In this book, Stephen Wylen explores the history of the Jews and emphasizes the parts of Early Judaism that are significant to Christians who want to understand the state of the race during Jesus' life.

For us, the important part of Wylen's book is the chapter titled "Hellenism."  Here he describes the taking over of Judah by the Roman general Pompey.  The highlights circle around Pompey going into the Jerusalem Temple and claiming that the Jews' religion was fake because there was no idol to worship.  The Jews "thought of themselves as citizens, in every way equal," but they didn't participate in "public civil...ceremonies because all of these things were formally dedicatd to the gods of the city."  Wylen says that this fact led to a "constant source of tension between Jews and Gentiles." 

The tension remained in Jesus' time.  Wylen brings forward the stories of the New Testament to illustrate the feelings the Jews and Gentiles had for one another.  In 66-70 AD the Jews failed to rebel and in 115 a "full-scale war broke out between the Jews and Gentiles."  This was under the Roman emperor Trajan who was responsible for the expansion of the Circus Maximus. 

Relating all of this to my question, "How can one scene effect a studio?" we can start by looking at the basics of Ben-Hur.  First off, Judah is a Jew who is friends with a Roman, Messala.  The story starts off with the two being friends, but later Judah Ben-Hur is arrested and Messala, who now has power, makes sure Ben-Hur is casted away.  This follows the history mentioned above and brings the tension between the Jews and Gentiles into our film.  As a side note, Ben-Hur also encounters Jesus--an encounter any Christian would like to see visually through an art form like film.

But back to the tension between Jew and Gentile, being that there was a massive, well-documented war among the two, it would be great for a studio to capitalize on the magnitude of the recorded history.  To do so, a film would have to find a way to dramatize the conflict between its two developed main characters--enter the chariot race.  As noted in other articles in this bibliography, the chariot race in Ben-Hur was the climax of the film. 

So a studio had to decide whether or not to push for an epic scene with grand architecture, massive numbers, intense drama, and a showdown between two former friends who represent two races that historically fought.  While the saying goes, down put all of your eggs in one basket, the success of Ben-Hur in both the stage play (mentioned in the bibliography) and the film was based on whether or not the producers had the guts to go a scene that had a lot of positive qualities going for it.  The only downsides I see, have already been highlighted--time, money, and resources.

 

"This blog consists of items selected from more than 1,000 pages of reports filed by FBI agents watching my grandfather, Manny Cantor, a member of the Communist Party in New Jersey between the years 1932 and 1956. FBI surveillance of his activites began three weeks after Pearl Harbor and continued periodically until his death in 2003. All materials presented as they appear in the FBI files."