Swords, Sandals, and Mirrors

Rating: Null/10 (28 May 2000)

After many years of neglect, Rome has found itself again in the spotlight... for the second time in one year! Like Titus, the version of Titus Andronicus released earlier in 2000, Gladiator brings new life to the sword-and-sandal genre and to a supposedly dead chronotope.
Another similarity between the two films springs to mind: to both belongs a much-discussed apparent lust for gore, accompanied by an introspective and self-conscious wariness of violence in the media. Without going into details that might spoil the plot of either movie, it should be noted that both movies:
1. are rife with violence and blood, taken to levels of extremity not customary even in modern theater 2. focus on this violence in its capacity as spectacle 3. examine the role of the film's audience through highlighting an audience in an ampitheater (in Titus, once at the end, in Gladiator constantly)
Through a synthesis of these three points, each film examines the role of violence as a spectacle today, in the modern ampitheater of the mass media. In effect, the viewer is forced to question the enjoyment he's gotten from the movie. In Titus, this question takes the tint of psychology -- is the viewer sick to laugh at Titus' jests amidst his horror? In Gladiator, the examination turns political and asks how much power the culture industry (the emperor in Rome, Hollywood today) has over the populace... its answer is quite an act of narcissism on the part of Dreamworks, but it contains truth.
But the special effects are spiffy keen and there's lots of blood, so what's not to love? :)