The film Rocky is a drama/sport film produced in 1976. Sylvester Stallone wrote the screenplay and starred in the film as the main protagonist, Rocky. John G. Avildsen, known for The Karate Kid Series, directed Rocky. Reputation and ambition are central themes that become evident as the movie progresses. Reputation in the wrestling ring is a major concept in the film, and that reputation requires ambition. This ambition is needed to create a reputation for oneself in the ring, but also to pursue Rocky’s love interest, Adrian Pennino (portrayed by Talia Shire). The film Rocky is about a young man named Rocky Balboa who has had a rough upbringing. He resides in a ghetto neighborhood in Philadelphia and lives in a shabby apartment. Rocky works as a debt collector for a local boss and boxes in his free time. Later in the film, Rocky is offered the opportunity to box a world champion boxer, Apollo Creed (played by Carl Weathers). Rocky begins heavily training in hopes of creating a reputation for himself in the ring, as well as pursuing a relationship with Adrian. Rocky Balboa goes from an unknown fighter to boxing against a world champion in a dramatic representation of the American Dream. …show more content…
As the film progresses, one notices the internal and external conflicts Rocky faces. He must prove his skill to himself, and in the ring against Apollo Creed. The director probably wanted to better illustrate the slum neighborhoods by using dark colors and a rough-grain film stock. I personally fell this movie is an accurate representation of an Italian amateur wrestler trying to make ends meet. The images look darker and they have somewhat of an accent when using slang. When I think about this film, things that come to mind include rough neighborhoods and the American
The economical and societal conditions and their changes during the film had a dramatic affect on the story. The movie starts off with James J. Braddock, in the twenties which was a great economical time, and it shows when he comes home, with a bundle of cash from the boxing match he has just one, to a beautiful house that is filled with nice objects in a nice suburbia neighborhood. This shows the audience the wealth of this time period and how many people could do no wrong and buy whatever they want. During the twenties unemployment was low and the stock market was up. This scene also points out where the Braddock family is now because it all changes in the very next scene. The next scene flashes forward to the thirties during the Depression and the setting changes to a small dim apartment located in the Bronx. During this time Braddock’s kids are not playing with any fancy toys or anything but his daughter has what looked like a home made doll. The significance for the movie to do this is to show the audience the hard times and the living conditions of the Depression. People did not have a lot of money. Braddock gives his meal up to his daughter when she says she is still hungry after she finished hers. He had to give up his...
The story develops in Ciudade de Deus, one of the most dangerous favelas in Rio di Janeiro. Young Rocket narrates the events from his point of view due to the fact that he grew along the increment of violence and as many other kids of his generation became strongly involved in the organized crime gangs. By developing the story from Rocket’s point of view, the director is trying to give the viewers a primary view of someone who grew directly involved with the dangers of living in the favelas. By beginning the film in the scene when the main characters Rocket, Lil Z, and Benny as children witness how the Dynamic Duo begin to commit crimes allows the viewers to first witness the influences of violence that these kids have had since children. The way in which the Dynamic Duo talks with the small children after committing a robbery, truly demonstrates that these children were encouraged to become criminals. For example, after the Dynamic Duo robs the gas truck during the first scene from minute 6 to minute 9 they tell the three kids “This is how you will make money and survive, so watch and learn, and one day you guys will be the ones in charge of this business.”(City of God) The context of this first scene plays an important factor in the violent development of the children. The fact that we are taught all these events by Rocky permits the viewer to experience all kinds of influences these kids received as children. It is important that Rocky narrates the story because we are able to see first-hand the effects that violence had upon these children. It would have been a total difference, if the story would have been told from a foreign person point of view because we would not totally understand how the children get affected by violence. Seeing all the events from Rocky’s eyes allows the director to successfully demonstrate the way in which children
Rocky, a film by John Avildsen, shows Sylvester Stallone while it is dark outside. The streetlights are the only light in the scene. The lighting describes his life at the moment, conflicted and sad. He is a failing boxer that everyone criticizes as a low life. The light outside is used further as the plot progresses. There are scenes in the morning, showing the sunrise which signify a positive progression. The use of these lighting techniques serves to capture the movie’s certainty because it helps to set the mood of the story. This enhances theme as it shows Rocky, an average person, who finally gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to fight for the Heavy Weight title.
