EMPIRE on ABC

[BgMstr4u]

A major fetish for me is slavery in ancient Rome, and I have to say that the new miniseries on ABC, "Empire", lived up. The fictional hero in the historical drama (one of those made-up characters to give us ordinary types a hook to hang our projections on) is a gladiator slave named Tyrannus. Your basic superman, stronger and more moral than anyone else in the drama, probably than anyone else in the world.

 

There's nothing wrong with this plot device, except that it is SO transparent. But I do have a couple of quibbles.

 

While the Roman Forum is depicted as brick with marble interiors (Augustus famously said "I found Rome a city of brick left it a city of marble"), the arena in which the gladiator fight took place looks for all the world like a rustic rodeo stockade. Perhaps some gladiatorial arenas did, but the principal one in which Julius Caesar is honored at his triumph (which did not seem to pass throught the Forum -- an oddity in itself)? But then, how to explain the elaborate brick-arched underpinnings which Tyrranus is shown entering from and leaving through? The two somehow don't match up. The Flavian Amphitheatre (otherwise known as the Colosseum) was not built until 70 AD or so, some 114 years or so later, but still -- what Rome used for these sacred games at that point had to be a bit more impressive! Maybe the set-building budget ran out.

 

I was also taken aback by the depiction of Octavius as a self-indulgent, vacillating, petulant and essentially stupid teenager. The child is the father to the man, and Octavius/Augustus was one of the most self-aware, disciplined, capable, even-tempered and just rulers in the history of the world. So the scene in which his girlfriend delays him with amorous delights while waiting for her father and the guards to arrive to do him in simply beggars belief. In fact, from the first hint of danger to his adoptive father, Octavius, though a teenager, acted with remarkable foresight and good judgment. Their culture was definitely not like ours in many respects, and youths of Octavius's type were bred to analyze and act and command. I suppose this character shift was to provide another hook for projections, this time to the slacker types in the audience who dream that great things might somehow come to them without strenuous effort or sacrifice on their own part. In fact, the first thing Octavius did was to hook up with Caesar's troops, take command of them, and proclaim himself, in accordance with Caesar's will, the legitimate heir to his uncle/father's legacy. There wasn't much moping around in the woods and waiting for assassination by dallying with senatorial daughters of the vagina dentata variety.

[JT Brooklyn]

IMHO..Many Storylines and "Physiques".. have come and gone. BUT my Favorite will always be "Steve Reeves"..Maybe it was the Filming & Dubbing..LOL But there was a certain Quality you don't find anymore.. The "Bad Guys" always Really came off Bad!... And Definitely very little Realism NOW.. in Made for TV "Roman Epics..:+

[BgMstr4u]

Well, I returned to the series last night, and have decided that as a serialization of an existing story or historical situation, it is not even in the class of Lois and Clark. It has turned into a puerile adolescent chase drama, with virtually no remaining linkage to history. What a disappointment.

 

The story of Octavius/Augustus is fascinating all on its own, but unfortunately, has the wrong demographics. He was a preternaturally intelligent, crafty and wise man even in his teens. When was the last time wisdom was a virtue trumpeted by teevee for the masses? Instead, we get this nonsense about whether or not he wants to accept his lot in life, which is to seize power and rule Rome and then the world. This would not seem to be thought of interest to the likely viewers, so we get this wishy-washy character instead.

 

The Vestal Virgin, Camane, is thrown in completely without regard to the historicity of this kind of character. The Romans, free and easy as they were about some kinds of sex (especially with the lower classes and the unfree), believed that the integrity of the state depended directly on the intact virginity and (yes) wisdom of the Vestals. A Vestal discovered to have had sex was buried alive, and the man she had sex with was killed forthwith and his family ruined. The least likely woman for Augustus to link up with. In fact, Camane is the only person in the series who our pouty little fool of a hero will listen to, and she gives him good advice. But her running off and caring for him in some out of the way villa, watched over, apparently, by a hunky blondlet and a handsome, but greedy slave (in another age, a second-tier escort)? Not hardly.

 

And now even the sets have become cheesier. Sheesh.