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“Fear and wonder,” Senator Gracchus describes the condition of the
Roman people transfixed by the young emperor’s games, “a powerful combination.”
Such a time of anxiety creates an opportunity for leaders to
take advantage of the people’s lack of understanding and participation in
the political process. In Gladiator, the stress and uncertainty of Roman life
under the despotic rule of Commodus is relieved by the production of a
numbing series of gladiatorial games, with posters announcing 150 days of
violentia, “violence,” in the arena. The senators articulate the gradual loss
of the Romans’ ability to contribute to their government, as constraints
continue to be imposed on them in their mindless preoccupation with
the spectacles offered by the tyrant. “Take away their freedom,” warns
Gracchus, “and still they roar.”
Gladiatorial violence in the Roman arena rehearsed the dangers of warfare
and celebrated the prowess of the Roman military in a vicarious thrill
for the spectators (Plass, 39–40). Similarly, the modern American sports
arena has always been a privileged location for the display of patriotism
through the performance of the national anthem and the exhibition of
healthy American youth and economic affluence in the colorful pageantry
of athletes and cheerleaders. But there has been a notable increase in the
martial tenor of these presentations in the pre-game and half-time showcases
of professional and collegiate sporting events, with more military
marching bands and deafening F-16 jet flyovers, as if to exorcise fears of
unseen enemies while flexing American military muscle. Such displays
demonstrate how contemporary warfare is waged and won by highly trained
military forces whose specialized expertise makes them equivalent to
modern-day gladiators. In the Colosseum, the mob of Rome is regaled
with gripping and convincingly bloody recreations of great Roman battles,
where history can be manipulated or even misrepresented to celebrate the
current ruler and his personal ambitions. Similarly, in today’s mediasaturated
environment, the American people are exposed to contemporary
politicians and pundits who “spin” or distort facts for partisan
convenience, and news outlets control the flow of information to maximize
their commercial advantage. “The people always love victories,” as Lucilla
reminds Commodus.
Another link between Gladiator and contemporary society is the movement
towards “simplicity” and the longing to return to the homespun,
down-to-earth values of the mid-twentieth-century hearth and family
(Cyrino, 140–2). Americans today are wistful about an earlier period of
national history because of the currently widespread perception, clearly
idealized, that back then America was more certain of its identity and
248 GLADIATOR (2000)