Sunrise On The Reaping

#paul mescal

#It's no wonder Paul stopped running shirtless in the park. 🥵

#He said that it's because he didn't want to cause cyclists to have accidents.

#What a considerate man!

If you are feeling good about yourself or situation and then your mood suddenly shifts leaving you feeling insecure, unsure, etc. try to remind yourself that nothing has truly changed but your perception. Your cute outfit did not suddenly become horrid. Your delicious meal did not tranform into a terrible one. Your peers perception of you has not radically transformed over a social misstep. Everything we experience is put through it through our mental filter, and that can convince us that everyone else sees us with the judgement we have for ourselves. Be kind to yourself.

#I just watched La chimera for the first time.

#It is a masterpiece of cinema.

#The cinematography is beautiful.

#I must check out more of Alice Rohrwacher's films.

#Josh O'Connor speaks Italian in the film, which made him even more attractive.

La Chimera (2023) dir. Alice Rohrwacher

The Use of Colour in Gladiator II: Black, Part 1

Once again before I get into it, here's my copy and paste from previous iterations of this: I referred quite a bit to some of my favourite books, The World According to Colour: A Cultural History by James Fox, The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St. Clair, and Emperor of Rome and SPQR by Mary Beard while working on this. I highly recommend all of them! These are definitely not mind blowing ideas here, just stuff that came to me because this movie has given me a severe case of brain rot. If you disagree, that’s cool. If you’ve mentioned any of this before, I love that we’re on the same wavelength. If you think this is ridiculous and I’ve gone off the deep end, you are correct.

Past Colour Posts: White Yellow Purple Brown

Black can be used in Gladiator II to represent exposure.

Black is most obviously associated with darkness, with hiding, with secrets, or evil. It's often the colour we connect with villains, or the "bad guys" in stories.

James Fox writes, "Just as we can only 'feel' a hole by touching the edges around it, so we 'see' black by observing the lightness that surrounds or precedes it. Black, in other words, is made by light" (The World According to Colour, James Fox, pg. 24). When characters wear black in Gladiator II, I argue that they are exposed, either for what they truly are deep inside, or their thoughts and ideas.

The first character we see in black is Geta, at Thraex's party.

One thing that is interesting to me about the twins wearing black is that every time they do so, it is combined with a metallic colour. Geta, with the silver here, and Caracalla with gold. Other characters that wear black do not get that same colour combo, and I'd argue it's because the twins are emperors, with gold and silver being used to represent wealth and power.

Arguably, Geta's outfit here is more silver than it is black. But I think that works well here, because at Thraex's party, Geta draws attention to himself after the fight by standing up, walking around, clapping, yelling out. All eyes are already on him and Caracalla, but he brings them even more attention, even more exposure. This is where the silver comes in. He's an emperor after all. He's flashy, he's important. However, he doesn't anticipate Lucius embarrassing him in front of everyone by reciting the poem. Geta's shortcoming's have been exposed for all to see. He is not the great, scary, imposing emperor he portrays. And this is where the black comes in, his weaknesses and failures peeking out for everyone to see.

Geta also wears black (and silver and gold) in the deleted adoption scene.

Geta and Caracalla ask Lucilla to adopt them, thus securing legitimacy for themselves and connecting them to Marcus Aurelius. Their weakness, their lack of authority, and their tenuous position as emperors is exposed in this scene, and it's a shame it never made it to the final film.

Lucilla also wears a black cloak when she meets with Lucius for the first time and exposes herself as his mother. Her vulnerability is on display, and she is open to hurt. And she is hurt, Lucius isn't receptive, he's angry, he denies her. But her secret is out there, and she speaks it aloud for the first time while wearing black (the blue dress is for another post).

Lucius and Acacius both wear black as well.

It's definitely a practicality thing (as I wrote about in the post on brown), to wear dark colours while in battle, but for the sake of the post, let's look at it again. In the opening of the film, Acacius is wearing dark armour to capture more land for Rome and for the emperors. He is exposing his role as general and conqueror, but he also exposes how he truly feels about it all with the rather sad way he speaks about his actions.

It's fitting that Acacius wears that same armour in his final fight. He is fighting Lucius, who even if we ignore the entire coup plot, is from the place Acacius just raided and captured. This is the first time Lucius and Acacius have spoken or even really been close to each other, and Acacius' actions in the raid are exposed to the very person that was impacted by it.

He is doubly exposed in this fight, as the entire point is that the coup plot has been revealed and his transgressions against the emperors is exposed to the entirety of Rome (or at least, those in the colosseum).

Lucius wears black armour that belonged to Maximus at the end of the movie. The symbolism is pretty obvious, it's a full circle moment here. His true identity is exposed, his birthright is right there for the taking, and he wears his deceased father's armour to defend his mother. The cat is full out of the bag by the time Lucius puts this armour on.

Caracalla also wears black (and gold). The first time is at the second round of games:

This entire scene is super interesting to me, mostly because of Geta. At this point in the movie, Geta is seen as in control, the more stable twin and emperor. However, he is really losing it here. He rubs his gums, he rocks in his seat, and is generally twitchy and fidgety. In other words, he acts the way we are meant to view Caracalla.

