Britney Spears fights as gladiator in Pepsi commercial

[guy]

This poor woman has suffered quite a bit recently … and in the ancient past:

 

 

[caldrail]

Another stab in the heart of historical accuracy I see. Armoured brasiers? What we have here is modern day sexual fantasy I'm afraid, though it does beg the question what female gladiators appeared as. They were after all assuming what was male roles and categories - there were no seperate female styles that I've ever come across, especially given that female fighters were a rarity. 

Among the ladies we see one equipped as a retiarius (trident and net). She would surely expect to face off against a more heavily armoured female murmillo? That was the usual contest. So why does she not have a right arm and shoulder guard? Why does her opponent not wear armour in the normal fashion? Why are there three contestants? And given that most gladiator classes were bare chested (to allow a clean kill and plenty of blood should the victim fail to defend him/herself adequately), it comes as no suprise that Romans would have found the contests amusing or titillating.

But it isn't just the fighters. I saw one member of the crowd dressed in a purple robe/toga. Really? Given that the highest order of Roman society, ie the Patricians, were only allowed a broad purple stripe on their clothes one wonders who this chap was and why he was so incredibly wealthy that he can dress in a higher fashion than the presiding emperor, and why such a person would be sat among the plebs? Of course he's just an extra dressed in whatever was available and vaguely romanesque, but the problem with this sort of thing is that it causes perceptual issues in Roman history to persist.

Pepsi just want to sell more cans (no doubt because I just got made redundant and can no longer access the works vending machines) and so pust scantily clad ladies in front of a crowd with symbols of virility. All a matter of context you see. Now if you'll excuse me, I wish to study this advert more closely

[guy]

2 hours ago, caldrail said:

Another stab in the heart of historical accuracy I see. Armoured brasiers? What we have here is modern day sexual fantasy I'm afraid, though it does beg the question what female gladiators appeared as

Of course, this commercial is a warped Hollywood production. That said, the idea of a topless (or semi-topless) female gladiator might be more than some prurient adolescent boy’s fantasy.

There is a controversy whether this statue is merely a female using a strigil to scrape herself or a female gladiator holding a weapon known as a sica.

https://rogueclassicism.com/2012/04/18/female-gladiator-statue-skepticism/amp/

 

Interestingly, two of the members from the group Queen were in the video: Brian May (guitar) and Roger Taylor (drums).

[caldrail]

About the sica? My first thought when I saw the photo above was that it looked nothing like a sword, but of course, neither do the weapons held by many toy warriors today. I note the handle is definitely swordlike, whereas a strigil is a mundane implement that would not require so well formed a handle. I'm also drawn to the straps on her left leg, conveniently where a gladiator would have a padded shin (the statue does not - the leg is shown as either naked or close fitting). What puts me off more than anything else is the lack of a helmet, the left handed pose, and the lack of padding on her 'sword' arm.

[guy]

 

I will defer to everyone else about military matters, but it does look suspicious for a weapon (Thracian or Dacian sica).

 

 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sica

Edited August 2, 2021 by guy