Rome...

I am going to stray from the main ideas and run to the side note. Clearly they threw as much money into this series as they did blood.

The book for me kind of rumbled on from incident to incident. There was no fluid story line. It was like someone was trying to shove information into brain without a break. (#math). Each person has different character qualities that can be picked up in the descriptions and accounts of the text, but the show does better. The book (kind of like my blog) just rambles on. This guy killed this guy, then killed this guy until he was dead, then fought another battle so hes a good general, and pirates.

The movie even tho it is made to be dramatic at least it gives us more of a timeline, kind of like a chapter breakdown. We get to see character facial expressions and can read body language. We get to see what type of living situation each is accustomed to. Apparently wardrobes back then were top notch. The parts between the bloodshed and sex scenes bring light to a character. For example, When Julius got executed we saw a lot of angry dudes killing him dead. It was a collective effort until it was Brutus was up for stab. I got more of the sense that it was almost like a sad mercy killing until he actually thrust the dagger into Julius.

I enjoyed and had a better understanding of the films based on the books. Usually the books are better because we can fill in the blanks with our own imagination. The Shakespearean texts are harder to follow. A lot harder. More times than not the book is better than the movie also. Of course like most time than not the movie is varied from the book. I do not think the film did justice to the characters either. What I am also curious about is what in the hell were they doing with their hands when they were speaking. Like seriously... who does that. Only person that comes to mind is Ricky Bobby. I think they watched Ricky on the news and took a page from his book.

Rome

Well for starters, it was much more entertaining to watch what we read about in Plutarch, especially on such a grand scale. Watching the same moments on a low budget production would not have the same effect. When we think of this era of Rome, we think about lavishness and extravagance and the show did not disappoint when it came to this. For example, the celebration of Caesar being appointed dictator was very grand in scale and fun to watch. However, the scene where that poor guy was hung in front of everyone was a little difficult to watch.

Another scene that was difficult to watch was Caesar’s assassination. Though it was quite brutal, it is what actually happened and as a viewer, we were able to capture the emotion experienced by the murders, particularly Brutus, that was not captured in our reading. The emotion of the character’s made them seem like real people as opposed to just someone we are reading about in a historical text.

This just brings it back to our discussion of how we interact with different types of media. Reading Plutarch was challenging, but watching the same stories unfold in Rome was entertaining and engaged my interest. Additionally, I saw these “lives” we read about actually become lives! Watching the characters we get a much better sense of their attitudes and their emotions, which make them much more real than reading about them.

Another aspect of the show that I found really interesting was the focus on the women, Servilia and Atia. There is not an in depth mention of them in Plutarch, but they did, at least according to the show, played a large in role in how a lot of the events played out, like Servilia’s subtle urging for Brutus to kill Caesar. I think this added an interesting dynamic to the show, as well as to the history of the events. Too bad Plutarch did not write a Lives about the women of ancient Rome. Those would have been great stories to tell!

HBO's Rome

Before I even get started discussing my thoughts on the show and all of the in-depth analysis, I think its necessary to congratulate HBO on making phenomenal shows that have the ability to entrance an audience. You go Glen Coco.

Getting back to what is actually relevant though, which medium did I prefer? Me being me, I thought HBO's Rome was the more enjoyable experience overall. Seeing history come to life in a television show or feature film is a truly special experience because these companies have the funds to create accurate replications of what the locations actually looked like. When it comes to a book, one must rely on their imagination to fill create the scene and while that is a good ability to have, sometimes it does not do justice.

I absolutely loved the sets in the show. They were articulate and detailed. The forum was outstanding and the rooms where the scenes took place were nothing short of elaborate. Today, green screens have become so overused that people forget what it is like to have actual sets. In episode 10, I was only able to spot out three or four instances where a green screen was used. Almost all of the episode was practical and that gets an A+ in my book.

The acting was great as well. Were all of the characters outstanding? No. But they each played their respective roles well. It would be interesting to see the show today if they had the budget that Game of Thrones or the Walking Dead has. Perhaps a reboot?

Well, seeing as how Game of Thrones actually has about three of the actors from Rome, maybe they already did?

Another aspect that I personally enjoyed about the show was the intro music by Jeff Beal and his score throughout the show. It fit so well and never did the music seem out of place. In fact, this is one of the only shows I can recall in recent memory where there were long periods of time were there was no music playing. The show runners relied on the acting abilities to drive the drama and move the plot forward.

Oh and the show is graphic which is always an added bonus of HBO shows. Since it is a premium channel, they can do whatever the hell they want and the scene where Caesar gets murdered was graphic as it should be.

Well, that about sums up my thinking on the show.

Rome

I have to say when Dr.MB mentioned that we would be watching two episodes of Rome I have to admitted I was a little excited. I had never actually seen the episodes but have heard about the series.  I much rather watch a movie based off of something then to read the book first. Although Rome is a British-American-Italian historical drama television series and does not have a book published, it all ties together with what we've been discussing in class. Before watching the two episodes I read the facts about the show itself and I find it amazing, in order to re-in act history it took 750 actors and extras for the Caesar's Triumph" scene.

