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What is so romantic about impending disaster? In Hollywood, the combination of budding romance between star-crossed lovers and mass destruction has proven to be dramatic gold. James Cameron’s tale in Titanic of class-defying romance and inevitable heartbreak proved to be not only a huge success at the box office, but among critics as well. Titanic’s acclaim (and its monetary success) was certainly not ignored, and its strategy has been emulated numerous times. Pompeii, the new film from Paul W.S. Anderson (yes, the Resident Evil franchise director), undoubtedly reflects the ‘Jack, Rose, and rich snob’-style love triangle, with a disaster conveniently located to level the playing field and unite the true lovers.
The plot here shouldn’t surprise anyone. There are three main (heavily archetypal) characters: Milo (Harrington, the subjugated but suave slave/gladiator with a soft side for the ladies), Cassia (Browning, the aristocratic young beauty who despises her patrician peers), and Corvus (Sutherlund, the cruel politician with no empathy who wants to take Cassia as his wife). Vesuvius, of course, provides the convenience of destroying the class and social barriers preventing Milo and Cassia from riding off into the sunset. As John noted previously, Carl Smith emphasized how this destruction of barriers often horrified the upper classes, while many common people reveled in the anarchy.
The audience gets two major satisfactions from this kind of storyline. First, the Romeo and Juliet story provides catharsis, as it allows true love to emerge over seemingly insurmountable barriers. Second, the audience witnesses the downfall of corruption and egocentrism (a slave-owning society that values hedonism), exemplified through particular characters, who are often quite wealthy. If everyone thought that Corvus or Cal Hockley were great guys, then the star-crossed romance would have less punch. In other words, the disaster destroys both class superiority as well as the boundaries preventing “true love” from being achieved. Time to grab some popcorn.