Costumes
An important aspect of the film was the meaning and symbolism behind the character’s costumes. While they weren’t always the most historically accurate, they played an important role of highlighting characters and how they would act in different scenes. Commodus’, Maximus’, and Lucilla’s outfits all helped identify the characters’ traits and roles throughout the film.
Commodus usually wore armor to show his ability to fight or fancier clothing to show his status as a prince and then later as the emperor. In the last fight of the movie, Commodus wears his all white armor (picture 1). White is traditionally the ‘good guy’ color so it symbolized Commodus’ desire to be loved by his people as a hero, the way they loved Maximus. The costume displays the jealousy that Commodus has been feeling towards Maximus since the beginning of the movie. His father selecting Maximus as the heir (despite not even being his son), Lucilla choosing Maximus as the person she feels romantically towards, and then his people picking Maximus to be their hero all led to Commodus’ jealousy boiling over. This is why, in the end, he dresses in all white so he can insert himself into the hero’s role or Maximus’ role in the story. This costume is the epitome of Commodus’ jealousy and hatred of Maximus.
Picture 1
For Maximus, his costumes shifted over the course of the movie to represent his fall from grace as the successful, high-ranking general of the Roman army to an Emperor he trusted, to a mere gladiator and not even a free man. In the opening scenes of the movie he wears ornate armor and heavy furs (picture 2). Then, once he is betrayed by Commodus, Maximus wears a simple tunic. He only wears the tunis until he becomes a gladiator and then wears a little more armor, but still nowhere near as fancy as what he wore in the beginning of the movie (picture 3). His costumes are a representation of his status at that moment in the movie.
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4
As the main and pretty much only female role in the movie, Lucilla’s role is expressed very well through her costumes. She always wore beautiful jewelry which pointed to her high status, similar to Maximus’ armor. As opposed to female characters like Cleopatra from the movie Cleopatra (1963), Lucilla doesn’t weaponize her beauty. This means that her outfits throughout the movie are modest, usually floor length dresses with a fairly high neckline (picture 4). This shows her desire to keep herself almost hidden and it points to her fear of her brother’s advances towards her.
The costumes of Commodus, Maximus, and Lucilla played an important role in highlighting characters and how they would act in different scenes. The meaning and symbolism behind the character’s costumes was very important in this movie. Even though they weren’t always the most historically accurate, the costumes for each character really helped drive home the journeys of each character. Commodus’ devolution into madness, Maximus’ fall and subsequent path to vengeance, and Lucilla’s fears are all expressed through their many outfits.