Gladiator (2000)

01/24/22 • 107 min

Movies We Dig | Film, Antiquity and Everything in Between

We're back for the big one (because it sold us queer giraffes!). A critical and commercial hit, Gladiator spawned a revival for a genre that had been presumed dead for at least 40 years. It also inspired, for better or worse, no small amount in interest in ancient Rome over the last two decades. We get into all the details of this movie, its legacy and the impact its vision of Rome had on 21st audiences. Plus, we share our hopes and dreams for upcoming, albeit unnecessary, Gladiator 2.

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Previous Episode

Cleopatra (1970), with Chiara Sulprizio

Get ready for a real trip back to ancient Egypt, where Caesar is green, triumphs feature sports cars and gladiators bring handguns to the arena. Joined by animation expert Chiara Sulprizio, we dig into this animated adult fantasy/sci-fi/historical epic by Osamu Tezuka and Eiichi Yamamoto. This is really one of the wilder takes on ancient history we've ever seen and even if it's not your bag - which for many it probably won't be - it is definitely worth a viewing, if only to take in its sheer wildness.

You can read more from Chiara about animation and the ancient world at Animated Antiquity

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Next Episode

King Arthur (2004)

We're back to look at the more action adventures following the success of Gladiator and writer David Franzoni's next project: King Arthur (2004). Here, Antoine Fuqua directs a gritty re-imagining of Arthurian legend in the final years of the Roman Empire. We get into the mid-00's obsession for gritty realism, the NEW archaeological 'discoveries' and esoteric Celtic spiritualism which inspired this movie, along with riveting discussion of the Roman fort of Vindolanda, our favorite Knights of the Round Table, whether or not Til Schweiger has hair and our favorite (male, non-queer-coded) sexy villains pre-2010. Enjoy, or don't. I'm a podcast, not Roman authority.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.