Ridley Scott's Gladiator

It wasn’t long until Nero and the fellow gladiators reached the amphitheatre. They were locked up like cattle, cages littered about under the amphitheatre seating. The first group was escorted to the gates, for they were to participate in the venationes, a game where they pitted wild animal against wild animal, or man. Bestiarii were generally more likely to live than the other gladiators, for the games were arranged so they would be less likely to be killed by the exotic beasts. Nero knew one of them, a boy about his age. He was from one of the more privileged families, but he had still played with the other boys. Nero didn’t remember his name, only that he was bossy. He always wanted to control what the other boys did. And so, to know that he had become a gladiator, something where you had almost no control, Nero found it almost ironic.

Of the many monumental constructions that the Romans built, one of the most well known is the Coliseum, where brave Gladiators would fight dangerous animals and even each other to entertain the people of Rome. When people see the great arena, it is easy for them to forget the countless men, women, and animals that died fighting each other for amusement. Most people don’t know what it took for them to fight and either win or die, or how many hours they must have spent training to have a chance at defeating their opponents. Who were these gladiators?

Spartacus, directed by Stanley Kubrick in 1960, is a magnificent Roman tale that represents the passionate and fanatical care that Spartacus, a Thracian slave, ensured for countless innocent slaves and citizens despite the detrimental disadvantage that this massive group of people endured for multiple years. It all began when Lentulus Batiatus, a Roman “lanista” businessman, ventured to North Africa in order to find healthy and vigorous slaves so they could be trained and eventually formed into combat gladiators. Spartacus is a muscular man, therefore he is chosen by Batiatus. Through a series of events, Marcus Licinius Crassus, who is the richest and most powerful man in Rome, enters the gladiator school and insists on seeing a “fight to the death.” Eventually, Spartacus is chosen to duel with Draba; and surprisingly, Draba quickly has Spartacus in a position where he could have easily slayed him, but instead Draba dropped his weapon and attempted to attack Crassus before rapidly being stabbed in the back by a Roman soldier. Shortly after this gladiatorial uprising, Crassus hears that slaves have ran free near Mount Vesuvius but does not seem to worry as he downplays them as “merely just a slave army.” (90, Big Screen Rome) This worries many Roman elites and citizens because “there are more slaves than Romans.” (90, Big Screen Rome) As Gracchus attempts to persuade Crassus to

Commodus' ambition begins after he kills his father Emperor Marcus Aurelius because he feels that his father did not love him enough and becomes the Emperor of Rome. Marcus says that Commodus "is not a moral man" and that "he cannot rule". Commodus is the Macbeth character in 'Gladiator' but is still not the main character. The main character in the film is Maximus who resembles Macduff in the film. While still being shown as a great fighter, Commodus is also shown in the film as a bit of a coward, after Maximus wins the war for Rome, Commodus shows up late to the victory celebrations acting as if he wasn’t even aware of a war even existing. Quickly after being crowned as Emperor of Rome, Commodus becomes disliked by the Senate and the people of Rome and seen as a pathetic leader. Commodus uses the ambition to be like his father to create barbaric fights in the Coliseum. "He'll bring them death and they will love him

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.

David Kopec Professor Koranda Humanities 101 1 March, 2015 Oral Presentation- Gladiators The Romans were known for living a life with violence. They enjoyed watching prisoners of war, slaves, and criminals fight beasts or be publically executed.

What can be said about the accuracy of the historical references shown in the movie “Gladiator?” “Gladiator” is both accurate and inaccurate in its historical perception of the Roman Empire in AD 180, although there is a larger amount of inaccurate references than there is of accurate ones. This will be an evaluation of areas of the movie “Gladiator” that contain historical accuracies and inaccuracies in the portrayal of the Roman Empire. We will focus first on the inaccuracies and accuracies of Romans’ military strategies and weapons in “Gladiator,” followed by the historical events and important figures of the Roman Empire, and we will end with the politics and governmental structure of the Roman Empire. For instance, the last great battle

How would one have behaved sitting for hours surrounded by 50,000 cheering and shouting Romans, while down in the arena the gladiators played a bloody game with death? Would one enjoy the slaughter, the horror, the stench of blood, the cruelty? Would one find themselves being carried away by the intense atmosphere, the screams and stamps, the applause thundering down into the arena from the galleries above, or would any feeling of excitement, exhilaration even, have been stifled by disgust at the cruel blood bath on show? Romans had a tremendous enthusiasm for the gladiator games, their popularity was utterly unprecedented. Their society shaped to all the violence and brute force that the Romans were being exposed to caused more cruelty and brutality around them.

The movie Gladiator, released in 2000, was directed by Ridley Scott. It was produced by Douglas wick, David Franzoni, and Branki Lustig. The three stars were Russell Crowe playing Maximus, Joaquin Phoenix playing Commodus, and Connie Nielsen playing Lucilla. Gladiator is a one-part movie that won five academy awards. Maximus decides to retire from the Roman Army after a battle over the germanic tribes.

While movies today often rely on visual effects and present little to no storyline, Blade Runner (1982) uses effects to authenticate its narrative and enhance the vision of the film to a timeless calibre. The use of lighting to create mood and atmosphere allow us to glimpse into a plausible future of disarray and complex malfunction, siting the film as a sort of futuristic, tech-noir. Blade Runner (1982) projects deep, perplexing questions about class, racism, power, ethics and the encompassing definition of humanity. By taking the stylistic techniques of Film Noir and transplanting them into a technical world Ridley Scott presents us with a complex expression of cultural concepts and beliefs to envision a flawed, dystopian future where we

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

Gladiator truth or fiction? For my essay I have chosen to do Gladiator. Gladiator is a movie that was portrayed at the time of 180 AD in Rome. At this time the leader of Rome was Marcus Aurelius, but is soon met with the termination of his reign and his son Lucius Aurelius Commodus takes his place. Commodus was a well known gladiator before and during his time of Emperor. His father, Marcus Aurelius was a great philosopher as well as a military tactician. The main character is Maximus Decimus Meridius who is fictional character used in the film to create this all around hero type character. Furthermore, some even suggest Maximus is a character made from a mixture of a multitude of great warriors and gladiators of that time. Three

During the Roman Empire many emperors ruled in their own ways. Some were considered to be one of the “Five Good Emperors, ” and the others didn’t last because they were assassinated. They either just cared about themselves or actually cared about the citizens of Rome. The movie Gladiator portrays Roman life and the gladiatorial games. Really though, how does the movie compare to the history of the Roman Empire? I am really interested in the actual history of the gladiators and the movie is one of my favorites. That’s why I chose to do my review on it and I came to find out that the movie didn’t give me the information on the real life and times of the gladiators.

The end of the tremendously popular gladiator games ended during the reign of Emperor Honorius. An individual had yelled for the games to cease in the name of Christ, but he was soonly after stoned to death by the outraged audience. He had turned out to be an Egyptian monk named Telemachus. His death was one of the most impact deaths of a martyr in the Colosseum, it had put an end to the battles, however chariot races and other shows of games had went on but the bloodshed was finally over. Later the Roman empire had begun to dwindle. The city was attacked in 410 A.D. by Visigoths, the Roman capital had been moved to the an Italian city near the Colosseum. The visigoths entered Italy and destroymed much of Rome, and without the basic nessecities

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