GLADIATOR THUMBS DOWN GIF SERIES
The Downvoting Roman series has also spawned some derivatives, including an animated GIF version of Commodus giving a thumbs down, as well as a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic version which was created specifically as a reaction image for the My Little Pony subreddit on December 29th, 2011. As of September 2013, Downvoting Roman has more than 24,000 results on Quickmeme, nearly 1,200 results on Memegenerator and more than 2,000 results on the AdviceAnimal subreddit. Additional instances can also be found on Tumblr, MemeRush and. However, another instance posted the next day received 2735 up votes and 698 points, reaching the frontpage of Reddit.ĭownvoting Roman has also been featured on The Bigster and Slacktory and has a Facebook fan page. The first instance of the image macro was posted to the Advice Animals subreddit on July 6th, 2011 but did not receive any points. After the main character, Maximus Decimus Meridius, defeats his opponent in battle, Emperor Commodus gives a thumbs down in a dramatic gesture of disapproval, thereby requiring Maximus to kill his opponent. I suggest that the Roman period provides a suitable setting for an allegorical critic of present day neoliberal enslavement, highlighting its cruelty by the extreme violence that a historical narrative of Rome can afford.The still photo is from a scene in the 2000 film Gladiator.
GLADIATOR THUMBS DOWN GIF TV
In this paper I propose a critical reading of the Spartacus series in light of neoliberal capitalism and its supportive technology, by comparing its features with the principles of the system and by analyzing its correspondence to the reality TV format. The epic history of Spartacus received numerous adaptations in the last couple of centuries, and in 2010 the Starz Network released their version of the story in the form of a historical television drama series. The reality TV genre became ubiquitous in this modern era of Internet and neoliberalism, and previous publications have identified its roots in neoliberal philosophy. The rise of Internet and smartphone technologies, which saturate the modern individual with a choice among multiple screens for communication, media consumption and information, provided means to further substantialize neoliberal hegemony.
Over the past three decades, neoliberal ideology has become, in practice, the principal sociological philosophy of economics and labor.
The art of storytelling has always corresponded to its period's philosophy, politics, and technology. Reflecting the endpoint of contemporary post-feminist ideologies, Spartacus and Bromans ultimately leave power in the hands of the men. However, this agency is constrained by each series’ narrative trajectory and moral coding and their privileging of monogamous heterosexual relationships.
The female gaze can thus be seen as empowering for women by giving female characters and participants agency in their personal relations. By examining moments of viewing across shows operating within different genre conventions (historical drama and competitive reality) we find that this gaze can be desiring, loving or hostile. Through two twenty-first-century television series showcasing the gladiator body and its female admirers, Spartacus: Blood and Sand (2010) and Bromans (2017), we interrogate the female gaze anew. Across this tradition, female characters view the gladiator body, and have the opportunity to own the gaze, which, since Laura Mulvey’s ‘Visual pleasure and narrative cinema’ has typically been seen as male. Women’s admiration for gladiators was documented by ancient writers, captured by nineteenth-century artists and brought to life by twentieth-century film makers.
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