Cartago Delende Est
Jan. 16th, 2007 02:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
itsallovernowI'm actually a little bereft that I don't have anymore new Rome waiting for me, but it also means that I got to watch Passover. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.
One of the things that I think this show does so well is to take this political soap opera, and make it even less of a big wailing, gnashing, sexy, bloody mess than the actual history was.
It streamlines the stories for a viewing audience, balancing the "everymen" with the elite, and showing how... complicated things were. How things like loyalty and fealty and love were both what we think of when we hear those terms, and also something completely removed from the modern experience.
And have I mentioned completely naked Marc Antony? Because if I haven't, I should. Perhaps over and over again.
I've been fond of Antony throughout the first season, knowing where his arc is going (politically), and what he'll pull off after the death of Caesar. However, this week - fleeing the senators, showing up at Atia's house, going back in to play his chess game with Brutus and the others and then finally, finally cutting Quintus' throat - he just. Gah. I hate what's coming for him, and yet in many ways I love that he got to this point. That this rough soldier, this man who is sort of one of the people but not really, this compatriot of Caesar, is the one who makes the crowd so rabid that Brutus and the senators still lose.
I hate them for what they did to Caesar because despite their claims, they killed him to maintain their power, not to erradicate his. They were more invested in preserving this false ideal of Rome (and their place in it. Most importantly their place in it), then looking at what the people wanted. And I like that as contemporary allegory - you on that hill, you in those robes of justice and law, you are not immune to the will of the people. You are accountable to their whims, and we can turn on you in a minute. Just watch us). I like how Antony (as a good soldier, a good general) is able to move quickly from option to option, taking the best council (from brilliant, scheming Octavian and gah, that two will not end well), changing his course, using his skills. And I thought James Purefoy did a brilliant job.
I also loved the imagery - the women mourning with their hair down. (There's so much classical imagery/allegory about women and their hair - the way it is a net, the way it traps men - and having it loose and uncontrolled is somewhat reminiscent of a bacchanal, of uncontrolled emotion. Even if these women won't/don't/can't weep over Caesar's death, they literally wear the symbolism of the uncontrolled grief as paid mourners wail in the background. I just love classical symbolism.
I love Calpurnia's righteous anger at Servillia - two women, not just two women of power, but two women both facing the death of a great man. The way that their unbound hair, their dark garments and draped cloth reflect the way they dress to go to the temples, the way it will again be played out when they pay homage to the Augustus. That Calpurnia can face the women responsible for Caeasar's death, and that Serviliia still has a right to ask to mourn, is such a creepy, beautiful thing. All of those rules, and death as symbol, death as sacrifice.
I love the way that women in this show are so complicated - powerful and posturing, aware, intelligent, conniving and wanting to trust. I love that Niobe is very much of her class and station, that her awareness is still encompassing. She is rightly afraid that Vorenus will kill her, and I believe he would have. His rage is tempered, but it isn't gone. Pullo is not the most dangerous of them for all his brutality. Vorenus has the rage, but he's got the guilt and the morality to drive it home. Pure anger is one thing, uncontrolled anger is one thing, anger with the force of morality behind it? That is only going to end with heads on pikes.
I also really love the kinship between men in this series, the way that their love for each other is accepted. Love for a fellow soldier isn't the same thing as love of a wife, and I find it interesting how well they portray these levels and types of love and loyalty. When your marriage, your happiness in hearth and home is so often a political match, something to forge alliances, of course it will be the family of your choosing that remains so central. I love that Vorenus and Niobe recognize how much work love is, that it isn't just attraction and lust, that it's building something. I like that their marriage reflects the marital practices of the time as much as Caesar's marriage to Calpurnia does.
And oh Posca. I'm so pleased that Caesar freed you! So, so pleased. Because of all the people to truly mourn him as a person and not just as what he represents, you are the only one who shows honest tears, who can show that grief and regret.
The only thing I really fear is that we now have two men with the potential for conflicting loyalties. Vorenus is pledged to the senate, pledged to Antony's service and Pullo is clearly still loyal to Octavian. Ahhhhh!
We watched most of Munich last night, and it was just too strange to see Caesar and James Bond as Israeli agents. I had to go to bed when the disconnect got too strong:)
One of the things that I think this show does so well is to take this political soap opera, and make it even less of a big wailing, gnashing, sexy, bloody mess than the actual history was.
It streamlines the stories for a viewing audience, balancing the "everymen" with the elite, and showing how... complicated things were. How things like loyalty and fealty and love were both what we think of when we hear those terms, and also something completely removed from the modern experience.
And have I mentioned completely naked Marc Antony? Because if I haven't, I should. Perhaps over and over again.