Caracalla wearing black and gold here exposes him via Geta. He looks to Geta in this scene for reassurance. He fiddles with his fingers and straightens up in his seat as he looks at Geta. His role as an emperor is on display because Geta is acting so much not like an emperor here. Geta becoming a little unglued shows Caracalla's usual behaviour, but also exposes their lack of control. If Geta is rocking in his seat, where does that leave Caracalla?

This is also the scene where Lucius shoots an arrow into the emperor's box seats. No one is hurt, but it's a direct display of how their roles have impacted everyone in that colosseum, even themselves.

Caracalla also wears black once he is sole emperor.

This is his darkest outfit. We know that he doesn't remember what happened to Geta, nor does he realize the implications or consequences of what is happening. He is ill, he is mad, and while Rome probably already knew that, he doesn't have Geta to hold him back anymore. He full exposes his illness in this scene by naming Dondus as first consul.

He is also out of Geta's shadow. Throughout the film, Geta has been the one to make decisions and to speak for the two of them. Geta holds Caracalla back from gutting Lucilla and Acacius in the night scene (where the darkness of the night exposes the coup). Geta is the one that makes the mercy/no mercy decisions (although he does ask for input the first time around, I'll give him that). Geta is running the show because it is necessary; Caracalla is ill (does Cara even realize he is ill? Debatable). We also know that Geta has been this way their whole lives as mentioned in their final moments together. It was Geta that took the blows from their father to spare Caracalla.

But here, dressed in black and gold, Caracalla is in the driver's seat so to speak. He's the one in control. He's sole emperor. And when you are sole emperor, you also become the sign of the times. There is no one else to shift the blame on to, no twin left to shoulder the consequences for you. Geta protected Caracalla all their lives, till the very end, but he can't protect him anymore. It's all on Caracalla now.

So ends part one. Part two is a piece of absolute brain rot that is related to the idea of exposure but it veered off course so it gets a separate post.

The Use of Colour in Gladiator II: Brown

So once again before I get into it, here's my copy and paste from previous iterations of this: I referred quite a bit to some of my favourite books, The World According to Colour: A Cultural History by James Fox, The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St. Clair, and Emperor of Rome and SPQR by Mary Beard while working on this. I highly recommend all of them! These are definitely not mind blowing ideas here, just stuff that came to me because this movie has given me a severe case of brain rot. If you disagree, that’s cool. If you’ve mentioned any of this before, I love that we’re on the same wavelength. If you think this is ridiculous and I’ve gone off the deep end, you are correct.

Here are past colour posts: White Yellow Purple

This one seems extremely obvious to me and I almost didn't want to do it, but I'm going through all the colours I can and mama didn't raise a quitter. So without further ado: brown can be used to represent humility.

The character we see most often in shades of brown is Lucius. This makes sense, considering his story line. He's been raised outside of the luxury of the palace and the imperial rights he was entitled to, and is risking his neck every time he has to step into the colosseum.

As Kassia St. Clair states, "In an echo of what happened in art, bright, colourfast dyes for cloth, such as scarlet, were difficult and expensive to come by, and therefore remained the preserve of the wealthy and powerful. This left brown for the poor." (The Secret Lives of Colour, Kassia St. Clair, pg. 239).

And so it makes sense for Lucius to don brown hues throughout the film. But it also provides a full circle moment. Lucius is the representation of the hope for Rome. Marcus Aurelius dreamed of a Rome free for her people, and what better way to reflect the people than through the drab clothing of the humble gladiator?

But there are different types of brown. For example:

Before the party scene, Lucius is wearing a sort of olive-ish/khaki brown. "For thousands of years prior to this, warriors had decked themselves out in eye-catching styles to intimidate opponents. Bright colours, such as the red cloaks of Roman legions [...] could make individuals and forces look larger than they really were, and served as easy identification of friend or foe on smoke-filled battlefields." (The Secret Lives of Colour, Kassia St. Clair, pg. pg 241).

Take a look at the colour his opponent is wearing for the fight:

Thraex has dressed his fighter in yellow. And while this is only a fight between two men and not legions, the idea remains the same. Lucius, wearing his khaki colour, comes out on top.

His brown coloured clothing also proves advantageous in the arena.

Now, obviously the way he throws the sand is a call back to Maximus. But, it wouldn't have worked nearly as well as it did if he was wearing a bright colour.

I could continue on for just about every scene with Lucius, as he's wearing some sort of shade of brown, but you get the point. He's the humble, poor, chained gladiator. He's the hope for the Roman people (even if they don't know it), and he's the salt of the earth kind of person that should be in charge of Rome.

There's one more person that uses the colour brown to represent humility.

Ravi is the "good" character in the entire film. He's a former gladiator that freed himself, and offers his medical talent to help others. He offers Lucius a shoulder to lean on, advice, and is the one that sends for troops to be mobilized for Lucius. He's loyal, generous, and kind. It's no surprise he's dressed in brown too.

Watching All Of Us Strangers last night reminded me that I love two Irishmen. Their chemistry in the film was amazing, and I adore their friendship. 💚🤍🧡

#I just finished the game today, and I loved it too.

#The printer sound is so very satisfying.

#There is so much reading involved, but it's worth it.

Have you ever gotten pavlov'd into getting excited when your printer turns on

The moment Paul Mescal became the hottest man on this planet. 🥵

#paul mescal

PAUL MESCAL as LUCIUS Gladiator II dir. Ridley Scott