“Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.” —Juvenal (100-200 A.D.) There’s a metatextual aspect to watching Gladiator II (written as the gleefully ridiculous GladIIator in the opening credits) that I couldn’t stop thinking about throughout the entire movie. If one of the main points of pitting gladiators against each other in the Roman coliseums was to keep the masses entertained and placated so the emperors could continue ruling with strong public approval, then what exactly is the purpose of a movie that exists simply to entertain without nourishing thought and reason?
Source link
