3.4 Gladiator

An unknown hand sways against the wheat with amplified diegetic noise of children laughing, signifies his life before being a gladiator. Later in the film we reflect to believe this is Maximums hand as stops before battle to remember his simple family life away and the people he misses. Ridley Scott uses Non diegetic sound and flashbacks to develop our feelings towards characters in the film Gladiator. Non diegetic sound is used to set the films tone, it is the sound edited into a scene. It is used to create drama, suspense or provide an element or surprise. It can also help the viewer to create more of an emotional impact. Ridley Scott has used non diegetic sound during the exposition, where we hear soft soft humming and children laughing. This creates intrigue, suspense and drama. The soft calm music intrigues us as we don’t fully know what is happening in this scene. The children laughing lead us to believe that he has a child close to him or his own child. As the unknown man moves through the crop, there is a sense of knowing in his touch. Ridley Scott projects in this scene a feeling of trust between the figure and audience. That this man is a man of the land and he is connected to nature, wholesome and pure. As an audience this scene makes a feel a sense of trust and loyalty to this man simply through the soft and calmness of this scene. The children’s voices also make the audience feel as if this man is to be trusted as he is near them. The importance of melody in a tragedy can sometimes express more than speech alone can. It can heighten emotion or intensify a scene, melody can also build a character. Melody incites appropriate emotions and develop the audience’s understanding of a scene which can create feelings the audience has towards a certain character, melody may help to bring on catharsis as we feel pity for a character which we may not have felt due to the melody in a scene. An unknown hand sways against the wheat. Ridley Scott uses flashbacks during the exposition of the film Gladiator. Flashbacks is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point in the story. In film, flashbacks depict the subjective experience of a character by showing a memory of a previous event and they are often used to resolve an enigma. Flashbacks are a visual technique and can help the audience understand where the character has come from. Ridley Scott uses flashback in the film Gladiator to create a feeling of trust between the character and the audience. He does this by using flashbacks to help the audience understand the protagonist Maximus more. It helps the audience understand where Maximus has come from or what he may be is upset he left behind. Ridley Scott projects in this scene a feeling of trust between the figure and audience through the use of flashback as the audience feel more connected to Maximus and his past. During Maximus’s flashback scene it leaves us thinking about what kind of life Maximus would have had if he hadn’t left his family behind. The audience feels intrigue and pity towards Maximus as we get a sense of what he has left behind to become a gladiator. 

Connection to the genre of tragedy – 

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