Escapism and distraction as social control during the Roman Empire
Evasion and distraction are social controls that can be used by a government body to hide deficiencies or divert attention from issues that may cause discontent among the population. It is important to distinguish between the two; distraction refers to anything that can divert the population’s attention from the inadequacies of government, while escapism refers specifically to taking people’s minds out of the situation they find themselves in, to escape from anything that bring discontent into their lives. .
Distraction
Distraction was a tool that emperors could use both to divert attention from current objectionable events. The imminent risk of war heightened anxiety within Roman society, the development of gladiator show it could demonstrate the continuing competence of the Rome governing body, even during a crisis (Futrell 2006). Not only could he gladiator show distract citizens from contemporary problems, but it could also “erase public memory of political mistakes” of the past (Shelton 1998, p333).
The distraction of the war was an obvious connection, however, the distraction could also be used to keep “the population entertained and away from mischief” (Lewis and Reinhold, 1990, p. 142). Auguet (1994, p. 185) added more weight to this view by describing gladiator show as “a first-rate medium for entertaining people”. Grant (1967, p. 104) also agreed with this concept, exclaiming that the emperors expressed a wish that the “potentially ungovernable and dangerous city population” be “enjoyed”, adding the idea that this would keep them “quiet”.
As stated above (see Literature Review), the first reported date of the gladiator show i was at 264 ECB and at the time of the First Punic War. The second recorded date of the gladiator show it wasn’t until 216 ECB coinciding again with a year of war in which the Battle of Cannae took place (Shadrake 2005). This leaves a gap of almost 50 years in which there is no record of any gladiator show have taken place in the Roman Empire. It seems like too much of a coincidence that these two sets of gladiator show placed nearly 50 years apart, they just happened to fall in times of conflict. A more likely explanation is that these gladiator shows they were put on to distract people from the turmoil of war. Another explanation is that there was gladiator shows which fell within this 50-year gap, but weren’t particularly notable, and increased publicity was generated for these two re-recorded games for the purpose of distracting the masses.
Evasion
Escapism could well be the greatest factor of social control that gladiator shows had on his audience. In contemporary society there are a number of escapisms that are available even to those without a large disposable income. Some of the most popular escapism 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 these can be compared to the influence 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 chance to wrap yourself in the glory of Rome, provided the ideal escape from the troubles of war, disease, political instability that might otherwise have had a most detrimental to the psychology of the population.
Kyle (2007, p301) stated that those attending gladiator shows, used them to “escape their deplorable living conditions”. Shelton (1998, p. 334) elaborates further, stating that political figures hoped these diversions would “take problems like unemployment and food shortages out of people’s minds.” According to Shelton (1998, p349) looking at the gladiator shows would allow “people who feel powerless and abused” to find “some satisfaction in seeing pain inflicted on others.”