstood or open to different interpretations. The representation of surveillance within popular culture has played an impacting role on how we as a society perceive it and this raises certain questions that may reflect back on to society. The 1998 film Enemy Of The State directed by Tony Scott, Starring Will Smith, Gene Hackman and Jon Voight is considered to be a ‘spy-thriller’ blockbuster. Its central themes explore a range of surveillance techniques and equipment and also provides some insights, no matter how realistic or unrealistic they may be, into the real life security organisation; The National Security Agency (NSA). Using this film as an example and analysing how these themes are represented will hopefully allow us to key these ideas back to modern surveillance theories and practices.