I've been fond of Antony throughout the first season, knowing where his arc is going (politically), and what he'll pull off after the death of Caesar. However, this week - fleeing the senators, showing up at Atia's house, going back in to play his chess game with Brutus and the others and then finally, finally cutting Quintus' throat - he just. Gah. I hate what's coming for him, and yet in many ways I love that he got to this point. That this rough soldier, this man who is sort of one of the people but not really, this compatriot of Caesar, is the one who makes the crowd so rabid that Brutus and the senators still lose.
I hate them for what they did to Caesar because despite their claims, they killed him to maintain their power, not to erradicate his. They were more invested in preserving this false ideal of Rome (and their place in it. Most importantly their place in it), then looking at what the people wanted. And I like that as contemporary allegory - you on that hill, you in those robes of justice and law, you are not immune to the will of the people. You are accountable to their whims, and we can turn on you in a minute. Just watch us). I like how Antony (as a good soldier, a good general) is able to move quickly from option to option, taking the best council (from brilliant, scheming Octavian and gah, that two will not end well), changing his course, using his skills. And I thought James Purefoy did a brilliant job.
I also loved the imagery - the women mourning with their hair down. (There's so much classical imagery/allegory about women and their hair - the way it is a net, the way it traps men - and having it loose and uncontrolled is somewhat reminiscent of a bacchanal, of uncontrolled emotion. Even if these women won't/don't/can't weep over Caesar's death, they literally wear the symbolism of the uncontrolled grief as paid mourners wail in the background. I just love classical symbolism.
I love Calpurnia's righteous anger at Servillia - two women, not just two women of power, but two women both facing the death of a great man. The way that their unbound hair, their dark garments and draped cloth reflect the way they dress to go to the temples, the way it will again be played out when they pay homage to the Augustus. That Calpurnia can face the women responsible for Caeasar's death, and that Serviliia still has a right to ask to mourn, is such a creepy, beautiful thing. All of those rules, and death as symbol, death as sacrifice.
I love the way that women in this show are so complicated - powerful and posturing, aware, intelligent, conniving and wanting to trust. I love that Niobe is very much of her class and station, that her awareness is still encompassing. She is rightly afraid that Vorenus will kill her, and I believe he would have. His rage is tempered, but it isn't gone. Pullo is not the most dangerous of them for all his brutality. Vorenus has the rage, but he's got the guilt and the morality to drive it home. Pure anger is one thing, uncontrolled anger is one thing, anger with the force of morality behind it? That is only going to end with heads on pikes.
I also really love the kinship between men in this series, the way that their love for each other is accepted. Love for a fellow soldier isn't the same thing as love of a wife, and I find it interesting how well they portray these levels and types of love and loyalty. When your marriage, your happiness in hearth and home is so often a political match, something to forge alliances, of course it will be the family of your choosing that remains so central. I love that Vorenus and Niobe recognize how much work love is, that it isn't just attraction and lust, that it's building something. I like that their marriage reflects the marital practices of the time as much as Caesar's marriage to Calpurnia does.
And oh Posca. I'm so pleased that Caesar freed you! So, so pleased. Because of all the people to truly mourn him as a person and not just as what he represents, you are the only one who shows honest tears, who can show that grief and regret.
The only thing I really fear is that we now have two men with the potential for conflicting loyalties. Vorenus is pledged to the senate, pledged to Antony's service and Pullo is clearly still loyal to Octavian. Ahhhhh!
We watched most of Munich last night, and it was just too strange to see Caesar and James Bond as Israeli agents. I had to go to bed when the disconnect got too strong:)
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 01:47 am (UTC)I love the fact that Wikipedia has a quote from James Purefoy saying that, for the record, his penis was not CGI-altered in any way.
(I wish to state that I was searching for info on Rome, not James Purefoy's penis in particular. He's not my type.)
no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 06:16 pm (UTC)And penis aside, James Purefoy is very much my type. As is Marc Antony.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 07:25 am (UTC)Then I looked at your Farscape icon and thought...
I'll take my little crack-brain off now....
(seriously...full male frontal nudity? And full backal nudity as well? W00t!)
no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 12:44 pm (UTC)Seriously! At first I thought it was going to be one of those where the women get naked to show that the show is sexy and edgy while the men remain fully clothed, but no. My impression is that they're actually a lot closer to equal-ops nekkidity than most TV shows.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 06:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 06:12 pm (UTC)(And truthfully, the time period of "Rome" is far later than the whole Cato and Cartago Delende Est thing, but it remains one of my favorite parts of Roman insanity:)
no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 09:22 am (UTC)Silly non-tv having current lifestyle....
:)
no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 11:46 am (UTC)That's one of those things for watching shows that aren't on DVD or *ahem*-ed, right?
no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 11:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 06:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 06:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-17 06:10 pm (UTC)It'll never hold. I'll probably binge both seasons over Easter Break.