Before I go off to sleep … after the GOP debate, I am watching a bit of the movie Gladiator.
I have a certain affinity with the protagonist. I, too… well… never mind. And I can imagine some liberal bishop saying “I’m terribly vexed.”
NB: The notion that M. Aurelius would want to restore the Republic is risible… absurd beyond describing. I digress.
A friend who once made a living in theatrical costume and set design noted from the movie that the sister of the Emperor Commodus (former lover of the Maximus) remarked that, as she becomes more and more vulnerable and in danger during the course of the film, the costumes exposed more and more of her body.
Absolutely right!
I thought that not only a great point about the movie but about how women are portrayed in the media and forced, therefore to be.
Also, I think the game they play with the snake under the basket to be a fine metaphor of the Fishwrap (Titus the Gaul?) approach to the final judgment.
In the meantime. Everyone calls into Hugh Hewitt’s show (he has listed moi meme as an Amicus et Socius Romae, btw… look on the sidebar!) saying “Morning Glory!” I think everyone should call into my show saying:
Strength and Honor!
I could use the music from Gladiator for my upcoming three-hour per day radio talk show.
Loading ...
The soundtrack recording of Gladiator is one of the guilty pleasures of the editor of The Absolute Sound.
From http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172495/quotes:
[addressing his troops]
Maximus: Fratres!
[Cavalry addresses Maximus]
Maximus: Three weeks from now, I will be harvesting my crops. Imagine where you will be, and it will be so. Hold the line! Stay with me! If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you’re already dead!
[Cavalry laughs]
Maximus: Brothers, what we do in life… echoes in eternity.
NB: The notion that M. Aurelius would want to restore the Republic is risible… absurd beyond describing. I digress.
Not only that, but it can be argued that Marcus helped begin the decline of the Empire, by naming his utterly unqualified son as his heir. In doing so he parted from the precedent set by many of his predecessors, who had identified a suitable successor and then legally adopted him. One of a ruler’s chief responsibilities is to ensure the succession and stability after he is gone, and I would argue that, for all his philosophy, Marcus spectacularly failed in this duty. There is a reason why the “era of good emperors” ends with Marcus.
I could use the music from Gladiator for my upcoming three-hour per day radio talk show.
Ahh … you are likely already aware of this, but Dennis Prager beat you to it!
“Before I go off to sleep … after the GOP debate, I am watching a bit of the movie Gladiator.”
Did you have a dream, by any chance, involving Newt Gingrich as Maximus fighting Ron Paul and Mitt Romney in the Colliseum? I never thought he’d be the gladiator to emerge as the ultimate challenger to Commodus. He’d better start working out.
“I have a certain affinity with the protagonist. I, too… well… never mind. And I can imagine some liberal bishop saying “I’m terribly vexed.'”
It’s always the guys in purple robes you have to watch out for, isn’t it? Although someone once tried to persuade me of a comparison to the conflict between Lefebvre and Paul VI, the Marcus Aurelius figure representing Pius XII. I didn’t buy it. For one thing, Lefebvre (Maximus) outlived Paul (Commodus) and then had to contend with…Constantine.
For some reason Russell Crowe gets all the praise when it comes to talk about this movie but it was Joaquin Phoenix’s disturbing portrayal of the emperor that was the jewel, I thought. He managed to exude, all at once, insecurity, pride, depravity, delusion, majesty, pettiness, ferocity, and vulnerabilty. Actually, there was something pitiable and even touching about his villain. Although you detested him you felt some measure of compassion for him at the same time. Russell Crowe only had to be tough.
I think I would instead use the early Mesopotamian greeting “Bread and Beer!” It’s too Chestertonian for me to pass up.
Father Z…ending one of his delightful rants, the ‘blogosphere’ arena is littered with the mangled bodies of wymynpryests and decapitated giant puppets:
‘ARE YOU ENTERTAINED???”
True. Republicans would win these elections if only they’d let themselves do it and stop this damn squabbling.
Ha ha, Fr. Z.
I’ve often enjoyed using (with some irony) the valediction “Strength and Honor” with my fellow philologists. Geeky fun all around.
You know, despite the hokeyness and Braveheart-edness of the film, it really does have a lot of good points. The commentary on our society’s penchant for entertainment-overload at the cost of everything else continues to be relevant and trenchant (probably even more so now).
“Terribly vexed.” Hoo boy, Father, let me not ask for more details on that one. Joaquin Phoenix *is* too good for words in this.
Smile for me, brothers. PC
What radio show, when, what station, and can it be heard on the Internet?
Fortitudinem ac honorem, Father!
RomeontheRange: Tibi quoque!
All right! I’ve been waiting for some kind of announcement.