In 1985, a movie was made that displayed the attitudes and fears that Americans had of the former Soviet Union. Although the movie had some flaws, it did closely represent the feelings of the era that was depicted. This paper intends to analyze and give the proper credit that this movie and its actors deserve.
East meets West when Rocky takes on a vicious Soviet fighter who literally killed his last opponent! Sylvester Stallone writes, directs, and stars in this war between nations in which the only battle is fought in a boxing ring. Rocky must defend his honor, his friend, and America itself.
Rocky proudly holds the world heavyweight boxing championship, but a new challenger has stepped forward: Drago (Dolph Lundgren), a six-foot four-inch, 261-pound fighter who has the backing of the
Soviet Union. Rocky’s friend, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) fights Drago in an exhibition match, but after Creed’s fatal defeat, Rocky knows he must avenge his friend and beat the Soviet adversary. Rocky’s training regimen takes him to icy
Siberia, where he prepares for a globally-televised match in the heart of Moscow. It’s a powerfully-charged event as Rocky takes on Drago in a heart-pounding fight to the finish.
What makes this movie so great is that it captured our fears and hopes all at the same time. In a way, by watching this movie, we were in our own way fighting against our Russian advisories. As far as the historical accuracy goes, we must remember that this is just a movie. As ...
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
...at he will be able to get through this, which shows the audience the fighter inside.
This boxing match, though he fails to beat Dragline, demonstrates Luke's ability and eagerness to disobey authority. Instead of personally dis...
where a person knows that he is going to lose and still continues to fight.
Conflict is constant. It is everywhere. It exists within one’s own mind, different desires fighting for dominance. It exists outside in nature, different animals fighting for the limited resources available, and it exists in human society, in the courts. It can occur subtly, making small changes that do not register consciously, and it can occur directly and violently, the use of pure strength, whether physical, social, economic, or academic, to assert dominance and achieve one’s goals; this is the use of force. Yet, with the use of force, the user of force is destined to be one day felled by it. “He who lives by the sword will die by the sword.”
“Stalingrad is the scene of the costliest and most stubborn battle in this war. The battle fought there to its desperate finish may turn out to be among the decisive battles in the long history of war…In the scale of its intensity, its destructiveness, and its horror, Stalingrad has no parallel. It engaged the full strength of the two biggest armies in Europe and could fit into no lesser framework than that of a life-and death conflict which encompasses the earth”
The crowd roars with a deafening volume that could awaken the dead from their eternal slumber. He explodes through the doors, the crowd's cheers raise to an even higher decibel, as he sprits up to the ring it appears the only thing running through his veins is pure adrenaline, his muscles bulge as he slides into the ring. He rises to he feet, the crowd is still ecstatic, as he lifts his extended middle finger into the air as he screams, "Give me a HELL YEAH!", and the crowd, including people from all walks of life, answers back, "HELL YEAH!" He once held the Heavy Weight Champion belt of the World Wrestling Federation, making him number one, and he believes, and gets his fans to believe, he is still number one. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is a prime candidate for the nomination of a modern day Anglo-Saxon hero. "Stone Cold's" immense physical strength, his courage, and his loyalty would have any Anglo-Saxon by his side.
It is natural that the significance of events decays with the passage of time, such events remain alive in the history forever for reference of generations ahead. The episodes of events that may be termed as the most significant of the last century is the Cold War that happens to retain any relevancy in modern times. With the death of Soviet union and world turning from bipolar to unipolar shape, the incredible saga of cold war is over but its distressing memories are still alive in the minds of the people around the world as it happened to shape up the destiny of at least a couple of generations in every corner of the world. In particular, the cold war affected every aspect of American life for over 30 years. The foreign policy, political doctrines, economy, education and even the media felt the impact of cold war for a painful amount of time. In that way, the cold war shaped up the lives of entire American nation and they lived a life of uncertainty for more than a quarter century. Before coming back to the subject of impact of cold war on films, it is imperative to understand a brief history of cold war. The origins of the cold war dates back to decade of 1910’s when American felt the scare of communism for the first time. American Skepticism of communism, spearheaded by Soviet Union, as the potential threat to American sponsored ideology of democracy remained consistent for next 20 years and it even aggravated with the usurpation of Josef Stalin's ferocious regime. The apprehensive feelings attributed towards Soviet Union in the mindset of American leadership subsided for a while; rather they took a sharp reversal of policies, as the clouds of Nazi threat appeared on the skies of world politics. With the advent of 2nd world ...
The movie opens just as it ends, the camera pans down to the pavement revealing a sign outside the Barbizon Plaza Theater: “An Evening with Jake LaMotta Tonight 8:30.” The film then cuts to a punched out overweight shot of LaMotta babbling a barely coherent rhyming rant mixing Shakespeare with the infernal jabber of an half illiterate has been boxer. Quickly the scene shifts from backstage of a nightclub to a close up of a younger LaMotta receiving repeated jabs to the face. The bold white title card “Jake La Motta 1941” jumps out against the stark grey images of the match. LaMotta between rounds sits in the corner surrounded by his trainer, manager and cut man giving the impression of lion tamers antagonizing a corned animal by telling him he is “out pointed” and “You’re gonna have to knock him out.” When the fight continues LaMotta crouches like a coiled snake boring his way into a barrage of punches only to explode in a flurry of flashbulbs sending his opponent to the canvas. With a bombardment of hard stuck lefts, LaMotta sends Jimmy Reeves on a return trip to the mat. Again, in the final round a bloody pulverized Reeves lies pinned to the floor only to be saved by the bell after the count reaches nine. LaMotta then proceeds to strut around the ring proudly wearing a leopard skin robe with hands held high w...
---- Two fighters and a boxing ring, the cheers of the crowd, and the contest of skill determining the outermost limits of the human mind and body; this is a story- a "condensed drama without words" the extended metaphor of On Boxing. Anything can happen in this "story" from death to undeniable victory, and it all takes place in the ring-the setting, explained through the interchanging of blows-the dialogue, and written by "the authority of Time".
As I examined the Cold War, interesting stories and facts appeared that fascinate our minds with wonders about what it was like back then. But, by pulling out three main points, I was able to understand the basics of the Cold War and get an insight into what really happened and how it affects the world that we live in today.
"Real Warriors." Real Warriors, Real Battle, Real Strength. N.p., 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 28 Apr.
Alder, Peter. "Stalin: Man of Steel." Prod. Guido Knopp. Dir. Oliver Halmburger. Perf. Ed Herrman. The History Channel, 2003. Videocassette. Youtube. 15 Mar. 2013. Web. 12 May 2015.
“But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!” ("Samplage (beta) It Ain't about How Hard You Hit"). Sylvester Stallone created one of the most memorable underdogs known to anyone who has been against the odds; the Italian Stallion himself, Rocky Balboa. Throughout his complex career, Sylvester Stallone has faced many hardships but has always seemed to find the “Rocky” within himself and win. He is a well-known writer, actor, and most importantly an inspiration. He continues to this day to create characters of unlikely heroes that inadvertently reflect him as a person and ignite motivation in us all.
4. When Napoleon chased away Snowball with his secret weapons is like Stalin's removal of Leon Trotsky in 19...