Journal Entry for the Week of February 7 to February 11

This week in class we watched the movie "Buried Alive," about the explosion of the infamous mount Vesuvius in Pompeii circa 79 A.D. Although it's not crucial to the plot of the movie, it helps to note that Leonard Nimoy narrated the movie as well.

Prior to the explosion Pompeii was a thriving cultural center, where the residents went about their business under the watchful mountain, blissfully unaware of the looming threat it posed. Without getting too engrossed in the minute details of the explosion, the most captivating part of the movie dealt with the remains uncovered years after and the fascinating details they revealed about the people who died there centuries earlier. Quite accurately described as "phantoms from a long gone civilization" the conditions of the skeletal remains allowed archaeologists to speculate with certain precision about the humans who once lived in ancient Pompeii. For example, a skeleton that showed visible signs of malnutrition and bone deformity was probably that of a beleaguered slave. The movie makes a strong case for how important these skeletal remains were, for they allowed historians access to a civilization long buried (metaphorically and literally) under fire and ash. Entire dwellings could now be explored, and at every step one could see the heavy Greek influences in the dwellings, in the frescoes, the sexual boldness and the bronze statues commemorating great heroes of decades past. The movie certainly allows the audience to bridge the gap between the Roman and Greek civilizations; whether through architectural influence or cultural innovations, we can certainly appreciate how the Romans both welcome and were overwhelmed by the Greek culture. The movie effectively adds a captivating, though admittedly dramatic tone to this synthesis of culture. It also raises the important question of just how intimately the two civilizations overlapped one another? The visibly inspired art and architectural culture of Pompeii is certainly an intriguing starting point to a discussion that warrants more in-depth research and analysis.

On the negative end of things, there are some flaws that hamper the overall narrative. One, and I cannot stress this enough, is that despite his popularity Leonard Nimoy is perhaps not the best choice to direct the narrative of a historical movie. His previous screen persona is virtually larger that the important topic he is covering. The intrigue of the Vesuvius and the charm of Pompeii can never fully disguise the fact that Spock is talking to us; his obvious persona distracts from the subject at hand. Another blatant problem is a bold assumption (as I perceive it) that the movie makes when it's talking about working Roman women. It asserts that "a Roman woman wouldn't want to build a career." While certainly a woman venturing outside the house was unheard of at this time, it's a bit of an overstatement to claim that historians know with psychological certainty the fact that women would've rejected the opportunity. Perhaps there were overwhelming socio-cultural norms and expectations that prevented women from working? Perhaps they thought it would mess up their hair? Whatever their motivations were, petty or large, at best we can simply speculate about them. The physical skeletons offered the explorers abundant tangible information about the residents who died in the explosion; it would be wiser to leave the psychological skeletons buried in this instance.