“Spartacus”: Too Far-fetched
by If you want a bellyful (to put it mildly) of split guts, throats, decapitated heads, swords thrust through, not to mention a diet of sexual orgy and bad language, then the television series “Spartacus – Blood and Sand” is for you, particularly if you think the unbelievable is good for a laugh. Whether you think it actually is believable….well, that’s entirely another story.
The producers behind the series make one thing clear – it is not, historically, to be taken seriously, but to provide entertainment and to increase viewing ratings. I mean, I must admit, I found it enjoyable, even though most of the violent actions in the arena were either too harrowing to watch or just plain ludicrous or farcical which degenerated into laughter. There’s one set of incidents in which Spartacus insolently oversteps the bounds of slave conduct and is sent to do combat in the pits – extra-violent action where there are no rules – and a millimeter’s chance of survival. Whether such a situation did or didn’t happen, probably implausible, yet up to the imagination, gives an excuse for an entertaining bust-up.
The script writers, moreover, hadn’t a clue about what was said or thought-of by the Romans. Their mind-set, apart from believing in pagan mythology, highlighted throughout the series, obviously, is a thing very likely lost or at the very least, unknown. So all the expletive, not to mention sexual and filthy linguistic bilge spilled from the mouths of the actors, had me rolling about in guffaws.
Nevertheless, the propensity for scheming, corruption, murder and intrigue, not to mention psychotic acts of violence that were probably and genuinely impulsive during those times, the series is nothing more than, reflecting its orgy of nudity and sex, an excuse to indulge in the gratuitous path of frenzied heavy action.
If you want a better depiction of those antiquated times, you’d be far better off watching another TV mini series called ‘I Claudius.’
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