This is the final fight scene between Maximus and Commodus. The shot is from a bird's eye view looking down but it could also be the view from some of the spectators in the stands. Although the center of the scene isn't any of the main characters, the audience's eyes are drawn to Commodus and Maximus. In this scene the costumes are important. Commodus is dressed in white to symbolize how "good" he is and Maximus is dressed in black to symbolize "evil". This is ironic because Maximus is the protagonist and Commodus is the antagonist. This scene is before the fight has even started and Commodus's body posture is standing tall and giving off the impression of confidence. Where as Maximus's body posture is more slumped and "defeated" looking (probably because he was stabbed just before) even though he ends up winning the fight.
The ring of Praetorians surrounding them should also be mentioned, because they're dressed in black too, which is the same color as Maximus and also foreshadows Quintus's eventual heel-face-turn when he refuses to give Commodus a sword.
ReplyDeleteWow, Felicity, you are taking the words out of my mouth! This screen shot also made me notice how ironic it is that the same Quintus who hands Maximus here his sword will later refuse to give Commodus another sword.
ReplyDeleteThe Praetorians' uniform looks black, of course, to remind us of Hitler's SS. When there's more light on the fabric, though, one can see that they are actually wearing a very dark blue.
BTW, I've long wondered about Commodus' white uniform. Your theory, Mona, that there is an ironic inversion of the usual convention that denotes white as good, pure, and black as evil works for me. But I wonder if the filmmakers were also aware of the white (summer) uniform that some Nazi officers liked to wear, most notably Luftwaffe minister and vice-chancellor Hermann Göring. Some pictures are collected on this blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.warrelics.eu/forum/ss-uniforms-insignia/white-ss-uniform-wear-259574-2/