Slavery is not something that should be objectified for comedic releif. In the past, many men and women have been tortured and harmed through the shackles and control of slavery. This is a concept that should not be toyed with. In this film, the status of being a slave is made fun of constantly. The main character, Pseudolus who happens to be a slave, is the face of comedy in this film. A lot of this comedy contributes to the fact that he is a slave. One specific scene occurs when he is begging for lashes. Pseudolus has broken orders and awaits his punishment. He bends down to kiss his master Domina’s robe. He then goes on to create a spectacle as he begs for mercy. Domina grants him a lashing and Pseudolus jumps in relief, happy with his punishment. Pseudolus is making fun of the abuse that slaves have had to experience in the past.

 

           Not only does he applaud abuse from the dominant power, Pseudolus behaves in a very offensive way. Pseudolus is a slimy and sleazy character. He is constantly trying to deceive and lies frequently. He also behaves like a horny teenager and is known to fondle and drool over women passing by. When he is helping Hero find his true love, he inspects all of the women aggressively with his gaze. He then lies to the Captain and says that Philia is sick with the plague, establishing that he is not afraid of dishonesty. He is a very dramatic character and yelps and cries to get attention. He behaves in a very unintelligent manner which coincidentally, is a common theme for the other slaves depicted in the film.  This film portrays slaves as extremely unintelligent which is very offensive. Just because one is a slave doesn’t mean that they are stupid. A slave is simply a human being that is being oppressed by dominant power and their situation does not influence their intelligence or self worth. In fact, in American history, slaves proved to be very smart. They braided maps into hair to guide others to safety and found many ways to escape their horrible situations. Because this film objectifies slavery in order to be comedic and casts the slaves with very negative characteristics, a very contreversial effect is created. The concept of slavery is not somehting to be made fun of.

             All over the world men and women have fallen into the horrible clutches of slavery and have had their lives ruined. It is not appropritate for slavery to opbjectified for the sole purpose of comedy because slavery is a very serious topic that is not funny in any sense.