Evasion and distraction are social controls that can be used by a governing body to hide deficiencies or divert attention from issues that can cause discontent among the population. It is important to distinguish between the two; Distraction refers to anything that can divert the attention of the population from the deficiencies of the government, while escapism refers to specifically taking people’s minds out of the situation they are in, to escape whatever it brings. discontent to their lives. .
Distraction
Distraction was a tool that emperors could use so much to divert attention from current objectionable events. The imminent risk of war increased anxiety within Roman society, the development of gladiator show Both could demonstrate the continued competence of the Rome governing body, even during a crisis (Futrell 2006). Not only the gladiator show distract citizens from contemporary issues, but could also “erase the public memory of political mistakes” in the past (Shelton 1998, p333).
Distraction from war was an obvious connection, however distraction could also be used to keep “the population entertained and not mischievous” (Lewis and Reinhold, 1990, p142). Auguet (1994, p185) added more weight to this point of view by describing gladiator show as “a first-class means of entertaining people.” Grant (1967, p104) also agreed with this concept, exclaiming that the emperors expressed the wish that the “potentially rebellious and dangerous city population” would “have fun”, also adding the idea that this would keep them “calm. “.
As stated above (see Literature Review), the first reported date of the gladiator show I was in 264 AEC and at the time of the First Punic War. The second recorded date of gladiator show it was not until 216 AEC again coinciding with a war year in which the Battle of Cannas took place (Shadrake 2005). This leaves a gap of almost 50 years in which there is no record of gladiator show having taken place in the Roman Empire. It seems too much of a coincidence that these two sets of gladiator show positioned nearly 50 years apart, it simply fell apart in times of conflict. A more likely explanation is that these gladiator shows they were put on to distract people from the confusion of war. Another explanation is that there was gladiator shows that fell within this 50-year gap, but were not particularly noticeable, and increased publicity was generated for these two re-recorded games for the purpose of distracting the masses.
Evasion
Escapism may well be the single most important factor in social control that gladiator shows had about his audience. In contemporary society there are a number of escapisms that are available even to those who do not have large disposable income. Some of the most popular escapisms in modern society, such as television, the Internet, movies, and computer games, were not accessible to the Romans. It is true that they had food, literature and recreational games, but none of them can compare to the control that television and the Internet have in today’s society. This is where the gladiator shows came into play; They provided the audience with a complete distraction from their mundane everyday life. The camaraderie of sitting among your peers, the historical stories told by some of the shows, and the opportunity to wrap yourself in the glory of Rome, provided the ideal escape from the troubles of war, disease, and political unrest that could otherwise have had an impact. most damaging affect on the psychology of the population.
Kyle (2007, p301) stated that those attending gladiator shows, used them to “escape from their deplorable living conditions.” Shelton (1998, p. 334) explains in more detail that political figures expected these deviations to “steer people away from problems like unemployment and food shortages.” According to Shelton (1998, p349) seeing the gladiator shows would allow “people who felt powerless and brutalized” to find “some satisfaction in seeing how they inflict pain on others.”