According to a rather unpleasant person called Tertullian, gladiatorial fights in ancient Rome drew their origin from funereal ceremonies, whereby wealthy nobles would hold graveside bouts between enslaved people in the hope that the blood spilled would purify the deceased soul. Call it criminal or simply barbarian, it seems that history’s bloodiest entertainment equivalent of today’s America Got Talent started as nothing more than a macabre celebration over a dead body.
Which brings us to advertising and award shows.
For an industry that’s either on its deathbed or, if you’re an optimist, being repeatedly resurrected thanks to a cheap cloning charlatan, the metaphor see
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