Maximus, Juba, Hagen, and the other gladiators are all slaves. Lucilla, despite being nominally free, is really a slave to her brother. Proximo is a slave to the whims of the crowds, and the market for gladiatorial combat.
Slavery is all over Gladiator…and not always in the literal sense. Gladiator's about one particular slave, but it's also about the ways in which people are often enslaved by complicated and unfortunate circumstances.
Questions about Slavery
- Even though she's technically free, is Lucilla's life a more wretched form of slavery than the gladiators'?
- To what, if anything, is Commodus enslaved?
- What is this film's verdict about slavery in the Roman Empire? A necessary evil? A deplorable practice?
Chew on This
Everybody is Gladiator is enslaved to one thing or another—politicians to the whims of the people, entertainers to the market for entertainment, and even some, like Lucilla, to their evil siblings.
Power is about commanding an audience, about having influence. This is why Maximus, despite being a slave, is more powerful than Commodus.