Claudius Maximus - Popular Culture

Popular Culture

After the release of the movie Gladiator sales of the Meditations rose sharply, and as Claudius Maximus is identified only by the name "Maximus" in the very first book of the Meditations, this apparently led some to believe there might have been a connection between the Maximus of the Meditations and the Maximus Decimus Meridius of Gladiator. No documentation appears to back this up however. Rather, the original name of the movie's main character was Narcissus, identifying him with the gladiator who is believed to have ended Emperor Commodus' life. Later versions of the character incorporated other classical historical influences however there seems to be no connection between Claudius Maximus of the Meditations and the Maximus of Gladiator.

Read more about this topic:  Claudius Maximus

Famous quotes containing the words popular culture, popular and/or culture:

    Like other secret lovers, many speak mockingly about popular culture to conceal their passion for it.
    Mason Cooley (b. 1927)

    Parents’ ability to survive a child’s unabating needs, wants, and demands...varies enormously. Some people can give and give....Whether children are good or bad, brilliant or just about normal, enormously popular or born loners, they keep their cool and say just the right thing at all times...even when they are miserable themselves, inexhaustible springs of emotional energy, reserved just for children, keep flowing unabated.
    Stella Chess (20th century)

    The local is a shabby thing. There’s nothing worse than bringing us back down to our own little corner, our own territory, the radiant promiscuity of the face to face. A culture which has taken the risk of the universal, must perish by the universal.
    Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)