Mubarrat Choudhury

Spartacus Essay
Stanley Kubricks 1960 classic, Spartacus exemplifies a historical retelling of the story of
a Thracian slave that had led a revolt turned into a major war between the greater powers of the
Roman Republic. Although Kubricks version of the film does accurately portray the story of
Spartacus in general, there are elements that exaggerate the conception of slavery for the purpose
of appealing to an American audience in the 1960s. These exaggerations would include the
contrast between the characterization of the Roman Republic and the slaves in order to parallel
exemplify Americas concept of freedom from the British, as well as the concept of the slave
revolt as a form of sympathy towards communism.
Before delving into the movies exaggerations, it would important to note how it
accurately portrayed Romes concept of slavery, in order to fully understand exactly what was to
be exaggerated. The movie Spartacus begins by introducing a scene in which hundreds of
thousands of slaves are working on excavating a mine. It was understood, that the majority of
Roman slaves were either a runaway or being punished were to be put under such harsh servile
labor. Thus, it makes sense that it is this scene in which the audience is introduced to the
protagonist, Spartacus, who was put under such conditions for biting a Roman guard. When
Spartacus is bought and sent to the gladiator training camp, the audience is then also introduced
to the idea that the conception of a slave is broader than just menial labor. It understood that in
contemporary Roman civilization, although the majority of slaves were employed in either
agricultural or domestic labor, there were slaves that would be educated to serve other roles in
society, such as tutors, doctors, accountants, etc. Particularly portrayed in the movie, it is
understood that slaves were also able to be trained to be gladiators, usually for the entertainment

of prominent statesmen or the wealthy. Lastly, throughout the movie, there is a harsh treatment
of the slaves by those in greater power. Spartacus is either constantly beaten for his in sub
ordinance, humiliated for actions, or treated in such a manner that would strain his will to live.
This accurate portrayal of a clear oppression of people was the required context that was set up
by the filmmakers to properly execute their exaggerations in order to convey the underlying
message of the film. A message that would exemplify Americas conception of freedom and one
that would sympathize with the communist movement.
American history is deeply rooted in the concept of freedom. As Martin M. Winkler
writes in The Holy Cause of Freedom: American Ideals in Spartacus; Freedom and liberty are
quintessential terms for the way Americans have understood themselves and their history since
the days of the American Revolution. The film Spartacus exaggerates both the characterization
of the Romans and the slaves in order to appeal to this deeply rooted self-reflecting
understanding of America. The movie presents Romans not only to be of a part of a ruling class,
much like the colonial British, and the slaves as a working class, much like the American
colonies, but unsubtly does this by attributing the Romans with British accents and the slaves
with American accents. An average American, when watching the film, is bound to sympathize
with Spartacus and the rest of the slaves, because they are representative of an identity that such
American would be a part of. An identity that is surrounded around engaging in freedom and
liberty. Furthermore, it would be important to note that such an exaggeration paints Roman
civilization to be black and white, insofar as the film depicts a society between slaves and a
ruling elite, even though in contemporary Roman civilization, there was a spectrum of citizenry.
But it is to be understood that this simple depiction was key in forming the American/Slave and
British/Roman parallel.

In addition to exaggerating the characterization of Romans and slaves to fit an American

paradigm, the film also exaggerates the slave revolt to sympathize with communist ideals.
Especially since much of the 1960s surrounded around McCarthyism and the Red scare.First, the
film depicts the wealthy in a manner that is unappealing to the audience, such that they are
characters with limited humanity. This is most exemplified in the scene of the fight between
Draba and Spartacus; in which Draba was being compelled to kill Spartacus by the elite, but
refused and instead tried to revolt, and then was therefore killed by Crassus. If the audience were
to sympathize with the slaves because they align with American ideals as aforementioned, and
the film set out characters that were treating the slaves in a matter, the audience would then have
to make the connection that the wealthy were equivalent to being immoral/inhumane.
Furthermore, this exemplification in the film would be a parallel to the Marxist understanding of
class warfare and the oppression of the bourgeoisie, through a system that is exploitative of
slaves. And second, in one of the final scenes in which when the slaves were allowed their lives
in exchange for Spartacus, and instead stood in solidarity with him was an exemplification of the
idea of community. It was an exemplification of the idea that the community would be above
that of the individual, a fundamental value in communist thought. And third, although the slaves
did ultimately lose the war, in the final scene where Spartacus is hung in crucifixion and
approached by Varinia and their son, in which she exclaims that their son will live a life of
freedom, is an analogy to the Marxist thought that communism would be inevitable. That as long
as there exists a system that reaps from oppression, such that of the Roman treatment of slaves,
there will be a response of collectivism, like that of the slave response. Lastly, the most
compelling argument that the exaggeration of the slave revolt was to serve the purpose to
sympathize to communist thought is in the context of the screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. In which

Trumbo was one of the Hollywood Ten, a group of people that consisted of screenwriters,
directors, and producers, who were all suspected and imprisoned for communist sympathy.
Alison Futrell best describes this in her essay, Seeing Red: Spartacus as Domestic Economist, in
which she writes Spartacus thus represented the opportunity to give voice to those who has
been silenced, to show the true grandeur of resistance to systematic oppression. Insofar that
the film itself was written as a sympathy to communism, because it was an act of retribution to
what the government had imposed on Trumbo and a means for the American people, once
watching the film, to them further sympathize as well.
Although the film Spartacus does have elements that properly reflect the conceptions of
slavery in accordance to Roman civilization, the film itself it set up with exaggeration to in both
the characterization of Romans and slaves and the slave revolts in order to further appeal to an
American audience in the 1960s. The film does this by paralleling American historical
understand of freedom to the Roman and slave characters, and as well as sympathizing to
communist ideals as a means of refuting McCarthyism.