Historical representation and director Stanley Kubrick's peplum in the movie "Spartacus”

Abstract

     Talking about historical film includes different ways of bringing past events and facts to the screen (narrative, analytical, quantitative). We can divide historical film into several categories - history as drama/anti-drama, history without characters, history as essay, performance, personal history, oral the explicit approach of postmodernist films reflects the social and political concerns of that era. In fact, film post-production takes us on a journey to the past world on the basis of a written historical convention document or empirical material. When reading a historical work, being in the past created by words is not immediate, as when watching it on the screen. No matter what genre a historical film is, it offers us, the audience, a visual narrative that is closed, finished, In an open and sometimes simple dramaturgical form. Spartacus, the Thracian gladiator, is one of the most famous figures of ancient Rome. Despite the lack of historical sources of this period, it has become popular in modern society. His story has been adapted into novels, movies, and even a ballet.

 The nomadic Thracian even inspired a Pepsi commercial and set the stage for a recent impromptu parody that took place at Starbucks. In the feature film, the director aims for viewers to see Spartacus identify with the gladiators as well as understand the Roman perspective, a supposed balance that favors screenwriter Dalton Trumbo's political goals and Universal's fear of promoting left-wing ideology. Historically, Roman society has often been portrayed as a "society of power and viciousness", but the film's plot is different: "to distance the audience from the Romans and invite that audience to identify with the victims or opponents of Rome". There is only one example in the history of cinema where the Romans are depicted as the enemy. What makes Spartacus unique. It is in the movie Using distancing and identification with American current events to make political comparisons effective and to promote certain ideologies. Especially when considering the context of the film's production, these political statements become even clearer. Historical Context The story of Spartacus begins not with a movie, but with a novel. Our research focuses on two important events - Stanley Kubrick's 1960 film adaptation of Howard Fast's novel of the same name. Our thesis examines the motivations and messages behind the adaptation of the classic story in modern times. In short, does the cinematographic language add to the representation of the history of the past for the audience, so that we can understand the specific historical person, event, facts and situations.