Techno-euphoria and the world-improving dream: Gladiator

Abstract

In this essay, I explore the potential of the epic genre as a form of transnational cinema, and reconsider its traditional role as a vehicle of national ideology and aspirations. I suggest that the contemporary historical epic conveys a sense of double-voicing by adapting epic themes usually associated with national narratives to collectivities that are not framed by nation. Reading the epic alongside the work of Giorgio Agamben, I draw particular attention to the ways that the contemporary epic foregrounds the potential of “bare life” as a form of historical agency, emphasizing the emergence of the multitude and the mongrel community. I also consider the particular formal characteristics of the epic film—its design-intensive mise-en-scène, its use of spectacle and its style of sensory expansiveness—as producing an affective and emotional relation to the historical past, creating a fullness of engagement and amplitude of consciousness.