• Awoo [she/her]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Opinions of the Roman Empire would be vastly different if popular media actually depicted the family or sexuality and gender with any accuracy and without the lens of contemporary conceptions of these topics.

    • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      HBO's Rome did a halfway decent job of it.

      But modern producers typically feel the need to filter ancient civilizations through a modern lense. So you end up with The Token Person Who Breaks The Mold creating the illusion of egalitarianism where none exists. Or you focus so laser-like on the aristocracy that everyone else becomes invisible .

      You rarely get plot arcs that are simply about foreign captives and females family members attempting to navigate life when your status is that of commodity, rather than as another power broker.

      • Awoo [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        That sounds infinitely more compelling as a story to tell than that of the power broker though :/