Comparing the Movies, Fight Club and Gladiator Essay

Maximus becomes enslaved in a foreign land and is forced to fight for his life as a gladiator. Maximus’ fame as a gladiator grew within Rome as his skill at combat became apparent. Commodus fears that Maximus will turn the Roman people against him and return rule of Rome to the Senate.

Throughout the film, gladiatorial games are shown to be one of the most important parts of the Roman society. Gladiatorial games and fights followed a strict procedure and ceremony. They arrived at the Colosseum through an underground tunnel. From there, they were able to access to the arena through a pair of gates reserved to them only. Additionally, the gladiators often marched in groups, with their distinctive uniform and equipment. This is displayed accurately when Maximus enters the arena through a pair of gates and works with a team of other gladiators with similar outfits. However, they did not wear fantasy helmets and bands wrapped around the lower arms and their armors are not always closely historically accurate. Moreover, Roman people loved to watch people battle to death and bloodthirsty violence as a form of entertainment. Spectators in the film cheered and chanted wildly in the Colosseum when their favorite, Maximus was battling with

History shows competition in the form of war, games, and political ventures existed even in ancient times. The Roman Gladiators were a unique example of this competition during the Roman Empire. Through studying the gladiators one can see how the competition influenced politics, games, human lives and the culture. The term Gladiator comes from the term gladius after the Roman sword. They were mostly condemned criminals, prisoners of war and slaves.

Gore, drama, and action. These are what most people pay Hollywood to show them at the screens. The movie gladiator from the year 2000 is no different. The movie gladiator is a movie with contents that does not align itself historically. Rather it is tainted with a bit of historical accuracy resulting it to be more difficult to discern the accuracy of the movie as it is now ambiguous for which part of the movie is unreliable and reliable. Nevertheless, this paper will be contrast the content of the movie with the historical accuracy of some of the event, the people in the plot, and the gladiatorial combat in the movie, proving the lack of historical revelevancy.

Introduction The Gladiators of Ancient Rome story starts as a changed world. Gladiators were professional fighters that specialized with particular weapons and fought publically in large purpose-built arenas throughout the Roman Empire. The life was expected to be short throughout a gladiator’s life. The majority of gladiators were from slaves, criminals, and prisoners of war. New Recruits

He was able to help 27 out of 200 fighters, but as time went on, more revolts and rebellions led by Spartacus succeeded. By being both a slave and a gladiator, he faced how “thourough and harsh” it was to be condemned to death during this time. For making him a slave and gladiator, he tried to save people like him as he can to lead a greater revolt. Only his hardships of being a gladiator could have made him want to form an army and win against the monarchy who allowed these barabric ways. His death made an impact on the hardships that gladiators had to face after him.

On the other hand, in Gladiator, Maximus is a much more straightforward thinker. He clearly states his purpose of revenge when he meets Commodus for the first time after his wife and son were murdered. He says to Commodus, “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius… Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered

If you have watched the movie Gladiator, you have probably heard the famous speech delivered by Maximus Decimus before the start of the opening battle. General Maximus Decimus Meridius is Emperor Marcus Aurelius’ most trusted general of the Roman Empire. As introduced in the beginning of the speech, Maximus isn’t just a general, but a farmer too. That shows pathos because even though he has a more prominent title, Maximus is still just like all of the other soldiers in the army. The speech is given in 180 A.D., where a battle is about to be fought between the Germanic barbarians and the Roman Cavalry. The start of war between these two armies dates far back in time. They have been fighting forever

At the beginning of the movies, Maximus leads the roman army against the Germmia. Because he was a servant leader, he is actively involved in the battle and his army get victory over the Germania. When the Commodus ask him of his loyalty in exchange of power and privileges, Maximus refutes the offer in order to accomplish the goal he had been given by Emperor the Marcus Aurelius. When he realises his wife and son have been killed by Commodus army, Maximus escapes but promises to revenge against Commodus which he accomplishes at the end of the movie. Although he was a top general in

