Gladiator - Artifact 1

This movie is about a successful Roman general named Maximus who is offered the position to be Caesar by the emperor, Marcus Aurelius himself. In a series of events fueled by the jealousy of the son Commodus, Maximus was sent to die, picked up by slavers, and bought to be a gladiator in Rome. I chose this movie as an artifact because it shows how a man, who was once for the advancement of the empire, found himself having to fight to stay alive for their entertainment.  Maximus had experienced two distinct ways of life, as an esteemed general and then as a lowly gladiator, which created two perspectives on human purpose: that of a soldier for the progression of the empire and a gladiator whose purpose was to die. In the film, Marcus asks Maximus what the fighting was for, to which Maximus answers that it was for the glory of Rome. Marcus replies saying, “There was once a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish... it was so fragile. And I fear that it will not survive the winter." As a general, Maximus only saw that he was fighting for Caesar, for Rome, and for his men; that was his purpose, even if the empire’s own ruler believed that it was crumbling. As Maximus, many of us today fall into the cycle of the system around us. We align ourselves with the rituals and lifestyles of our day, in subconscious compliance to the rules of the empire. Many people believe that the system they know today will last forever, as it advertizes itself as eternal, however in most cases, it is a decaying lifestyle that often is detrimental to us. Toward the middle of the film, Maximus becomes a gladiator and his purpose is switched to amusement for Rome. He is not even expected to live, simply to entertain. This in many ways reflects the underprivileged in our society. They are often used by the empire as amusing puppets and slaves to help them influence the consumers.

Question #1- How is Maximus' initial blind following of the empire similar to how many follow modern empires?

Question #2- Why do some people, who know that the empire is failing, continue to follow it regardless?