Gladiator
The
sequence of Gladiator I have studied starts with Commodus hovering over his
nephew as he sleeps. There is a juxtaposition between Commodus and the boy; his
nephew is cast in a bright high key light which shows his purity and almost
angelic qualities which is in stark contrast with Commodus who is forever cast
in dark low key lighting which indicates he is evil and bad. Interestingly he
always has half his face in light which represents his split-personality, it is
hinted in the film he schizophrenic and has a personality disorder. Similar to
her son, Lucilla is always cast in light which symbolises her as the ‘Hope of
Rome’.
In
the background there is always fire which creates shadows, being the thing
Commodus is always in, giving the impression that he oozes corruption and
darkness. Also fire has connotations of destruction which could be a reference
of what the emperor is doing to Rome.
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