Analyzing Evil: Commodus From Gladiator

hello everyone and welcome to episode 46 of analyzing evil featuring commodus from gladiator derived from the real world emperor joaquin phoenix gives us a masterful performance that leaves us with a spoiled sadistic and thoroughly repugnant man one that instills within us viewers a loathing that can only be derived from a truly worm-like character like commodus the differences between the actual commodus and the fictionalized one are fairly vast and ridley scott took several liberties with this film as far as historical accuracy is concerned due to these differences i won't be covering the entirety of the real commodus instead i'll be pointing out some of the differences between them filling you in on what actually happened versus what we see in the film if you're interested in watching a very informative video about the life and reign of the real commodus i suggest you watch a video by biographics that details his life which i'll link in the description of this video now without further ado let's begin commodus was born august 31st in the year 161 commodus spent much of his youth taking advantage of the privileges bestowed upon the son of an emperor spending his time learning from great teachers as he was cared for by his family's personal doctor as he aged commodus would accompany his father on some of his many campaigns learning the ways of war and statesmanship during his travels with his father we're not given this backstory in the film but i believe all of this can still apply to the commodus we see in the film the first big difference between the real and fictional commodus is in his position as emperor and how he acquires it in reality commodus was co-emperor with his father for three years before he died and his father actually died of a disease while out on one of his aforementioned campaigns the real marcus aurelius had concerns about his son but none of them prevented him from naming commodus his successor and the succession of commodus following his father's death is about as innocent of a transition as you can get into a royal position in the film commodus murders his father for sidelining him in favor of maximus who marcus believes will help usher in a new era in rome one where the republic is restored and the people will rule once again this is also not true to reality as marcus clearly wanted his son to succeed him and for the imperial line to continue his murder of his father is the first act of evil commodus commits in the film that we're privy to and this scene is very important in establishing for us his personality motivations and psyche here we see that commodus has lived his life in the shadow of his great father and hasn't lived up to his expectations in the slightest he values the more avaricious aspects of humanity preferring glory and wealth over honor and charity this scene also establishes commodus as someone who is highly envious of those around him and as a man who either actually was or feels that he was slighted during his childhood and that his father never loved him for who he was considering the real marcus aurelius allowed commodus to be co-emperor with him even with his reservations about his son i doubt there's much weight to that notion in the real world however what marcus says to commodus before he dies that his shortcomings as a son are the result of his failures as a father is an interesting line this is marcus admitting to commodus that he isn't entirely to blame for the man he grew into and this is also in line with the idea that a child's early development and a parent's involvement in their life is absolutely crucial in shaping them into the person they eventually become commodus whether the transgressions of his father were perceived or real would have likely grown into a much different person if he had felt that his father had loved him and supported him that's not to say that his father shouldn't have tried to guide his son in a good direction or chastise him for his bad behavior but it stands to reason that when you find a horrid adult there's a maligned or neglected child that came before them nevertheless commodus makes his own decisions in life and here he makes a categorically vile one murdering his own father in order to secure the throne of the roman empire for himself over his father's still warm body he corners maximus and asks him for his allegiance a moment that gives us a slight amount of hope for the chance that commodus might actually allow maximus to serve under him without suffering any consequences but as is the case with many a stubborn hero maximus doesn't even bother to consider the option a decision which is in fact his death sentence commodus wastes no time in consolidating his power and the first roadblock towards realizing that power is the noble maximus whose family he orders murdered as he sends maximus to die an act which i'm sure was done to prevent maximus son from taking revenge for his father's murder once he came of age we next see the new emperor returning to rome flanked by his praetorian guard riding on a magnificent chariot through a massive crowd of people and we find that a good majority of them aren't so keen to have commodus as their new emperor and others are bought and paid for to fluff up the crowd and commodus's ego though he strides in with his head held high we can see during this moment that commodus's reign is already troubled and with a troubled reign comes a troubled mind one that's jumping at each insult flung his way all while dreading the prospects of actually having to rule his new empire rather than solely enjoy its perks this is as good a time as any to talk about commodus appearance and mannerisms as after his ascension to the throne we'll either see him garbed in finery or more often than not in his full regalia a gaudy sight one that shows us how greedy and vain he is something to note about commodus are the dark circles that shadow his eyes showing us that this man likely sleeps very little and with a revelation