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At the same time, narratives (fictional or not) are how we understand the world, its history, its politics, its art, and it's even how we understand our own personal history, and how we reason about events around us, and what might transpire in the future.

It's not really possible to remove ourselves from this fact of being human. We can of course create a narrative about removing ourselves from narratives and experiencing the world directly, but that's not it.



I never thought Gladiator was a historically accurate movie. How could I expect that when I went into the theater to be entertained for 1-2 hours?

I think if someone wants to know more about ancient Rome, it's on them to spend the time learning about it outside of an entertainment venue.


There are things that I expect the authors to take creative license to further the plot. However there are a lot of background things that don't further the plot and so there is no loss to get them right - I'm disappointed in the latter.


> I never thought Gladiator was a historically accurate movie.

Plenty of people do, though. I recall a friend many years ago who genuinely believed “the people ruled Rome” because he heard it in Gladiator. He was an otherwise intelligent, educated person but there was nothing I could say that would dissuade him.


> How could I expect that when I went into the theater to be entertained for 1-2 hours?

Well were you?


Well, that was over 20 years ago. I thought the movie was okay, I didn't hate it or didn't love it.

I'm surprised people are still talking about it today.


Sorry I was referencing a line from the movie.




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