A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" is certainly different from "Spartacus" or "Cleopatra", largely due to it being a comedy. In contrast to the strong portrayal of Cleopatra or Varinia, the main women of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" are either ignorant prostitutes (Philia) or cruel and narcissistic nags (Domina).However, I wouldn't exactly call this portrayal entirely sexist. The male stars of the film (Pseudolus, Hero, Senex and Gloriosus) are also portrayed as incredibly flawed characters. Pseudolus is a lying pervert, Hero is an idiot, Senex is an unfaithful husband and Gloriosus is an incredibly cruel and foul tempered Roman. In particular, the scenes of Philia and Hero interacting show that both characters are narcissistic and unintelligent. Philia even sings a song about how her only character trait is being attractive. She can't even count! I attribute the motivation of this portrayal more to a gleeful lampooning of romance stories like Romeo and Juliet than sexism. Like "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", romance stories such as Romeo and Juliet usually have two people madly falling in love right away. While most stories portray these spontaneous romances as positive, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" calls both Hero and Philia idiots for their narcissistic love affair. I also find it difficult to call the characterization of the women sexist when the characters are clearly designed to be self parodies. Philia is the Greek work for fondness and is often used to designate an abnormal love of something, hence its use for words such as pedophilia. By literally naming their character Philia, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" mocks the vapid romance of fictional love stories. The dominating and vain character Domina also holds a hidden joke as "domina" is very similar to dominate or dominant. In the film, Domina clearly holds the reigns in her marriage with Senex (whose name in Latin means "old man"). The constantly abused and stressful character Hysterium has a name very similar to the word hysteria and the overly intense Roman captain Gloriosus has a name that is only one extra letter removed from glorious. The young character Hero is literally named hero. Literally naming the main character "hero" is a clear mockery of the hero trope in fiction. Even the overly sexual dancing of Lycus's prostitutes can be interpreted as anti-sexist as it shows how much of a pervert Pseudolus is. The mute prostitute that Pseudolus lusts over can also be interpreted as making fun of Pseudolus and sexism due the cruel and pig-headed nature of Pseudolus liking that his wife doesn't talk. Ultimately, if we look at the jokes and characters in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" closely, we can see the true intent and message of the film.