"Gladiator"
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It is interesting that "epic" films û- usually defined by their large dramatic or historical scope and the need for a huge production budget -- have always been so popular among the movie-going public. The range of this kind of Hollywood storytelling usually covers many years and/or generations, and travels across immense distances and colorfully different cultures. The epic typically has more than a handful of main characters, twice as many secondary characters, and -û as Hollywood likes to say -û "a cast of thousands." The word "spectacle" is synonymous with Hollywood "epics" because they provide extraordinary scenes in super wide-screen format and promise a story that will "endure the ages" û in your heart, if not your mind. So it is not unexpected that millions of people will drive thousands of miles to the nearest Cineplex, plunk down their eight to nine bucks (maybe more by the time this is read), drop another seven to ten dollars for popcorn and drink, and gasp in amazement at the wonder of it all when the film finally begins to roll. But what if you didn't have to spend any of your money, and what if all that spectacle is simply there for your very own strange or particular pleasure? Just imagine that you're there to see things you have never seen before, and not projected on some big white screen in a darkened theater, but instead is really happening out in the middle of some gigantic stadium in what we now define as "real time," rig
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up his sword, whipped his army into shape, and won the battle. When he returned to Rome, he immediately resigned the title and power the people had given him and quickly returned to his farm.
Although Cincinnatus was a real historical figure, the separation of fact from legend in his story is all but impossible. But this is exactly the kind of story that produces such Hollywood epics as "Gladiator" and it was not without good reason that the writers and producers of "Gladiator" saw fit to draw their central character, Maximus, as the pushed-into-greatness general who really wanted nothing more than to leave the battlefield and return to his life and family down on the farm.
Following the ingenious editing of the "hand over wheat" opening (an important "Gladiator" theme that is central to Maximus' concept of farm and family as "heaven" and was taken from a "heaven" sequence never seen in the movie), the audience is immediately treated to the hellish, burning "spectacle" of ancient armed battle that seems so important to the Hollywood epic (e.g., "Birth of a Nation," "The Crusades," "Braveheart," "El Cid," "Spartacus," just to name a few). "At my signal," Maximus commands his men, "unleash hell!" But it was at the signal of dire
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1337
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)
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