made by his sister later on in the film part of this could be explained by his fear of the dark however i imagine the highly ambitious and scheming commodus doesn't sleep much because of the constant stress he's under as well as his fragile and volatile psyche which i'm sure plagues his thoughts even further this lack of sleep is likely a great component in his irrationality and his brash behavior as commodus is quick to irritate and in his anger he often acts rashly and lashes out like a spoiled child who doesn't get his way his mannerisms are often either flourishing in a vein attempt to appear regal carefree and lax creepy or threatening in his public persona he tries to appear as the gallant and gracious emperor father of the people and magnificent ruler who will usher in a new age of glory for his people one that will bring rome to the height of power and prosperity when dealing with his senators he initially attempts to do much the same and while he's at it manages to convey to them that he's quite bored with the actual ruling of the empire and not in the slightest interested in furthering its growth and well-being by providing meaningful help to his people intimidation comes into play here as he often finds himself challenged by these wiser men but his creepiness comes in the form of his advances towards his sister of which there will be many as the film progresses circling back to his return to rome we see grakkus making a remark that he's returned as if he were a conquering hero though he hasn't conquered anything a valid point considering commodus wishes to be praised without earning any such praise however in reality while it's not true that he returned as a conqueror he can partially be given the title of a peacemaker as before returning to rome from a campaign he did make peace with the nubian tribes and his reign in general was seen as much more peaceful when compared to the more militarized reigns of his predecessors after being welcomed back by the senators chief amongst them the sycophantic falco commodus proceeds to hold an audience with his senators in which he decries them as traitors to the people pointing out their privilege and hedonistic tendencies in a flamboyant show of hypocrisy boosting himself up as the father of the people as he deigns to tell the senators that it's he who has the solutions to the people's problems a notion which is met with a heavy note of sarcasm from grakkus aside from commodus's veiled threat against maximus when he asks him to proclaim his loyalty this is the first real threat we see commodus making an early one that serves as a harbinger for what's to come later in his reign what's interesting to note here is how he points out the flaws in two of the senators one which is somewhat innocent in that he points out how grakkus eats better than the majority of the people but when he points out that gaius has fined mistresses this indicates that the scheming commodus has arrived back in rome well prepared to gain the upper hand in his dealings with the senators even if that means resorting to blackmail following this meeting commodus reacts to the senators chiding in a manner we would expect like a child crying to his sister about how these more experienced and knowledgeable men have no right to lecture someone so great as he we've touched on this next notion a bit already but this scene illustrates for us that though commodus desires to be a great emperor through helping his people his ideas for doing so aren't rooted in tangible solutions and are instead centered around giving the people a distraction to take their minds off of their problems a gold veneer painted over a house with a rotting foundation though this isn't exactly what you would call good policy gracchus makes an excellent point in the following scene where he remarks that commodus actually understands something about people that if you give them a spectacle and you do take their minds away from their problems it works for a time as gracchus says the marble of the senate isn't the beating heart of rome it's the sand of the coliseum commodus will bring the people death and they will love him for it by the time the people realize the hidden damage to their lives it will have already been too late but at least their destruction will be buried in a very fine coffin now something interesting about his desire to give the people what they want but not necessarily what they need is that it's partially born from the lack of love he feels in his life commodus remarks over his nephew's sleeping form that he sleeps so well because he is loved and then goes on to tell his sister about how all his desires are splitting his head to pieces we talked about this a bit when we were discussing the dark circles around his eyes but this is confirmation that commodus is stressed anxious and disturbed his desire to be loved has driven him towards a mad effort to bring about plans that will see the whole of rome honoring him which he imagines will fill the hole in his heart that was left by his father as well as his sister's rejection of his advances this hole is so large that he would dissolve the senate and decry its members as enemies to roam just so he could hoard the adoration of the people the pinnacle at the head of an empire that the entire world would look up to with awe and reverence in a later scene where he's speaking with his sister about gracchus and his treasons we get this line from commodus for the health of rome the senate must be bled this is in line with his plans to dissolve the senate but something to point out here is that though commodus postures and presents himself as the savior of rome the only person's health he's concerned with is his own and anything that he says in favor of keeping his people and his kingdom happy are only said in service to securing his own power and his own happiness the real commodus seems to have had much the same ideas as the fictional one however whether his actions were born out of a perceived neglect is unknown