Spartacus: Blood and Sand - Sacramentum Gladiatorum, S01E02

Which is better - fake gratuitous sex and violence as watched on shows like Spartacus, or the real thing which the Romans indulged in at his time? Or, what does it say about our society, in comparison to theirs, that we watch as much of it, but are less involved because it is all fake?

That there are so many shows on right now which remind us that we, like Rome, find ourselves floundering in a society so full of desires and expectations. What has become of community, of family values, of morality? What has become of decent hard work, and pf actually producing something? No wonder we are caught in a recession, and yet, for those who weren't already fighting financial difficulties, what difficulties do we encounter? We are certainly not close to starving to death!

What is it that we do not have? Video games or movies we want to buy, a house that is larger than we need anyway? And entire new wardrobe?

When was the last time that anyone we knew, even one person, found survival to be their priority? We sit, every day, thinking of how we can make money, of how we can get what we want, and of how we can accomplish that without having to do very much ourselves. Crop failure and drought are still a problem for our farmers, and if they happen, then we are annoyed at the higher cost of food, but, in Canada, in the States, there will not be a food shortage.

We aren't sitting idle by as Haiti is in crisis, but we have no idea of what that would be like. How many of us could survive such a thing, how many of us would have a clue what we ought to do?

And then there is an unnamed gladiator, called Spartacus (Andy Whitfield), who wants nothing more than to battle against the difficulties of the elements with his wife at his side. His wife who is a treasure to him, more important than anything, including his own life. He is the hero, our hero, and yet don't we identify far more with the Romans that with him? Certainly, he is suffering an injustice, but were we there, we would not see it. We would consider that he had wronged Glaber (Craig Parker);however, now, enlightened as we are, we would not think it right that his wife suffer for his crimes, nor that he should have to battle to the death because of them.

Still, perhaps the judicial system would not be in such difficulty if our criminals earned us money by fighting to the death in pay-per-view matches, rather than costing us to shelter, feed, and rehabilitate them.

What are your thoughts?