Ng Ruo Xin 1104814
The plot of the movie relates in some way to the Hero's Journey. When Maximus was asked by Emperor Marcus Aurelius to take over the leadership in Rome, it was the beginning of his journey as a hero. He also crossed the first threshold when he escaped the death execution and ran for his family. It was his lowest point in life (aka belly of the whale) when he discovered his entire family was killed and hung. From that point on, he left his old life as general and became a slave and eventually a gladiator in the arena. Along the way he met with many kinds of help and support namely Proximo, Juba and Lucilla. In the end it led him to face with Commodus -- the ultimate boon -- where they battled for their lives. In the end, both Maximus and Commodus died in the arena and Maximus reunited with his family in the afterlife. The ending of the movie doesn't really fit with the Hero's Journey because he died and didn't manage to cross the return threshold to put the wisdom he had gained into his life.
The characters of the movie are mostly real historical figures. Emperor Marcus Aurelius was in fact the real emperor from 161 to 180 CE and his son, Commodus, was the heir to the empire. Commodus was a much more gruesome and morally distorted ruler in real life. But he did not kill his father, Marcus Aurelius because his death was believed to be caused by plague.
Maximus Decimus Meridius was a fictional character and does not exist in history. But he was inspired by the real general of Emperor Marcus, Avidius Cassius, who later became an emperor himself. In the movie, Maximus killed Commodus and later died in the same fight. In real, Commodus was not killed in the arena but was murdered in a bath by a wrestler. Besides that, Proximo, who is the slave trader that found Maximus, was also a fictional character.
During the ruling of Commodus, he tried to rename the Roman Colony, the senate, Romanian, and months of year after his own title and name. He used his authority as emperor to elevate himself in almost all things to show his sovereignty in Rome. The downfall of Roman Empire was not because of Commodus' rule. Factors such as corruption in politics, constant conflict between the senate and emperor, invasion of barbarians, and decline in moral values contributed to the falling of the entire empire.
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