Rocky's story is very simple. He is a boxer with no culture and no systematic training. Forced by life, he has been helping others to collect debts. He has no proper career and makes a little money. ' was chosen for a high-profile contest. Little people's chance, little people's hope, love, success. How Rocky shows the American Dream, we can analyze it in detail.
The specific connotation of the American Dream, in vernacular, is: freedom and equality, everyone has hope and the opportunity to succeed, as long as you work hard. The social meaning that Rocky symbolizes is the depression of the United States after the Vietnam War, how Hollywood (the country) shows the audience the exciting American dream through a film. American patriarchal society, racial reconciliation, the important role of Italian immigrants in American society, etc., will be told through narrative analysis, character analysis and the secrets hidden in the film.
In American society, an ideology emphasized by the U.S. government is actually consistent with the ideology instilled in the Hollywood commercial film model. The film won the Best Picture Oscar in 1976, and it represents a mainstream ideology that the United States wants to show. The characteristic of new Hollywood films is the shift from genre films to author films. Rocky, a film written, directed and acted by Stallone and produced five sequels of different genres, is a typical author film. At the same time, the ideological core of New Hollywood films is to pay attention to the contradiction between young people and the existing society, such as "Taxi Driver", which is typical of small people and their struggles in society, which is one of the typical films of this period. Similarly, Rocky is also a gangster living at the bottom of the society, and at the same time represents the survival dilemma of countless street gangsters who live in the same environment as him. "Taxi Driver" is also a 1976 film, but the reason why it did not win the best picture is because the "survival dilemma" in it is shown, but the solution presented is not as "American" as "Rocky". , full of hope and positive force, so this recall and appeal for the "American Dream" was what the US government desperately hoped at that time.
narrative analysis
The beginning is the boxing ring, unlike the godfather, which has a half-hour foreshadowing to explain the complex background between the characters, a boxing match, extremely poor financial treatment and social status, enough to show the audience for the first time, the protagonist of the film. What kind of person is he. Those who are familiar with the Hollywood inspirational film routine also know what kind of story this will be next.
Boxing, debt collection, chatting with a girl you like, everyday ordinary and poor life---pursuing a girl, but the process was not smooth, the cabinet in the boxing gym was taken away, and fell to the bottom---the opportunity came, and the girl Together, the reconciliation of the boxing gym owner, hard work and boxing---the final battle.
Such a story of the protagonist falling to the bottom, and then being fortunate enough to redeem himself by chance, is the basic routine of inspirational films, and it is also an energy necessary for the sluggish and depressed social environment in the United States at that time.
What Rocky represents is not himself, but the living conditions of most young people in the United States. Rocky, who was stuck at the bottom, seems to be the United States after the withdrawal of troops from the Vietnam War. Everyone needs a booster to believe in the meaning of hard work and the arrival of opportunities, and to believe that as long as you work hard, you can usher in success.
Character Analysis
What we want to talk about in the character analysis is the relationship between Rocky and his friends, Rocky and the girl, and the relationship between Rocky and the boss and their respective characteristics.
1. Rocky and the Girl
America is a patriarchal society, typically patriarchal. This cannot be weakened, but needs to be strengthened after the demoralizing Vietnam War. So the choice of Rocky's character is very typical and unsurprising. But as for that girl, the diametrically opposed personality, as well as the meaning contained in it and what American society refers to, is very worthy of further investigation. On the one hand, the girl's shy and introverted personality is actually the product of his brother's (male domination) control and repression. On the other hand, her feelings towards Rocky changed from repulsion and resistance to dependence. In the final confrontation, she heard from Rocky. The constant repetition of girls' names is the product of the utter triumph of patriarchy and the triumph of the American idea of the family. The reason why it reflects the strong family concept in American ideology is that while Rocky continued to realize his dream, he obtained his own family, and in the final confrontation, "victory" belongs to the bearer of the American dream. Uncle Sam, and the family really got it, gave countless vulnerable Americans a great, gracious, palpable hope.