what we do know is that for the first four years of commodus's reign the empire was rather stable and peaceful as comet is preferred to spend his time abusing the luxury at his disposal leaving the day-to-day running of the empire to his advisors and senators whereas his sister in the film rejects his advances it's theorized that in real life his sister actually lusted after her brother and was deeply jealous of commodus marriage and from this jealousy she made a plot to murder her brother one that sent him into the depths of paranoia sending his hedonistic actions towards negligence and cruelty during the remainder of his reign he would host unending games just as our commodus did but he would take it a step further and participate in these games and eventually he declared himself to be the god hercules personified erecting statues to himself throughout the city that depicted him as the mythological god clearly the real communists also had quite the number of issues when it came to desiring attention and it may have been to an even greater degree than his fictional rendition now these games are central to the film version as it's commodus's ticket to achieving his dreams but now let's examine this sport for a moment if two consenting adults decide that they wish to participate in a death sport that involves swordplay that's their prerogative and there's no fault there as far as morality goes however this practice as we see in the film is one that often uses slaves who fight against their will against all manner of warriors and creatures and most of them do so until they meet their end in the arena all for the sake of entertaining others the pomp and the fervor might give these scenes and other depictions of this sport a certain magnificence and grandeur but at the end of the day this is a horrible practice to undertake one that i certainly consider to be quite evil this abuse of human beings that commodus is more than willing to indulge in shows us another component of this man that adds an extra layer of villainy to his character he's not the only one who likes the games and i can't attest to the thoughts of roman society at large or the thoughts of other emperors on this subject as many individuals might have held a negative view of this sport and let it continue for the sake of tradition and entertainment for the population but in commodus his fascination with the arena is morbid as he's more than willing to pit these hapless men and women against one another for the sake of his own amusement the amusement of his people and to win their adoration showing us that this man views his subjects as nothing more than mere playthings that he is well within his rights to toy with commodus feels fairly confident in his position and his plans to transform the empire into a shrine dedicated to himself that is until maximus comes to rome the character of maximus and the events that transpire from this point on are entirely fictional and there's not much to compare to reality here amongst a crowd of onlookers commodus receives perhaps the biggest obstacle to his machinations outside the senate a ghost that's come back to haunt him racked with confusion and panic commodus immediately seeks to cut the life from this dilemma however his greatest strength the spectacle he's given his people has turned on him in this moment as the heroic maximus has won the hearts of the crowd a crowd that commodus cannot afford to have turn against him so he lets maximus live for now following this event we see cometus taking his rage out on a bust of his father a scene which highlights something quite important that even though cometus murdered his father this murder was done out of frustration ambition and a feeling of neglect but as with his sister he loved his father and though he hated him for his either real or perceived transgressions at the end of the day all he wanted was to feel the love he had for his father returned to him to show how angry he is at maximus's survival he organizes the execution of the men who found the bodies of the praetorians who maximus killed and while this satisfies his anger it also serves a dual purpose as a test for quintus and his praetorians to prove their loyalty baiting quintus into giving the order to kill communists or his men an incredibly risky decision for commodus to make however quintus decides to let him live and commodus in this moment can feel a little more secure knowing that he still has the loyalty of his praetorians in his ensuing plots to destroy maximus we find him resorting to underhanded tactics in his efforts to have him killed something that commodus is no stranger to pitting maximus against a formidable opponent while tigers come after him is a situation that any lesser man would have perished in however our hero prevails and to show how much of a bitter and utterly disgusting human being commodus is he taunts maximus after his victory with details of his family's death a cruel attempt at breaking maximus that fails just as well as his plot to kill him did now that distinction from maximus hero is one that would be a deciding factor in turning the people of rome against commodus comedus is learning that the people do indeed appreciate an emperor who gives them a show a spectacle to ease their woes but they love and adore a hero one who embodies honor glory humility and mercy a man the people can look up to we find commodus later that night having a meltdown as he realizes this a nightmare in the form of a man who holds all the traits that commodus lacks one that shines brilliantly beneath the shadow of the depraved commodus he wants to kill him but he knows that if he does the mob will turn against him even more than they already have which will undoubtedly be his undoing so commodus with the advice of falco waits for the moment where his enemies will surely reveal themselves a moment that the impatient and deeply troubled commodus has a hard time waiting for his mind stewing with the treason and plots that surround him as the