Catching Fire: my review

11/30/2013 | LS

[sphinx]

One of the keys in thinking about gladiators is to remember where they came from. Many of the people slaughtered in the arena were condemned criminals. A very few of these might have had a knack for fighting and made a career of it, but for the vast majority, being sentenced to the arena was essentially a straightforward execution. The professionals, however, were a different set.

Most of the professionals were barbarians, probably prisoners of war who somehow escaped summary execution on the battlefield per ancient rules of engagement. Many of these were already professional warriors from warrior cultures. They had been raised to fight and expected, sooner of later, to die in battle. The arena was not the battleground they had sought, but for many of them, fighting was preferable to slavery. So they fought, and a few survived and prospered. Some even continued to fight after they had gained their freedom and were free to walk away.

You referenced Spartacus. We need to remember that Spartacus was not Kirk Douglas. Spartacus and his army could have escaped had they wanted to. They had defeated the initial Roman attempts to catch them and fought their way to northern Italy and the Alpine passes. They were free to go. But they turned back to loot and pillage. It turns out the gladiators were barbarian pillagers to the end.

Of course, there were also plenty of suicides among people condemned to the arena. I've never seen an estimate about how common that might have been. But in the context of the HG/CF movies, the motivational structure of the careers is certainly not unprecedented.

[LS]

Huh? I bet she didn’t even read what he wrote. The burden of proof is on you, I’d say, to show that Collins agrees with the views. People invoke my name as supporting this or that all the time, but a) I don’t follow what they say and b) unless I say it, it doesn’t come form me. I think that’s the case with most authors.

[LS]

Yes, and I think for all its sex and over-the-top blood, the Showtime series “Spartacus” (three seasons under a different subtitle each season) made that clear. I thought it dealt with the criminal element of the gladiators quite well.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Have you seen this?

Incite Your Passion with the Instigator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC8PqBKHrXA

[Little Bill]

I have read your stuff and you have clear agenda. I read all three books before I gave them to my Granddaughter. I don't think she realized that that the story could be read differently by people with a different mind set.

[Chickensoup]

The first film of hers that I saw was Winter’s Bone. Not an upbeat fun film, but it displayed a range of acting not often seen.