2. Rocky and the boxing gym owner
The 1970s was an era known as New Hollywood, where batches of filmmakers alternated between old and new, and it was also two colliding movie concepts. This is also a metaphor in the movie. The boxing gym owner is a preacher in the first half of the film, taking away Rocky's cabinet and repeatedly emphasizing that Rocky is talented but doesn't play well, and eventually he has fallen to this point. This kind of preaching of the old represents a typical preaching of the fathers in American society, and it also implies hope for the young (all people with talent and potential, but they need to work hard to develop). Later, Rocky was selected to compete with the boxing champion. The boss took the initiative to come to the door and hoped to become an agent. He took a dilapidated newspaper and detailed the glorious and bumpy past. How many portrayals of his parents at that time was also the American society before the Vietnam War and the economic crisis. 's portrait. Rocky's insults and disdain are the angry voices of the younger generation. The subsequent reconciliation is not only a reconciliation between Rocky and his boss, but also a testimony of the alternation of old and new Hollywood. Young forces dominate.
3. Rocky & Friends
Rocky represents the main body of the American dream. He is very sincere and righteous to his friends (accepting interviews arranged by friends, and letting friends make money with his name), cherishing dreams and working hard. Friends are the opposite in comparison. He kept asking Rocky to arrange a job for him, being rude to his sister, and using friends. This kind of valued friendship and used friendship, but in fact it was also because of the economic crisis at that time and the psychological trauma after the war. A group of people forced by the social environment is also typical of young Americans. But his friend also lived out his American dream in this story. From sloppy clothes, he finally wore an expensive suit on the court. Although it was not comparable to Rocky's vigorous boxing fight, it was also an obvious success, a kind of money, and a reconciliation with family conflicts.
3. Hidden Secrets
Dai Jinhua has an introduction in the chapter analyzing Forrest Gump in the book Film Criticism. To read the text of the film carefully, we should not only pay attention to what the film shows and emphasize, but also pay attention to what is hidden in the film. Historical representation requires us to analyze texts in relation to their social context. The Vietnam War ended in 1975, and the film was released in 1976, in a period of trauma healing, but there is no direct description of the Vietnam War in the film, but if you look closely, you will find clues about the Vietnam War—the so-called conceal can be interpreted Information.
There is a scene in a friend's house. In front of the sloppy friend, there is a picture of a heroic military uniform on the table, forming a sharp contrast. This contrast has appeared twice. The traces of the Vietnam War are revealed from this, and at the same time, it is sending a signal to the audience that the Vietnam War has completely disastrous effects on young people - singleness, poverty, depression. So far, the social reasons for the friend's rogue behavior and the repeated requests for help from Rocky in the hope of getting a debt collection job have been revealed, and the irony of the great harm caused by the war is also very obvious. Another point, a friend said that he had no problem with cutting off his fingers, but Rocky seemed very "kind" and soft-hearted. Why? war. War makes a man ruthless and loses the last bit of sympathy from "normal" (Rocky).
Another important event in 1976 was the 200th anniversary of the founding of the United States. There are three clues to this historic moment. The first is the equestrian statue of Washington. Washington is known as the founding father of the United States and is especially important for the bicentenary of the nation in 1976, so the statue witnessed two of Lodge's morning exercises. On the first morning run to the statue of Washington on horseback, the camera descends in the direction of the character's running. The statue of Washington looks down at Rocky, forming a posture of oppression and dominance. For the second time, after Rocky experienced a slump and got help, the camera moved up the character. Rocky was on the top step, forming a dominant perspective looking down on the statue. The obvious changes in these two perspectives showed that his inner state changed from Insecure to confident, from dazed efforts to meeting tangible hope.
The second point is that when Rocky entered the final boxing arena, there was a little girl waving an American flag with two numbers 76 on it. Rocky took the flag and waved it, making an implicit emphasis. The last point is a very strong stroke at the end of the film, that is, the champion boxing champion Apollo wears exaggerated riding horses to imitate Washington's shape. He's a black man, but his outfits and his usual way of doing things in the film represent America. The most direct and necessary way for the class represented by Rocky to win is to directly challenge the upper class, and in this contest with "Uncle Sam dressed as Washington", the outcome can be understood as a win-win situation, retaining the ruling class. Dignity, a victory for the bottom people, and a subtle achievement of a kind of racial reconciliation. Not just black people, but "half black" Italian immigrants, with the film's influence, was enough to elevate their status in American society and promote a kind of racial harmony.
The purpose of "Rocky" is to repair the economic crisis and the American dream and patriarchal society in the minds of people after the war. The narrative style of background-trough-rise-climax undoubtedly expresses the values of personal heroism. As a boxer, Rocky also led a fitness boom in the United States after the film was broadcast. His own strong physique and perseverance are also the perfect example of what a patriarchal society needs. The formation of New Hollywood, the restoration of the American Dream formed a perfect alignment in the historical context.
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