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I think you will have to tell me. I don't wish to invest 4:40 in watching what might, for all I know, turn out to be a promotional video. Long ago, I stopped getting sucked in by OPs who presented undescribed videos.
Great video, OP. Thanks for posting it. Initially, I was apprehensive about watching it, but alas I decided to give it a view and I'm very content with having done so. And here is a +rep for you, you fine fellow!
Anyone who enjoys Roman history will find the video entertaining and well done. I don't know anyone who watches Gladiator and takes it as gospel truth, but it was interesting breaking down the inconsistencies in that one scene.
Thanks to those of you who viewed the video and reported back on its contents. It was interesting and worth watching. It brought to mind the Tumbleweed, an introduced species that was unknown in the deserts of the American southwest until nearly the 1900s.
Mystery Science Theater was made possible by these kinds of anomalies from movies that were not much worse than Gladiator.
Thanks to those of you who viewed the video and reported back on its contents. It was interesting and worth watching. It brought to mind the Tumbleweed, an introduced species that was unknown in the deserts of the American southwest until nearly the 1900s.
Mystery Science Theater was made possible by these kinds of anomalies from movies that were not much worse than Gladiator.
FWIW, I do feel that if you are going to post a video link as the subject of a thread, it needs to have some kind of description or opener to the discussion. While content from YouTube is trusted, there is a lot of crap out there. The only reason I watched it was that I happened to have some time to kill and figured why not.
I wouldn't recommend ANYONE click on a posted link (or even what appears to be a youtube video) unless the person has more than a few posts under his or her belt. There are lots of tricks people can use with clickable links - viruses, capturing personal info, etc. 1,000+ posts from OP I would say the link is innoucous.
Mystery Science Theater was made possible by these kinds of anomalies from movies that were not much worse than Gladiator.
Well, not those kinds of anomalies. I know more about Roman history and the Roman world than the average person, but I would not have been able to pick out those specific errors, that fellow has a rare level of expertise. MST3K specialized in the familiar, references that most of the audience gets. I can't see them trying to milk the erronious height of ancient wheat for laughs.
I can do, or come close to doing, what this narrator does if the film's subject matter is WW I aviation. I could not help but note that whenever I have done so, my audience seemed mightily bored, so now I keep those sorts of observations to myself unless asked.
MST3K specialized in the familiar, references that most of the audience gets. I can't see them trying to milk the erronious height of ancient wheat for laughs.
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I have heard, but never confirmed, that the original inspiration for MST3K was a Minnesota high school science teacher, who assigned his students to write papers about why the accomplishments of Superman et.al. would have been scientifically impossible. The principle was in the same ballpark, even though the target audience and nature of the debunkage may have differed.
Gladiator was a horrible horrible film, so he could likely have picked any scene and found problems. What he describes are loosely grouped under the heading of "continuity errors", and movies are rife with them. I think IMDB or some other site has tons of ones that people have noticed and written in.
Some quick thoughts. Major Roman roads were paved with cobblestone and maintained for the easy passage of troops. Dirt road wear is uneven, but stop and consider - an oxen pulled cart (horses weren't commonly used for the task back then) will have the hooves both pressing down the dirt and kicking it up. Cart wheels were narrow and loaded carts heavy. The ruts in the cobblestones of old Roman roads are easily seen, and the ruts ARE more depressed than the center, except where the road has a center drain. Manure in the road center makes a nice bed for grass to grow. Cart wheels don't provide manure and compacted soil doesn't grow things well, especially when the compaction is ongoing. Perhaps the professor never visited a farm? The English bias is also cute. Not every country had divided countrysides like England. A midsized Roman farm was, according to Cato, about 60 acres, which can mean some decent sized fields. However...
Wheat for Rome was more commonly grown on Sardinia and in Africa, with an emphasis on Egypt. Grain growing was less lucrative than olives and vineyards, and famers did not monocrop, but planted a variety of crops. Tall wheat? I'd like to see some cites on that. Egyptians cut a lot of reeds, which can get high. Grasses don't usually get head high even in unkempt fields.
So, what is wrong with the picture? Cultural bias.
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