The first movie was historical fiction (if anything they toned down Commodus and his brutality in the movie) but once you do something like make the Emperor black, now it’s complete fiction. And it does matter, otherwise we wouldn’t have issues with white actors playing roles that should go to people of color.
It’s too jarring to my historian heart I think. Like a white as fuck John Wayne playing Genghis Khan
The first movie was historical fiction (if anything they toned down Commodus and his brutality in the movie) but once you do something like make the Emperor black, now it’s complete fiction. And it does matter, otherwise we wouldn’t have issues with white actors playing roles that should go to people of color.
It’s too jarring to my historian heart I think. Like a white as fuck John Wayne playing Genghis Khan