The film depicts the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, a predominately Black neighborhood. Mookie, Spike Lee’s character, is employed at the neighborhood’s Italian pizzeria, Sal’s, where he complains of both the lack of Black employees at the restaurant and absence of Black history in the pizzeria. Sal’s features a myriad of photos of Italian-American figures known as the “Wall of FAME”, such as Frank Sinatra, but refused to adorn the wall with a Black-Americans of significance. The climactic scene of the film begins with a confrontation by some of the neighborhood’s youth, specifically Radio Raheem, a large framed well over six feet tall Black male. Raheem carries his trademark boom box into Sal’s in protest of the false “Wall of Fame”, but is called a nigger leading to a physical altercation. As the altercation continues, police officers arrive, disperse the fight, and subdue Raheem by locking him in an unrelenting chokehold. Raheem is killed, setting off a riot in the neighborhood that results in the destruction of Sal’s
In the past few decades, clinical treatment has moved on from biomedical approach to the biopsychosocial approach. Scientists now believe that health of an individual is not merely due to physiological conditions but may also depend on psychological and socio-cultural perspectives(Engel, 1977). The term health psychology was developed by the American Psychological Association to describe health and wellness issues that arise from psychological problems. Health psychology stems from Systems theory, which says that human events such as injury and illness exist within several interconnected systems, such as our peer relationships, childhood experiences, personality and other factors (Schwartz, 1982).
“Raging Bull” (1980) is not a so much a film about boxing but more of a story about a psychotically jealous, sexually insecure borderline homosexual, caged animal of a man, who encourages pain and suffering in his life as almost a form of reparation. Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece of a film drags you down into the seedy filth stenched world of former middleweight boxing champion Jake “The Bronx Bull” LaMotta. Masterfully he paints the picture of a beast whose sole drive is not boxing but an insatiable obsessive jealously over his wife and his fear of his own underling sexuality. The movie broke new ground with its brutal unadulterated no-holds-bard look at the vicious sport of boxing by bringing the camera into the ring, giving the viewer the most realistic, primal, and brutal boxing scenes ever filmed. With blood and sweat spraying, flashbulbs’ bursting at every blow Scorsese gives the common man an invitation into the square circle where only the hardest trained gladiators dare to venture.
Fruitvale Station is based on the true story of a young man named Oscar Grant III, who is murdered due to existing social issues such as racism. The movie displays the young man’s daily activities from waking up and getting his daughter ready for school, taking his girlfriend to work, celebrating his mother’s birthday and finally to the time at which he loses his life due to misjudgment of his character. Majority of the social issues shown throughout the film are based on the character of Oscar Grant. He is a young unemployed African-American man, who has recently been released from prison. Oscar suffers from social issues due to his past and is forced to live with the choices that he made when he was younger.
Rocky deliberately avoided the old time ways … he called it superstition.”(Silko, 51) By showing us how Rocky deliberately avoids the ways of his people, the traditions of his own family, Silko highlights the push for Native Americans to essentially become white. Rocky represents an entire generation that is being told that they need to completely renounce their way of life in order to be accepted by modern society. Part of this acceptance was also promised through participating in World War Two, as shown through the army recruiter “Anyone can fight for America… even you boys. In a time of need anyone can fight for her.”(Silko, 64) Silko uses the recruiter as a voice for opinions in the US, enticing its alienated cultures with a kind of equality. As the audience, we clearly know it is a temporary change, and Silko highlights this by mentioning “In a time of need”, but Rocky, a person already trying to embrace change, sees this as a chance to become equal to the whites. He as well as many others are fooled by the whites into thinking that positive change is happening, ironically, this promise of a better life leads to his fate. In a jungle nowhere near home, participating in a war, having nothing to do with his people, Rocky dies as a white man. By ending Rocky’s life in this way, Silko allows
In Italy, post-World War II, a new film movement emerged amidst the collapse of the Mussolini regime, the desecration of a city and its historical landmarks, changes to social order and significant loss of life. Italian Neorealism embraced the harsh, impoverished and oppressive conditions being experienced by ordinary people trying to return to some normality (Film Reference 2015). Seizing an opportunity to discard popular Hollywood formula movies, directors such as Roberto Rossellini, Vittoria de Sica and Luchinio Visconti shifted focus to ‘lower-class characters and their concerns, using nonprofessional actors, outdoor shooting, (necessarily) very small budgets, and a realist aesthetic’ (Criterion, 2015). While the Italian Neorealism movement faded by the late 1950s, its impact and influence can still be experienced in cinema today.
