Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus is a play written in the late 1500’s about events that take place in ancient Rome. Julie Taymor’s Titus is a 1999 film about that Shakespearean play about events from ancient Rome. These differences in time in the first performances of the play often led to confusing artistic direction about what era, for example, the costumes would be in. In Taymor’s film, she has a controlled approach to how props, costumes, and especially the backdrops and sets she uses develop through the film. In her adaptation she makes considerations for every detail down to her locations which she specifically chooses to shoot scenes in to enhance the text’s transition to image. The backdrops and sets she chooses for the film use political buildings to contextualize the events of their scenes. By placing the characters of the play in such historically charged spaces only elevated this adaptation of the play when the visual element was added. Taymor specifically connects the introductory scenes from the Colosseum to the Palazzo della Civilta Italiana to achieve several different effects.
The complexity of both backdrops lies in their relationship in the film’s sequencing where one is followed by the other, but both scenes also heavily informs its own scene and the rest of the story. When Titus Andronicus first appears, he is back home in Rome in the Colosseum after a long campaign abroad. This is a startling transition in settings as the viewer follows a single tracking shot from an explosion where a child was playing with his action figures in a modern day kitchen into this archaic space. With this transition, however, Taymor begins to set the tone for the film’s beautiful consideration about the progression of time in its artistic direction. So as Taymor brings the audience into the Colosseum, a type of familiarity washes over them. This is a Shakespearean play set in Rome, the Colosseum is the most famous piece of Roman architecture. There is instant recognition and this grounds the viewer’s understanding of what is and may happen in the play. If there are emperors, gratuitous violence, togas, and armed combat then it will not be surprising. Beyond just the ease of recognition, the Colosseum also foreshadows the events that will unfold in the film.
Historically the Colosseum is an arena for spectacles. It was built for the Roman citizens as entertainment and diversion; to maintain the class distinctions between those who rule, watch, fight, and die; and to flaunt the power of the Roman Empire. Located in the center of ancient Rome’s masterplan, it now serves as a monument to its cultural, recreational, and political program[1] which is exactly the time period and environment that the play takes place in. This rich history explains why Taymor went out of her way to build a mock Colosseum for this scene. There is no feasible way for her to have filmed inside the actual Colosseum and 1999 CGI would have created too fake an atmosphere for the film. Upon close analysis, Taymor’s Colosseum does not feature the original’s seating for up to 80,000 Romans, is missing an entire floor of arches, and is already partially ruined. However, these are irrelevant in terms of the architecture’s ability to add its history and presence to the film’s narrative.
It is only upon close examination of the architecture in the film in additional viewings that these details are noticed. An immense effort is made to recreate the impression of the Colosseum and that is enough for Taymor to convey her intentions with this large scale decision. The Colosseum was used most famously for gladiator duels in which the fighters would dice each other into pieces for the pleasure of several thousand Roman people all in the name of the emperor. Celebrating violence and killing as spectacle is similar to the themes found in Titus Andronicus. One can see how the rape and dismembering of Lavinia, if done to an opposing fighter in the Colosseum would earn the victorious Gladitor glory, fame, and a reputation that would please and entertain even the emperor himself. With 80,000 ancient Romans cheering this atrocity on, it is not a far stretch to imagine a theatre of 1,000 Elizabethan men acting similarly. So as the Colosseum begins to contextualize the impending brutality in the film, Taymor jumps forward in time to 1943, only five miles away, to the Palazzo della Civilta Italiana.
Immediately when the viewer is greeted with the architecture’s flat modern façade a connection is drawn to the Colosseum, visually. Architects Giovanni Guerrini, Ernesto Bruno Lapadula, and Mario Romano intentionally designed this “Square Colosseum”[2] to celebrate the famous building a few miles away as it needed to serve as a symbol for Fascism – the heir to ancient Rome. Its use of floor upon floor of grand arches that form loggias both proportionally and formally refer to the Colosseum’s façade. The packaging of these references into a cube is a nod to the modernist trends of the International style’s use of abstract white material and pure geometries. Additionally, the exact number of arches is a reference to Mussolini himself which manifested in its order of a grid of six rows for ‘Benito’ and nine columns for ‘Mussolini.’ Not only did the building subtly reference the dictator, quotes from a speech of his is also engraved along the top of each of the building’s four sides. Here the audience gets a sense of a visual connection to ancient Rome while also seeing how Italy has evolved from when Titus left Rome to when he returns again to a more modern Rome. The audience is also the main consideration of perspective in the scenes that the Palazzo is shot in.
A majority of the election scene that is shot in front of the Palazzo is from the angle of a spectator in the crowd, looking up towards the ‘Roman Senate’ and their candidates for emperor. The distorted scale of the Palazzo from this angle amplifies the difference in power simply from size alone. This gigantic monolithic block of marble is cold, devoid of any deviation of its perfect grid and order. Typically in the composition of any design, this pure symmetry is only used for subjects of “a dignified or religious nature,”[3] which speaks to the building’s reflection of its political context. Fascism as a system that should be approached and followed similarly to a religion, according to Mussolini and his architects. Through this effect Taymor connects the play to the architecture’s history of class divisions and power structures that existed in ancient Rome and are intentionally perpetuated and modernized in the Palazzo.