I knew before watching Rome I was aware that the series was based on history and drama surrounding violent transformation of Roman Republic made into Roman Empire. I feel like this series portrays higher contact of sexual activities then we have heard about in the books and readings that we have read thus far. These series showed what happened back in the day, who's to say this is how it was? The book portrayed something different, but don't all books when kind of telling the same story.

Brutus is team Caesar, he even says that Caesar has wisdom and mercy he pledges loyalty to him and urges others to do the same.  Caesar demands that whoever was against him and wanted him dead needs to join him and others in creating new Rome. While watching I noticed there were banners, wash statues and bird cases. They made a big deal of the preparation for the Triumph. I was shocked when Antony had Caesars back and didn't go run and hide when others wanted him dead. You also could definitely tell Antony definitely loved women in Rome. When watching these episodes you can actually see the different personalities from each individual not what someone else is portraying in writing. When watching this movie it was interesting to see the other members of the crew interact with the main characters we have talked about.

These episodes kinda make me want to watch Rome from the beginning to really get all the details of modern history of Rome.

Roman Visuals

     HBO's Rome is of course a video medium which means it feeds to the visual senses like no other media. The visuals of this show (the set, costumes, etc.) all seem very authentic and succeed like crazy in taking me back to Ancient Rome. I think this is because the designers weren't trying to make it look glamorous or over gaudy, yet they put so much attention into every detail, huge and small. Even though the Romans themselves tend to be overly lavish, they still kept it authentic and didn't over Hollywood it. The scene of Caesar's ceremony when he road in on a chariot with his face painted and the white doves reminded me of a dulled down version of the opening ceremonies in the Hunger Games by the way.

     With this medium being a passive activity of just watching what others have lain before me, some things were incongruous with what I imagined in my head. The main thing involves the head honcho himself,  Caesar. In this show, Caesar seems almost psycho. You can see it in those bug eyes.

He seems to be out of touch with reality in the way that he talks about Rome. This is especially highlighted in the scene when his right-hand men are all in a circle without Caesar discussing their disgust for the decision to make Vorenus a part of the republic.  To me, they were meant to be made out to be the level headed, noblemen in this scene.
     Another theme that stuck with me after being able to watch this story is how the men let their brutality carry over into their personal lives. Love and murder don't mix as Pullo and Vorenus found out. Being able to see the killings in full detail for nauseating amounts of time, also plays into the authenticity of the show and made me fully aware of how brutal the Romans could truly be. It makes one wonder what the true nature of these men is. Were they born power hungry murderers, or do the past battles have such an effect on them that they can't escape? As Cicero said in response to Pullo saying, "I'm a soldier, not a murderer", is there really any difference?

Not What I Expected

After watching the two episodes of the HBO’s series Rome, I found the social dynamic and storyline of that time period to be better understood. When reading Plutarch’s version, it was very difficult to depict the types of characters they were, at least for me with the language in which he wrote, and how they were seen through other people’s eyes. It also helped so see actors show the emotions of the characters.

A way that helped distinguish all the characters based on class and royalty/respect, was there clothes and the areas that they were seen in or living in. Caesar and Brutus was always shown in clean white clothing along with Antony and others apart of the "government." They were always shown respect (of coarse not at the end for Caesar...) and were obviously higher in class than the rest of society. The rest of society were shown in dirt streets and less lavish lifestyles. Even Lucious Vorenus, who was not a senator until towards the end, was shown in a house that was not that great in my opinion. Kind of "middle class" I guess.

The end where Caesar finally gets stabbed, and this might sound silly, but I actually forgot that was actually going to happen until it did. It was so sudden to me and the way he died was so brutal. Based on just the episodes I watched and the readings, I feel like he didn't deserve it that much... I was also shocked that Caesar did not say a classic line. His "last words" as most say. I know he was stabbed repeatedly, but I wished he would have said something to Brutus. I think the emotions that Brutus conveyed in that scene were fitting, but as a whole not really what I expected.

I couldn't resist this cute kitten.

ROME

After looking at the two different types of media of Caesar, Antony, and Brutus I found that I enjoyed the HBO show Rome better.  The book was difficult to read because of the small print and the distractions that were around me.  I liked the HBO show because I was able to see each character’s actions and emotions while learning the story.  In Rome I was also able to figure out the class of most of the people from what they were wearing and the area they lived in.  Brutus and Caesar had high power so they wore bright red and white and lived in buildings with detailed work that were very colorful. The common people were wearing dull colors and not as nice clothing and lived in small grey buildings.  This shows that those that where of higher power wanted to be seen as powerful.