The film Fight Club (1999), directed by David Fincher, is based off of the novel of the same name written by Chuck Palahniuk. This action packed drama delves into the life of an insomniac caught up in the cyclical mainstream lifestyle many have grown accustomed to. The narrator of this story, Jack, played by Edward Norton, is a pencil pushing desk jockey completely consumed by the frivolous materials he possess, working only to meet this incessant demand of unnecessary things. It is only when the main character meets Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt, is he enlightened to the point of realization that his life offered little to no meaning. Tyler manifests these ideas to Jack through various conversations which shed light on the simplistic way of life he lives and the numerous flaws which exist in their society. They then establish a fight club as a way to break away from societal norm which in turn develops into a terrorist-esque organization set on spreading Tyler’s philosophy of life through violent acts. It is only through a myriad of twists and turns during the film that it finally becomes clear; Tyler is only a figment of the Jack’s imagination, a projection of his inner masculinity. Throughout the entirety of the film, there are many references to the downfalls of living in a consumerist and capitalist society. In our modern world, self-identification of oneself through a consumerist culture has become extremely common. This quintessential flaw in our nation is personified by Fincher’s Fight Club, conveying the apparent atrophy America faces through adherence to this way of life. It is unambiguous that the film attempts to spread the message that co...
Mike Tyson is one of the most celebrated and notorious professional boxers of all time. Once a ferocious and feared fighter in the ring, Tyson is often remembered by what he did outside of the boxing ring during his career. His violent and aggressive outbursts have drawn in the attention of the media and fans around the world. Tyson grew up in an environment that facilitated his learned behavior of violence and aggression towards other people. The behavioral model of development will show how Mike Tyson was conditioned by other people and his life experiences to behave in an abnormal and dysfunctional lifestyle.
We should never be afraid to take challenges if we wanted to achieve our goal and to be successful in life. In the movie, Adonis didn’t want to use “Creed” this name because people will compare him with his father – Apollo Creed, and he was scared that he was not able to make it. Nonetheless, he wanted to built his own legacy by using the name Johnson without relying on the popularity of his father. He was so striving with the burden that not only others gave him, but also the pressure that he gave to himself. After Adonis won Leo in the fight, the news that he’s the descendant of Apollo Creed made him became famous. When Adonis went to support Bianca
“Scarface”, an original gangster film created by Brian De Palma, has captured audience’s attention by remarkable editing shots and the superb use of mise-en-scene. “Scarface”, originally released December 9 of1983, is a drama revolved around the life of Tony Montana who is played by Al Pacino. Tony gets his name by the scar on his face going over his right eye. He was born in Cuba who immigrated to the United State who then starts his life in Florida from the bottom of the drug cartel to soon making his way up to becoming one of the most powerful cocaine cartel leaders in Miami. What made this film so realistic was because at the time, Miami was becoming a huge crime scene to cocaine smuggling and drug wars. According to Answers.com, this time was brutal and the people associated with this lifestyle were known as “Cocaine Cowboys” (par.3). It was a time where it wasn’t unusual to see and hear about drug related deaths. Brian De Palma captured all of this by his utilization of editing style and application of precise mise-en-scene.
Gran Torino focuses on the life of Thao as he tries to live a normal life despite being pressured to join a neighborhood gang. Thao’s family moved to America to live a better life and Thao wants to be successful, but the gang in his neighborhood prevents