Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus” Effecting Modern Movies

It is known that Shakespeare has had an effect on modern day plays and movies, but there are several specific instances where Titus Andronicus seems to be directly related to movies of today. Specifically I want to look at the similarities between Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, and the movie Gladiator.

The biggest similarity is between the main characters, Titus Andronicus and Maximus Decimus Meridius. Both are great leaders of the Roman military (1.1: 25), both we selected to replace the emperor instead of the emperor’s son (1.1: 20-23), and both are at odds with the emperor’s son, who ends up becoming emperor (1.1: 444-455). These similarities seem to suggest that Gladiator was, in part, inspired by Titus Andronicus. At the same time there are major differences in the two characters as well. What other similarities and difference do you see between Titus and Gladiator? How much do you think this specific writing affected the writers of the movie?

With Shakespeare being as well known and popular as he is today I am sure that there are other similarities between Titus Andronicus and other movies. How and where else do you see this play effecting current entertainment? Are there any other characters that you think have affected modern characters?