"Break, break, break,
On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
And I would that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me."
- Tennyson
Sharp-eyed readers of this blog ["Oi" interjects the Rhetorical Pedant "everyone knows that there aren't any readers any more"] will have recognised the title of the previous post as coming from Rosemary Sutcliffe's "Eagle of the Ninth".
The original Pony Wars wargames rules were intended to represent a Hollywood wild west and logic therefore suggests that the Romans in Britain rules derived from them should aim for a similar vibe. However, whereas anyone my age is steeped in cowboy films and their heroes - Wayne, Eastwood, Cooper, Stewart, Ladd etc etc - I don't have anything like the same background in sword and sandals. I've never even seen Gladiator. When discussing the issue Peter suggested "The Eagle", a film based of course on Sutcliffe's book. Now that one I have seen, and didn't really care for what I saw as non-historical sentimentality.
With all that in mind I went, as one does, to a lecture on classical Greek and Roman themes in Star Trek. It was fascinating stuff, the main point being that Roddenberry wasn't employing the themes for their literal meanings, but as commentaries on US society in the 1960s. Now the subtexts of TV Star Trek episodes on civil rights, Vietnam etc are fairly blatant so there wasn't much dissension from the audience. One question was raised however as to the morals trying to be made by big screen treatments of Roman history. Most of these were dismissed by the lecturer as simply being pro-Christian propaganda, but he did have warm words for one film which is, apparently, a spot-on commentary on the war on terror. Starring Channing Tatum and the bloke who played Billy Elliot, it is of course "The Eagle".
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| "Get off your horse and drink your milk" |
With all that in mind I went, as one does, to a lecture on classical Greek and Roman themes in Star Trek. It was fascinating stuff, the main point being that Roddenberry wasn't employing the themes for their literal meanings, but as commentaries on US society in the 1960s. Now the subtexts of TV Star Trek episodes on civil rights, Vietnam etc are fairly blatant so there wasn't much dissension from the audience. One question was raised however as to the morals trying to be made by big screen treatments of Roman history. Most of these were dismissed by the lecturer as simply being pro-Christian propaganda, but he did have warm words for one film which is, apparently, a spot-on commentary on the war on terror. Starring Channing Tatum and the bloke who played Billy Elliot, it is of course "The Eagle".
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| "Tea, Earl Grey, hot" |
Am I the 'Lone Reader' ? cheers Tony
ReplyDeleteYou may well be. Peter and James do read it occasionally, but it's just in case I mention their names - which is why I never do.
DeleteYou've reminded me that I must watch The Eagle again - I watched it with my son a year or so ago, and I was so distracted by the far-fetched ending and the sky-blue tribesmen that I didn't get the full benefit. Time for a revisit, though by now I also know for a fact that it is a stinker.
ReplyDeleteGladiator is well worth watching, if only for the battle in the forest at the start. Not that I have any taste, of course.
According to the lecture that I went to, 'The Eagle' is unique among big screen films about the Roman Empire in that the Romans have American accents. According to him, they normally have British accents because they are baddies and the rebels - there are always rebels - have American accents because they are goodies.
DeleteMy failure to watch Gladiator is all the more surprising because post-divorce I only own a dozen DVDs and that's one of them.