Essay #1 Abstract
~T.J.
Rentschler
The Romans are
known to have dominated the Ancient World. This holds true throughout the
movies we have watched. In this paper, I will argue that the Romans were
represented as superior in all aspects of life. Even though some of our movies
portrayed them as the antagonist, they were still viewed as superior beings
through their leadership, wealth, and military superiority.
The leaders of Rome
are portrayed as the supreme rulers of the world in our movies. One great
example of this is Julius Caesar in Cleopatra
(1963). While the main focus was Cleopatra, the leadership of Caesar was
also very important. There was one point in the movie where Cleopatra and
Caesar were in the Tomb of Alexander and Cleopatra told Caesar that he could
rule the known world. While implying Cleopatra's insidious agendas, this shows
how highly regarded Caesar's command was even in Egypt. Cleopatra viewed Caesar
as the most highly respected leader in the world. She believed that, with her
help, Rome could be the supreme center of the world. After Caesar's
assassination, a new great Roman leader took command. However, this time there
were three. Even with the three leaders:
Octavian, Marc Antony, and Lepidus constantly fighting, the world still looked
at Roman leadership as superior. This displays that even when one leader fell,
there was always another great leader to take his place. One such leader was
Quintus Arrius in both Ben-Hur movies.
In the 1959 version of Ben-Hur,
Arrius is often portrayed as an evil consul from Rome. However, after his
adoption of Ben-Hur (Young Arrius) he is viewed with more respect throughout
the rest of the movie. This shows superiority by giving Arrius the ability to
change. The leadership of the Romans commanded great respect from all people in
the Empire. Another way filmmakers communicated the respect given to the Romans
was through the wealth that was portrayed. (316 words)
Although they viewed them as superior figures in society there often was a negative connotation that was attached to that. I agree with your points and the examples given like when Cleopatra tells Caesar her feelings about how great he is even though Egypt is far from Rome their greatness is known throughout and this example shows that directly.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with most of what you say about the way the Romans are depicted in the movies. That, in fact, could be a problem. There is no need to convince your readers of something that they already know and believe.
ReplyDeleteThat said, you've clearly thought about the topic in some more detail already, and I think you could easily adjust your topic so that the results of your investigation become less predictable. For example, you could show that there are certain stereotypes about Romans that all our toga movies like to propagate, but that there are also some movies or at least some scenes that undermine these stereotypes or play with them or maybe even parody them, or at least try to give the Roman characters more emotional depth. I'm not sure whether any of this is true, but I think it would be worth looking into something like this.
One example I can immediately think of is Julius Caesar, who appears as cold, rational, superior, decisive, and, when needed, brutal. Sometimes he puts down even his closest subordinates (Marcus Agrippa: "What happens tomorrow?" – Caesar: "Tomorrow the sun will rise."). And yet, he is also vulnerable, subject to epileptic fits, for example, and desperate for the love and respect of the Roman people and yet unable to persuade them to make him a real King, the King of Rome. Clearly, similar things could be said about Antony, Quintus Arrius, Crassus in "Spartacus", maybe even Messala. An then there is, of course, "Cabiria", which offers us at least two Roman heroes, Scipio Africanus and Fulvius Axilla.