If the Palazzo is a modernization of the Colosseum and what it represents then Mussolini’s fate is a modernization of Saturninus’s. Mussolini was removed from power from within. He was voted out of office as prime minister by the Italian Grand Council and the King. In the play, Saturninus and Tamora were tricked and killed by a Titus who had been feigning madness. Both heads of power were removed in similar ways and this helps integrate the architecture into the film even further. The Palazzo, similar to how the Colosseum foreshadowed the play’s violence, also alludes to events that created Fascism in Italy – World War II.
WWII’s violence is unparalleled in modern history. Over 60 million people were killed with over 450,000 in Italy alone.[4] The gruesome meeting between advanced weapons technology and primitive military strategy led to the greatest death tolls the world had ever seen. As the bloodiest Shakespearean play, Titus Andronicus boasts fourteen murders, six body parts cut off, and a graphic rape. However, the film’s connections to WWII do not end at deaths. The insanity that Titus pretended to go through also hints at the shell shock of the soldiers who fought in trenches illustrating the effects of war and senseless violence on the mind. Included in her artistic direction, Taymor’s use of costuming and makeup for characters such as Saturninus also is reminiscent of leaders at the time, in this case Hitler with his dark undercut hair. Not only did setting the scenes of this play in these specific locations in Rome contextualize fictional events using historical architecture, the Palazzo also refers to the moment that instigates the rest of the play’s events, the power struggle between Saturninus and Bassianus.
The brother’s political power struggle sets the stage for the tragedies that follow with black banners flying from the Palazzo’s arches and giant Mao Zedong sized faces of the previous emperor flowing in front of it. This is where political architecture is utilized in the film for a poetic purpose. Th`e Palazzo is meant to be a modern reflection of the Colosseum, both grounded in their political roots which Taymor uses to amplify her play’s use of backdrops. By bringing together such complex connections across different timelines it elevates the use of these historically charged locations to an artistic level beyond average cinematography. History as context for poetry where political architecture builds the foundation for a poetic narrative is an impressive feat to have accomplished in this adaptation. The architecture Julie Taymor selected set the stage for the rest of Shakespeare’s play to be told to audiences who would now be watching actors in digital theatres.
[1] “Facts about the Colosseum,” tribunesandtriumphs.org, 2015
[2] “Fendi’s New Headquarters are a Fascist Icon,” blouinartinfo.com, 2013
[3] “Creative Illustration,” Andrew Loomis 2015, page 42
[4] “By the Numbers: World-Wide Deaths,” nationalww2museum.org
The complexity of both backdrops lies in their relationship in the film’s sequencing where one is followed by the other, but both scenes also heavily informs its own scene and the rest of the story. When Titus Andronicus first appears, he is back home in Rome in the Colosseum after a long campaign abroad. This is a startling transition in settings as the viewer follows a single tracking shot from an explosion where a child was playing with his action figures in a modern day kitchen into this archaic space. With this transition, however, Taymor begins to set the tone for the film’s beautiful consideration about the progression of time in its artistic direction. So as Taymor brings the audience into the Colosseum, a type of familiarity washes over them. This is a Shakespearean play set in Rome, the Colosseum is the most famous piece of Roman architecture. There is instant recognition and this grounds the viewer’s understanding of what is and may happen in the play. If there are emperors, gratuitous violence, togas, and armed combat then it will not be surprising. Beyond just the ease of recognition, the Colosseum also foreshadows the events that will unfold in the film.
Historically the Colosseum is an arena for spectacles. It was built for the Roman citizens as entertainment and diversion; to maintain the class distinctions between those who rule, watch, fight, and die; and to flaunt the power of the Roman Empire. Located in the center of ancient Rome’s masterplan, it now serves as a monument to its cultural, recreational, and political program[1] which is exactly the time period and environment that the play takes place in. This rich history explains why Taymor went out of her way to build a mock Colosseum for this scene. There is no feasible way for her to have filmed inside the actual Colosseum and 1999 CGI would have created too fake an atmosphere for the film. Upon close analysis, Taymor’s Colosseum does not feature the original’s seating for up to 80,000 Romans, is missing an entire floor of arches, and is already partially ruined. However, these are irrelevant in terms of the architecture’s ability to add its history and presence to the film’s narrative.
