Rocky takes place in 1976 in Philadelphia, a city of declaration and opportunity, a place where someone can find themselves and find success as well. This is what happened to our main character, Rocky Balboa. On the surface, it is a movie of an amateur boxer given a shot to fight the champion, but it is much deeper. It is the story of America, proving victory and success can be found through dedication, discipline, and hard work.
Rocky Balboa is a small time amateur boxer as well as a loan shark. He fights to earn little money but barely makes ends meet. Even though he is working for a loan shark, Rocky is a nice and soft human being. For example, he let go of the guy he was supposed to collect money from. Rocky appears to be a tough man, he is living by himself, a boxer, and the ''muscles'' to the loan sharks. However, he is actually a lonely man. This is shown when he, time after time, tries to talk Adrian.
Everyone calls him a bum, and I believed he was one in the beginning of the movie. In the start, Rocky drinks and smokes on a daily basis, but as the movie progresses he gets rid of his bad habits and starts training seriously even though the whole country was cheering for Apollo Creed, the undisputed heavy weight champion.
Rocky is a dynamic character. The first half of the movie, he was a ''bum'', but the second half focuses on his training and self discovery not only as boxer but a person. He quits his drinking and smoking habits, he starts to date Adrian and the emptiness in his heart was filled, as a result he is confident. Finally, Apollo and Rocky meet in the ring and both fighters respect each other [by the end of the fight; however, this is not true at the onset]. The bell rings, and the fighters greet each other with jabs. Apollo, as usual, is very playful and dancing around the ring, similar to Muhammad Ali. On the other hand, Rocky is very serious and only thinking about putting Creed on the canvas. Apollo Creed, the champion, doesn't think much of Rocky, a local amateur boxer [Yes, good.] and that causes him his first knocked out [he is knocked down, not knocked out] of his career. After the first knock out, the two goes [sic] back and forth exchanging blows rounds after rounds, and finally the 15th round.
Rocky is the only fighter to stand with the champion for 15 rounds, and even when Creed won the match, it seemed as the winner was Balboa. A saying goes, "If a smaller man fights a much bigger man, and the fight ends with a draw, the smaller man wins." Rocky had the odds against him; he was expected to only last three rounds max, but he turned the tables and proved his will power. Rocky is the story of America, and Rocky Balboa is the idea of the American Dream.
Excellent post Dara.
MM
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