seconds pass him by along with his troubles with maximus comes his thoughts and feelings regarding his sister thoughts that are akin to his so-called concern for the health of rome as though commodus knows that his sister has no romantic feelings for him he still prods at her defenses and in that scene where he's speaking to her about gracchus we get a grossly sensual moment where commodus violates her in a seductive way a violation that conveys to us the intense lust he has hiding behind his gentle caresses commodus as emperor would no doubt have access to nearly any woman he wished to have in the empire and this affection for a woman who's both his blood and wholly uninterested in him is odd that is until you consider how fractured comedis idea of love is and how starved he is of familial bonds commodus lusts after his sister because he is likely genuinely in love with her but this love also comes from that notion that desire for familial love soon enough however he realizes that his desire will never be obtained by way of persuasion as when he discovers his sister's betrayal he knows how far gone that dream is his heart breaking even further sending commodus into an abyss of depravity following this revelation we find commodus finally enacting his revenge against those conspirators who sought to bring about his downfall as we see that he's ordered men to be burnt and poisoned as his praetorians seek out maximus at dawn of the next day we find a victorious commodus overlooking the roman sunrise contemplating whether or not he should grant his sister mercy in a way he does as he spares her life however keeping her living here is a worse faith than death as commodus now has her son held hostage a hostage that will be killed if she dares to defy him or even if she kills herself a hostage in her own right who is now bound to serve her brother providing him with children as his forced lover a position she still defies even as he looms over her threatening everything she loves from here commodus moves to see his victory secured personally desiring the satisfaction of disposing of his enemy with his own hands clad all in white commodus marches to the coliseum to see his prey yet we see that his regalia is not a pure white as his armor is tinged with a decay of age and rust showing us that this finery reflects the decaying soul of a deranged man rotting beneath it of course commodus still wants to have his victory assured and what would be a plan from commodus if it didn't include the underhanded tactics he's known for stabbing maximus in the back before their duel cometh seeks to show the people of rome that the valiant and heroic maximus is no match for the glorious emperor of rome the white beacon of light that guides the people of the empire to glory and prosperity however vanity ambition and cruelty are no match for honor determination and discipline and commodus though he had every advantage at his disposal when dealing with his enemies is ultimately crushed under the weight of his ambition and all of his sins falling to the blade of the man who held within him the humanity that he lacked in reality after his sister's plot to murder him comet has spent many years running his empire into the ground and after many plots and mishaps that we aren't privy to in the film communist meets his end at the hands of his wrestling partner narcissus one who strangles him in his bath ending a 12-year reign that sent the roman empire further into decline but for the commodus in the film at the end of his rather short reign who was this man he was a man who felt sidelined by his father neglected as a son who didn't live up to the expectations of the great emperor one who valued virtues that lay in stark contrast to his fathers deprived of love and then deprived of what he believed to be his birthright he murders the father who he felt had scorned him his entire life killing the man whose love he had yearned for since he was a child ascending to emperor of one of the greatest empires the world had ever seen comedis began implementing his vision for the roman empire one that would see its people live out the glory he believed they craved and deserved a fantasy that ignored the real problems that plagued his empire sending his people down the path of blind adulation of the games and decadence he displayed while the foundations of their lives slowly crumbled beneath their feet during his reign he oversaw the murder and suffering of countless individuals and though he brought much spectacle to his world he offered nothing of substance in return instead choosing to gaze upon his own repugnant reflection rather than turn his eyes to the people who suffered beyond its edges vain cruel greedy and conniving the intense selfishness and ambition of commodus revealed the monster within him a monster whose satisfaction lay in the praise and adulation he felt he was robbed of the desire of which drove him to committing a mass amount of crimes all to satisfy his own ego and though he may have been mistreated as a child to some degree his choices and actions are all his own and all of these things are in concert with his despicable and callous acts of brutality that make this man a barbarically decadent master of evil thank you all for tuning in to this episode of analyzing evil and i hope you've enjoyed what are your thoughts on commodus did i miss anything let me know down below and leave a suggestion for a villain you'd like to see featured in a future episode while you're at it if you liked this video and want to see more like it appearing in your feed click the subscribe button to keep up on the latest episodes and feel free to leave a like while you're at it thank you once again to all of my 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Channel: The Vile Eye

Views: 361,490

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Id: ozEZcbR-rZo

Length: 23min 8sec (1388 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 18 2021

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