It is only upon close examination of the architecture in the film in additional viewings that these details are noticed. An immense effort is made to recreate the impression of the Colosseum and that is enough for Taymor to convey her intentions with this large scale decision. The Colosseum was used most famously for gladiator duels in which the fighters would dice each other into pieces for the pleasure of several thousand Roman people all in the name of the emperor. Celebrating violence and killing as spectacle is similar to the themes found in Titus Andronicus. One can see how the rape and dismembering of Lavinia, if done to an opposing fighter in the Colosseum would earn the victorious Gladitor glory, fame, and a reputation that would please and entertain even the emperor himself. With 80,000 ancient Romans cheering this atrocity on, it is not a far stretch to imagine a theatre of 1,000 Elizabethan men acting similarly. So as the Colosseum begins to contextualize the impending brutality in the film, Taymor jumps forward in time to 1943, only five miles away, to the Palazzo della Civilta Italiana.
Immediately when the viewer is greeted with the architecture’s flat modern façade a connection is drawn to the Colosseum, visually. Architects Giovanni Guerrini, Ernesto Bruno Lapadula, and Mario Romano intentionally designed this “Square Colosseum”[2] to celebrate the famous building a few miles away as it needed to serve as a symbol for Fascism – the heir to ancient Rome. Its use of floor upon floor of grand arches that form loggias both proportionally and formally refer to the Colosseum’s façade. The packaging of these references into a cube is a nod to the modernist trends of the International style’s use of abstract white material and pure geometries. Additionally, the exact number of arches is a reference to Mussolini himself which manifested in its order of a grid of six rows for ‘Benito’ and nine columns for ‘Mussolini.’ Not only did the building subtly reference the dictator, quotes from a speech of his is also engraved along the top of each of the building’s four sides. Here the audience gets a sense of a visual connection to ancient Rome while also seeing how Italy has evolved from when Titus left Rome to when he returns again to a more modern Rome. The audience is also the main consideration of perspective in the scenes that the Palazzo is shot in.
A majority of the election scene that is shot in front of the Palazzo is from the angle of a spectator in the crowd, looking up towards the ‘Roman Senate’ and their candidates for emperor. The distorted scale of the Palazzo from this angle amplifies the difference in power simply from size alone. This gigantic monolithic block of marble is cold, devoid of any deviation of its perfect grid and order. Typically in the composition of any design, this pure symmetry is only used for subjects of “a dignified or religious nature,”[3] which speaks to the building’s reflection of its political context. Fascism as a system that should be approached and followed similarly to a religion, according to Mussolini and his architects. Through this effect Taymor connects the play to the architecture’s history of class divisions and power structures that existed in ancient Rome and are intentionally perpetuated and modernized in the Palazzo.
If the Palazzo is a modernization of the Colosseum and what it represents then Mussolini’s fate is a modernization of Saturninus’s. Mussolini was removed from power from within. He was voted out of office as prime minister by the Italian Grand Council and the King. In the play, Saturninus and Tamora were tricked and killed by a Titus who had been feigning madness. Both heads of power were removed in similar ways and this helps integrate the architecture into the film even further. The Palazzo, similar to how the Colosseum foreshadowed the play’s violence, also alludes to events that created Fascism in Italy – World War II.
WWII’s violence is unparalleled in modern history. Over 60 million people were killed with over 450,000 in Italy alone.[4] The gruesome meeting between advanced weapons technology and primitive military strategy led to the greatest death tolls the world had ever seen. As the bloodiest Shakespearean play, Titus Andronicus boasts fourteen murders, six body parts cut off, and a graphic rape. However, the film’s connections to WWII do not end at deaths. The insanity that Titus pretended to go through also hints at the shell shock of the soldiers who fought in trenches illustrating the effects of war and senseless violence on the mind. Included in her artistic direction, Taymor’s use of costuming and makeup for characters such as Saturninus also is reminiscent of leaders at the time, in this case Hitler with his dark undercut hair. Not only did setting the scenes of this play in these specific locations in Rome contextualize fictional events using historical architecture, the Palazzo also refers to the moment that instigates the rest of the play’s events, the power struggle between Saturninus and Bassianus.
The brother’s political power struggle sets the stage for the tragedies that follow with black banners flying from the Palazzo’s arches and giant Mao Zedong sized faces of the previous emperor flowing in front of it. This is where political architecture is utilized in the film for a poetic purpose. Th`e Palazzo is meant to be a modern reflection of the Colosseum, both grounded in their political roots which Taymor uses to amplify her play’s use of backdrops. By bringing together such complex connections across different timelines it elevates the use of these historically charged locations to an artistic level beyond average cinematography. History as context for poetry where political architecture builds the foundation for a poetic narrative is an impressive feat to have accomplished in this adaptation. The architecture Julie Taymor selected set the stage for the rest of Shakespeare’s play to be told to audiences who would now be watching actors in digital theatres.
[1] “Facts about the Colosseum,” tribunesandtriumphs.org, 2015
[2] “Fendi’s New Headquarters are a Fascist Icon,” blouinartinfo.com, 2013
[3] “Creative Illustration,” Andrew Loomis 2015, page 42
[4] “By the Numbers: World-Wide Deaths,” nationalww2museum.org