Free Movie Review About Are You Not Entertained! Are You Not Entertained! Is This Not Why You Are

In the movie "Gladiator," Maximus goes through many different roles. Through it all, he remains a leader, although in different incarnations.
At the time of this quote, Maximus is ascending the ranks of gladiator fame. Still in the Zanzibar province, he slaughters his way through four other gladiators in casual fashion. To a man of Maximus' martial skill, honed in the Legions, the vaudevillian fight style of the gladiator is no challenge to his compact, efficient technique. At the end of the fight, in a show of disgust, Maximus hurls his gladius at the VIP box of the arena, and then addresses the crowd with the above quote. Instead of turning on him, the crowd cheers him even louder, and his fame grows.
But what roles is Maximus showing in this scene? He obviously isn't a manager or an authority, he has no direct power. Instead, Maximus is showing himself as a charismatic leader. Human society has, throughout history, had such leaders. Sometimes they lead huge movements, sometimes just a small company.
The easiest way to show Maximus as a leader in this scene is as a through his ability. Charismatic leaders often are recognized for their supposed magical or tremendously exceptional abilities. In modern times, this has led to the public lending authority to sports stars, actors, and other celebrities in ways that far outstrip their direct realms of influence. For example, while an accomplished musician, John Lennon had very little education to remark on politics. For Maximus, his ability to slay his enemies in the arena gave him a captive audience, both in the other gladiators and in the viewing audience, that listened to his words, even as he mocked them and showed his contempt for their callous attitude towards death. While he lacked some of the elements of a charismatic leader, such as having agents who would distribute his message to his followers, he did lead not through bureaucratic channels or strict forms of heirarchial command, but rather through His ability to capture the crowd, even in this raw form, is a talent that veteran performers spend their entire careers chasing.
In conjunction with his abilities, Maximus is showing that he is a figurehead. Different from a just a good performer, a figurehead takes on the position of having an iconic or defining role. To paraphrase another movie, in "Batman Begins," R'as Al Guhl advises Bruce Wayne to become a figurehead, an idea, because such figures can outlast the person who was the foundation of the figurehead. This mantra is repeated throughout Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, from various characters. Maximus understood this, and was casting himself as a figure disgusted with the corruption that was Roman society at the time. Earlier in the movie, he explained to Marcus Aurelius that he saw Rome itself as an icon, the light in a dark world, even though he had never been there. His betrayal by the corrupt core of Rome cost him that icon. For the next few scenes, his first as a slave, his internal struggle with this betrayal caused him to form an iron willed opposition to what he saw as wrong in Roman society, Commodus being the most public representation of this (a figurehead in his own right). In this scene, he was expressing his anger, his disgust, and his feelings of betrayal at the corruption of this icon. The people cheered because they understood his position, if only subconsciously. They feel that inner desire to scream against the barbarity and corruption of the society they find themselves in, but know they lack the inner fortitude that Maximus displays with his outburst. By exposing their own corrupted souls to them, and tossing that reflection in their faces, Maximus establishes himself as the incorruptible figurehead.
This leads us to the final evolution of Maximus as a charismatic leader, that of the hero. Of course, throughout most of the movie Maximus is the heroic protagonist of the film. However, his actions here establish him as more than a figurehead, which can be contrived to be either good or evil. A figurehead is iconic, but icons can be held in contempt and vilified. A hero, on the other hand, stands above cheers and boos, above the attention that a figurehead uses for relevance, and is willing to stand alone if need be to do what is right. Ironically, this can often lead to a hero becoming even more powerful, as the hero's image inspires and speaks a purer message. Ghandi was an example of a modern hero for many, for standing above what was expedient and standing up for a pure message about right and wrong. This lent him greater power than if he had engaged in Machiavellian actions to achieve his goal.
In Gladiator, Maximus had just thrown his gladius at the box containing Roman citizens, perhaps a local official, perhaps even the governor of the Zanzibar province. He disregarded clear rules of Roman society, to the point that he could have been killed himself for assaulting a Roman citizen. Yet, he didn't care. He placed himself above the fickle whims of a mob or corrupt bureaucrats, into a heroic status, truly immortal at that point. Later on in the movie, Maximus even disobeys the bloodthirsty cries of the mob, earning the moniker of "Maximus the Merciful," and garnering even more adulation.
Commodus later in Gladiator makes a mistake in stating "only a famous death would do" for Maximus. This failing is just one of a long line that doomed Commodus' reign as Ceasar. As long as Maximus stayed true to his hero calling and the leadership it gave him, it would not have mattered what type of death Maximus had. He could have died in the arena, under the sword of another gladiator or even Commodus himself. He could have perished leading a charge against the Paetorian Guard, at the head of his Felix legions, and still been just as famous. Maximus could have even died of old age afterwards, disappearing from Roman records to go back to his Spanish villa. It didn't matter. Maximus was something that Commodus never was in the movie. He was a leader. In that simple scene which started with a bloodbath, and ended with a disgusted Maximus spitting into the dust of the arena, Maximus set an example of leadership that would longer lasting and more influential than every ploy Commodus tried.