Anglo-American culture is marked by a gladiatorial impulse: a deep cultural fascination in watching men fight each other. The gladiator is an archetypal character embodying this impulse and his brand of violent and eroticised masculinity has become a cultural shorthand that signals a transhistorical version of heroic masculinity. Frequently the gladiator or celebrity fighter - from the amphitheatres of Rome to the octagon of the Ultimate Fighting Championships - is used as a way of insisting that a desire to fight, and to watch men fighting, is simply a part of our human nature. This book traces a cultural interest in stories about gladiators through twentieth and twenty-first-century film, television and videogames.

This volume adds to previous historical and political studies about 'Gladiator' with essays about the movie’s relation to pop culture and contemporary discourses. It not only relates 'Gladiator' to traditional cinema aspects such as heroism, music, acting, studio culture, and visual effects, but it also connects the film to sports, religion, and the environment, expanding the ways in which the film can be evaluated by modern audiences. The volume can be read by individuals or in classroom settings, especially as a recommended text for students studying the ancient world in film.

The advent of the internet and the availability of social media and digital downloads have expanded the creation, distribution, and consumption of Black cultural production as never before. At the same time, a new generation of Black public intellectuals who speak to the relationship between race, politics, and popular culture has come into national prominence. The contributors to Are You Entertained? address these trends to consider what culture and blackness mean in the twenty-first century's digital consumer economy. In this collection of essays, interviews, visual art, and an artist statement the contributors examine a range of topics and issues, from music, white consumerism, cartoons, and the rise of Black Twitter to the NBA's dress code, dance, and Moonlight. Analyzing the myriad ways in which people perform, avow, politicize, own, and love blackness, this volume charts the shifting debates in Black popular culture scholarship over the past quarter century while offering new avenues for future scholarship. Contributors. Takiyah Nur Amin, Patricia Hill Collins, Kelly Jo Fulkerson-Dikuua, Simone C. Drake, Dwan K. Henderson, Imani Kai Johnson, Ralina L. Joseph, David J. Leonard, Emily J. Lordi, Nina Angela Mercer, Mark Anthony Neal, H. Ike Okafor-Newsum, Kinohi Nishikawa, Eric Darnell Pritchard, Richard Schur, Tracy Sharpley-Whiting, Vincent Stephens, Lisa B. Thompson, Sheneese Thompson

Swift, brutal and utterly final: with knockouts, there are no grey areas; a KO is a KO. But what actually is a knockout, and why are we so fascinated by it? The Knockout is the most dramatic and devastating moment in sport. There is nothing to rival it: not the last-second goal, not the basket on the buzzer, not the putt that drops on the eighteenth green. In terms of its brutality and finality, it stands alone. It's a bolt of lightning; fascinating and frightening; a shot of pure adrenaline that only the very rarest moments can provide. This book examines what it's like for the people at the centre of that storm. How does it feel to land that ultimate blow? How does it feel to suffer it? The Knockout assesses the impact it has on the fighters and the people close to it and asks what it takes mentally, physically and emotionally for a person to enter into an arena where the stakes are so unimaginably high. Agony and ecstasy, triumph and disaster, hope and despair, self-belief and doubt, The Knockout embraces it all, with interviews and insight from the following boxing insiders and experts: Boxers: Carl Froch, Ricky Hatton, David Haye, Tony Bellew, Amir Khan, Deontay Wilder, Jamie Moore, Matthew Macklin, Johnny Nelson, Anthony Yarde, Scott Welch, Fabio Wardley, Karriss Artingstall, Lauren Price, Spencer Oliver, Anthony Crolla Trainers: Teddy Atlas, Billy Graham, Peter Fury, Dave Coldwell, Joe Gallagher, Mark Seltzer Referees: Kenny Bayless, Marcus McDonnell, Charlie Fitch, Victor Loughlin Promoters: Frank Warren, Eddie Hearn Observers: Steve Bunce, Thomas Hauser, Tris Dixon, Dr Neil Scott, Sara Chenery Part macro, part micro exploration, the narrative will move across the physical, psychological, social and even philosophical aspects of the knockout. With insights from renowned commentators, as well as fighters, their coaches, doctors and family members, this is a complete look at the finishing blow that brings any match to a sudden close, and the repercussions that follow. Featuring extensive coverage of Froch vs Groves II, the epic rematch that saw Carl Froch knock out George Groves with what proved to be the final punch of his career and close the book on their bitter rivalry, The Knockout goes deeper into the phenomenon than ever seen before and explores the idea of male vulnerability and the delicate nature of many boxers, particularly pronounced once they have experienced a knockout.

Say “hell no!” to saying yes to everything with the help of Lean the F*ck Out Just don't do it. From the mental load to the laundry load to the everyday load of BS—you carry it all and then some. You’re killing it at work, cooking super healthy sh*t at home, parenting like it’s an Olympic sport, saving the Earth one paper straw at a time, and still going to bed feeling like you should have done more. Time to join the revolution. Hop off the hamster wheel of endless guilt and responsibilities and start enjoying the kind of calm that would make a Buddhist master blush. Talia Argondezzi's Lean the F*ck Out is a joyful manifesto on the benefits of using shortcuts, delegating like a checked-out boss, failing at things that don’t matter, and claiming your joy. All you have to do is: - Be a B student for once in your perfection-driven life. - Let some things slide. (Really. It’s okay.) - Untangle your self-worth from your achievements. - Make time for that good, good sh*t. - Say goodbye to burnout and feel like yourself again.