By being able to watch history it makes it easier for me to remember and understand what is going on.  There is a flaw to this though; when you watch a movie or TV version of history you tend to have things embellished.  In Rome when Caesar was shown to the people the first time as a dictator his great nephew Octavian had put blood on his face.  I am not sure why they did this, maybe Caesar wanted to start a tradition for every dictator after him.  I personally thought that it was very weird and I don’t know why you would want your people to see you with dried blood all over your face. 

In this HBO series of Rome they also changed around the way that Caesar was killed, I almost thought that Brutus was not going to stab him and I think if someone had not read Plutarch’s Lives that would give them a different perspective of Brutus.  Also, in Rome the women had larger roles then in Plutarch’s Lives, such as Servilia and Atia.  Servilia is the one who planted the seed in Brutus’s ear to kill Caesar, I find this interesting because she had an affair with Caesar and Caesar saved her son, she should be grateful to him.  Then there is Atia who is the niece of Caesar who tries to get everyone on her side, but it doesn’t really work out.  This makes me wonder even though women did not seem to have much power maybe they were controlling more than we think.

What is Going on with Caesar?

First of all, I would like to say that it is very obvious that this show has a large budget.  Based on the costuming, the sets, the extras, and the large cast of main actors; this show needed and used a lot of money.  But did all of this extravagance help with the plot of the show? In a way, yes, it did. It allowed the show to set up multiple plot points for each character, which will carry out through the season and keep people's interest.  But for our sake, it didn't. I don't know about you but I watched this thinking that the main focus would be on Caesar, with maybe a side focus on Brutus and Antony. But I was wrong, which left me very confused.

If any of you were like me and only watched the two episodes we were assigned, Caesar really is not mentioned.  We see him get elected, give a speech, be crowned, and then stabbed to death. The focus of both episodes were more on Brutus and his mother, with the occasional side plot of Titus and the Caesar siblings (Octavian and Octavia). But just with our knowledge of Caesar's life and how he is portrayed in the show, I really do not see why they were so threatened by him.  These people just elected him into power, and then they realized they goofed and changed their minds, resulting in Caesar's impalement.

Brutus's character is also all over the place. Plutarch made Brutus seem brave and noble, whereas Rome made Brutus seem indecisive and dependent on other people to make decisions for him. Brutus went from being enemies with Caesar, to wanting to be his best friend, to wanting to stay his friend but still run against him, deciding to kill him, second guessing killing him as Caesar is waiting to be stabbed, choosing to kill him, and then felling horrible about it. This guy cannot make up his mind!

I guess if I watched from the beginning, these plot points might make more sense, but a lot of it seems extra to me. And props to whoever can give a summary of the entire season justice.

WHAT THE FLIPSNOOGLE DID I JUST WATCH?!?!?!

I like to first mention the amount of nudity in this show is tremendous... Something tells me I will not be able to watch this in public. Yes I decided to start from episode one, sorry but a list and description of every main character is not enough for me, I have to watch it from the start. Also I have a question... WHY WERE THEY SO INTO USING CRUCIFCATIONS AS A FORM OF TORTURE? Like I expected this from American Horror Story: Asylum

                                                   

I was going to add a picture from AHS... but that would be too graphic so here is a picture of a boxer dog named Roman (yes he is my dog don't judge me) instead 😏

but from this um... Yeah no. Also things escalate so fast that I'm like... Hold up what just happened and why did it go this far. Also if you have not noticed I am writing this blog post AS I am watching this series so if these words chained together in an order makes a disorder to you... pound sign not my fault

So anyway, if you have not watched the entire series, well here is the jist of it... there is a lot of drama, blood, nudity (sex scenes 😱), and more blood. I am not kidding with the blood there is some sort of big blood scene in almost every episode. (If you haven't seen episode 11, you haven't seen big blood scene) That is HBO big budget for you. Big bucks= big blood and realism. You think with all this blood you think I would press the nope button and evacuate the Amazon screen. But, sorry magical reader of this blog post you are mistaken. I watch greys anatomy AND I watch random surgeries on YouTube. ( Did I forget to mention I want to specialize in Trauma Medicine in medical school?) So blood is no big deal to me.

                    ( Like I would post some bloody thing, I think you guys had enough of that)

So yeah I think it is nice that this series take a background look into Rome during the trail to Caesar's power reign. I mean if you haven't seen the entire series you are missing out on a lot of information. But, we can see that the reason Caesar gets stabbed is because Brutus orchestrated it. But also the part you did not see in the required episode readings that Brutus and Caesar make amends, but in the final episode, Brutus betrays Caesar and stabs him... Of course not saying the famous line but whatever that is not point. I really enjoyed watching this and getting really involved with the series, I mean I managed to watch the entire season in 2 days and still have tie to write this blog post. I should get a gold star of this accomplishment. 

 

After Published Blog Post Addition: As I am watching Season 2 ( which is the aftermath of the death of Julius Caesar) the reason Caesar did not say the famous lines is well, he actually tried to, according to the now traumatized Brutus.