If anybody deserved to win an acting Oscar for this movie, it was probably him.
If anything, this reminds us that Joaquin Phoenix plays an absolutely chilling character in Gladiator. He's a great actor who deserved an Oscar, we're not sure he deserved it for this one. Also, we're not saying that Russell Crow didn't deserve to win Best Actor, but we might be saying that his role as Maximus is actually the weakest of the multiple roles he's been nominated for. (2010) This is a digital painting of a Roman female gladiator ready to execute her defeated opponent based on the thumbs down gesture from the Caesar and the displeased crowd.
Gladiator won Best Picture, but if we're being honest, the competition wasn't as stiff as it often is that year. The foreground gladiator in golden helmet and the background is based on the classic 1872 gladiator painting Pollice Verso by Jean-Léon Gérôme.
#GLADIATOR THUMBS DOWN MOVIE#
A Mission: _ Impossible_ movie directed by John Woo? Did that really happen? As the Honest Trailer points out, it was all too real. We have to admit that we as a culture made some pretty terrible decisions as a culture around then. Ridley Scott was eventually told about the “thumbs down” fallacy but felt obliged to have Commodus give the “thumbs up” when sparing maximus, in order “not to confuse the audience”.While Gladiator is a fairly good movie overall, putting the entire thing in the context of the early 2000's has a sobering effect on our view of the movie. The Latin phrase pollice verso is used in the context of gladiatorial combat for a hand gesture used by Ancient Roman crowds to pass judgment on a defeated gladiator. The inscription reads: “Those standing should be released”. Pollice Verso (1872) by Jean-Lon Grme is one of the sources of the 'thumbs down' gesture in modern popular culture, but is not based on historical data from Ancient Rome. It shows two gladiators at the end of a battle and a referee pressing his thumb against a closed fist. If further proof were needed, in 1997 a Roman medallion of the 2nd or 3rd century AD was discovered in southern France. Occasionally the gladiator had fought so vigorously that the crowd would rise, wave their handkerchiefs or togas in the air, put their thumbs up and yell, Missus Missus (Let him go).
The victor waited for the sponsor (editor) of the game to give a thumb’s up or down. The painting is single-handedly responsible for one of the greatest fallacies of the last two centuries, namely that “thumbs down” indicated death.Historians agree that Gérôme wrongly assumed that the Latin pollice verso – “turned thumb” – meant “turned down” when in fact in meant “turned up”. Pollice Verso Thumbs Down by Jean-Leon Gerone, 1872. A 1601 translation of Pliny equates the gesture with assent or favor, and John Dryden’s 1693 version of Juvenal’s Satires gives the thumb being bent back, not down, as the death signal. Little did Scott know that the source of his inspiration was utterly wrong. Scholars before Grme gave support to the view that thumbs down among the Romans, meant the hapless gladiator was to be spared, not killed. Pollice Verso (1872), which popularized the “thumbs down” gesture. Scott was captivated by the image, and decided on the spot that he must direct the film. The thumbs were used to signal approval or disapproval by spectators at a Roman amphitheatre, though they used thumbs down to signify that a beaten gladiator. In the video today we're looking at what Roman gladiators and audiences actually did to decide the fate of a fallen gladiator, as well as the general origin. In the painting, a Roman gladiator waits while the emperor stretches his thumb down to give the death sentence. Pollice Verso, whether youve seen it before or not, could be responsible for why we attribute thumbs up to mean good, and thumbs down to mean bad. This is expressed in latin as pollice compresso favor iudicabatur, “goodwill is decided by the thumb being kept in”.īefore Ridley Scott agreed to direct “Gladiator”, Hollywood executives showed him the painting “Pollice Verso” by the 19th-century artist Jean-Léon Gérôme. Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, Thumbs Sideways for Romans Latin Phrase Meaning Signals from the Editor Pollices premere or presso pollice: The 'pressed thumb. For a loser’s life to be spared, the thumb was tucked away inside the closed fist – as with a sheathed weapon. If death was desired, the thumb was stuck up – like a drawn sword. In fact, the Romans did not use a “thumbs down” at all. Scholars before Gérôme gave support to the view that thumbs down among the Romans, meant the hapless gladiator was to be spared, not slain. Neither Roman spectators calling for the death of the gladiator, nor Roman Emperors authorising one, ever gave a thumbs down. In addition to these movies stimulating interest in ancient Rome and the comparison of Rome with the United States, art has affected our view of gladiators.
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