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Colosseum in Our Cinemas
Gather around, two guys are about to kill each other.
Anyone remember the Colosseum? In the amazing Roman empire, to keep the depression, starvation, and sheer chaos off people’s minds, they celebrated! 130 holidays a year, and what did they do on those days? They gathered at the Colosseum to see people kill each other. Oh yeah, they gave out free bread, too. (Hence the name “bread & circuses”).
Recently, in my World History class, we were discussing this, and some students were so surprised at the fact that they’d allow this to happen. “They actually enjoyed killing and fighting?”
What happened was they gathered trained gladiators to the middle of the Colosseum, where all the people would watch them fight in a tournament, to the death. Crazy, you say?
Immediately, this reminded me of a movie called ‘Death Race’ (with Jason Statham and Tyrese Gibson). The premise of the movie is that people all around the futuristic world would pay to watch live on the internet prisoners race to their freedom (don’t forget the dire tracks, weaponry, and of course, the bullets flying all over the place). It’s all for entertainment!
So, thinking about this fact, ask yourself: Does that idea of bread and circuces still happen today?
Image via Wikipedia
Sure, we’re not getting people to kill each other but just think about those movie theaters we all love so much, with the concession stands that serve us popcorn, soda, and and candy with films that show violence and vulgar in its truest form?
Society continues to be society. Though, are these movies being made for the same reason? Are we being distracted without even knowing it?
Leave a comment with your thoughts on this subject. I personally think that these movies are definitely parallel with the gladiators and such. Though, right now filmmakers are just trying to make money, but will this evolve into a form of distraction from our problems?
P.S. Check out what others think about the colloseum and why people loved it so much.
