I'm all smiley faces, all the time.

18th December 2011

Post with 6 notes

Spartacus

Now, this is something a mate put me onto. An ultra violent, ultra graphic, ultra sexual and ultra epic series centralised around the tale of Spartacus a gladiator. The tale of Spartacus, the slave who became a gladiator before leading a revolt of his fellow gladiators, kicking ass through Rome and eventually pretty much telling legion after legion to go hump a chainsaw is well known. This version is essentially the same thing, it doesn’t seem diluted down with other crap in fact it seems enriched with different bits of perhaps probable detail. Very cool stuff.

I enjoy the story as it has the necessary elements of romance, love, violent struggle, betrayal, suspense, un-fucking-believable odds, brotherhood and all the good parts of an old timey legend. And it can be called only a legend. Because that’s what the story was. Anyway, I like those aspects of it and the series brings maybe a little closer image to it, a more confronting and less censored version. Instead of just this guy killing a bunch of people, you watch him gouge out eyes and violently slay any mother fucker who steps up. I think that confronting detail is what makes it. You don’t get to gloss over it, if they fuck, they fuck, if they kill, they kill and you watch it all.

I also like how it kind of represents the tale of Rome. A culture gone mad with their own power, lavishing in their riches, believing in their honour and selling it for more power. It’s humanity at it’s most civilised and barbaric. As stupid as that sounds, that’s what it is. On one hand they’re beasts, mindlessly consuming and devouring everything, putting prices on others lives. And yet they’re civilised with rules and order and certain social nuances that need to be obeyed. There’s still a semblance of reasoned order.

I kinda like Rome. I mean they pretty much reinvented warfare, tactics and organisation. The richest and most powerful lavished in their wealth, they wallowed in it and made entertainment and enjoyment their purpose. I kind of like that idea, it’s something which has been bothering me for a little while. Were the Romans so bad? I mean slavery sucks and there’s many things wrong with them but they’re not so different. I mean we focus on entertainment, tv replaced whores and sexy dancers to an extent and sports stadiums replaced the arena. We like to fritter away our time. Maybe, excessive pleasure seeking is a goal to aim for.

Anyway. SPARTACUS. Watch it. It is good.

Tagged: SpartacustventertainmentRomanssexyviolenceswords