The construction of the representation in the Gladiator

The representation of the Gladiator in the opening sequence is characterised in many different ways. These ways include through the use of costume, sound, editing, speech, gesture and posture. The film, Gladiator is a film released in 2001, directed by Ridley Scott. The film starred actors such as Russell Crowe who played Maximus Decimus Meridius. Maximus was a morally upstanding Hispano-Roman general in Germania, forced into becoming a slave who seeks revenge against Commodus. He had been under the favor of Marcus Aurelius, and the love and admiration of Lucilla prior to the events of the film. As well as Russell Crowe actors such as Joaquin Phoenix and Djimon Hounsou star in the Gladiator too. The use of sound create an incredibly distinctive atmosphere, for example at the beginning of the extract of the film that I viewed, Russell Crowe reminisces about his home life walking through a field of wheat just before they are due to be harvested. He is recalling what it is like to experience ‘peace’ and stability being happy and content in himself at home. The music is made up of percussion instruments that sounds folk-like and sounds extremely as it was accompanied by action shots of contented memories at home. As well as calming music, when the action began to become intense the music got quicker, louder and lower. This exaggerated tension and the terrible consequences of death at war. Another example of representation in the Gladiator is costume. Maximus wore fur, metal armor, leather trousers, rich accessories accessorized with gold. This gave me the impression that he was wealthy, high ranked in the army and prestigious. Contrasting with the opponents who wore thin grey fabrics with wooden shields and blunt rusty swords, this shows that there was a huge difference in rank of the soldiers and the protection they had. Maximus’ army looked professional as well as skilled whereas the opponents looked raw, rugged and vicious. This is an example of binary opposites. Maximus was the leader of the army and before the battle began, he did a speech, gearing his soldiers to do well and win. He repeated ‘strength and honour’ to many individuals as well as patting them on the back as he passed when he was approaching his horse – this was support, morale and positive thoughts at such as a desperate and venerable time. His speech was majestic and he remained professional as well as in control. His posture on his horse was upright, regal and poised. The editing of the film includes use of moving camera angle shots as well as profile shots.