After its debut in America on May 5th of 2000, the movie Gladiator has been a nationwide symbol of heroism(Imdb). The film was directed by Ridley Scott and the lead roles of the film were carried out by Russell Crowe as Maximus and Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus(Imdb). The movie takes place during the reign of the Holy Roman Empire in the year 180 A.D. The Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, is dying and wishes to leave the Roman Empire under the control of Roman General Maximus Meridius. The Emperor’s son Commodus betrays Maximus, kills his father, and takes control of Rome. In betraying Maximus, Commodus has his family killed. Maximus knowing this returns to Rome as a gladiator under the alias “Spaniard” in search of revenge(Imdb). According to

When we begin to compare the real Commodus vs the movie Commodus most movies especially the movie ‘Gladiator’ We see how Emperor Commodus is portrayed as this unstable and neurotic sadist who took the life of his own father to obtain the throne of the Roman empire. Scholars say however real history has no real concrete proof that Commodus, while he was most definingly unstable killed his father Marcus Aurelius. Commodus was in fact made a co-emperor at the early age of 5. In the beginning of the movie the battle scene was true it showed how faithfully the Roman Army fought and is actually celebrated onto the famous columns dedicated to Marcus Aurelius in Rome However, the sexual relations he had with his sibling is according to the contemporaries and scholars true, but it was not with the sister Lucilla as portrayed in the movie, but with another sister. Lucilla also according to scholars did plot to have her brother killed, which is a very similar between the movie and real history. Once Commodus did find out about the plot, he exiled her and later had her executed along with his wife Crispina who was not shown in the movie. In real life, Lucilla was of course executed, she ends up outliving her brother in the film.

The intended audience of the movie Gladiator is made for Teenagers and Adults. Teenagers would enjoy watching the movie because of the violence and Adults would enjoy watching the movie for the history. The director Ridley Scott put a spin on the film, he added some things that were not historically accurate. It was not a specific event and Ridley scott shows his vision of cultural rome and the spirit of what rome would be like. Ridley scott has made the film closed to being balanced, he attempts to show both sides of the story. The accuracy of the movie is that Commodus was the emperor and he was hated by the senate, but the false part about the film is that some people did like him like the army and the lower classes. Marcus Aurelius was

This movie is mainly about a narrators search for meaning and the fight to find freedom from a meaningless way of life. It setting is in suburbia, an abandoned house located in a major large city. Ed Norton, plays the nameless narrator, Brad Pitt, is Tyler Dunden, and Helena Boaham Carter is Marla Singer, the three main characters. David Fincher directs this film in 1999, which adapted it from the novel written by Chuck Palahnuik.

     For the following analysis, I will be discussing the movie Fight Club’s two main characters. They are “Jack” played by Edward Norton, and Tyler Durden played by Brad Pitt. However the twist to the movie turns out that Jack and Tyler are the same person and Tyler is Jack’s real name. Tyler the character is everything that Jack the character is not. The story narration is provided by the protagonist of “Fight Club,” “Jack.” The ambivalent protagonist, who only refers to himself as “Jack.” An ambivalent protagonist, usually the main character, is someone the audience likes, but who possesses character flaws.

In the movie Gladiator, Russell Crowe plays a battle hardened Roman General who, through a series of unfortunate events, becomes a gladiator. He starts out on the front lines of a battle against barbarians. The war against them has been going on for some time however this is the final battle that will end the war. The battle rages and the Romans come out victorious. The Caesar then emerges and praises Maximus (Russell Crowe) for his leadership. The Caesar then asks him if he will become Caesar after his death because his son Commodus is not fit to rule. Commodus hates his father’s decision and kills him so his wish will die with him. Commodus then orders Maximus to be killed, he escapes and rides as fast as he can back home but is too late. He comes home to find his wife and son burned alive. He is then captured and sold into slavery where he becomes a gladiator and moves up in the ranks as a skilled fighter. He makes friends with a black slave and they both move together up to larger arenas. He makes it to the Coliseum where he reveals himself to Commodus declaring he will have his vengence. Commodus accepts Maximus’ challenge after delivering a fatal wound to his back. He fights Commodus despite the injury and kills him but then dies himself.