Rocky Balboa Identity Analysis

Rocky Balboa is an important cultural figure. His story is that of the ultimate underdog. He is a small-time boxer who only makes about $40 every two weeks, if he wins, from boxing until he gets a chance to face Apollo Creed for the heavy weight championship. No one expects him to win; in fact, Creed and his people think of it as more of an exhibition match than a serious match. Rocky himself admits that he knows he’s not going to win the championship and only wishes to “go the distance.” (Avildsen). Statements like the previous are very important in realizing how Rocky has formed his identity and how it changes depending on his surroundings. Using Michael Hecht’s definition of identity, “the multilayered ways that individuals […] socially construct themselves” (Hecht and

Choi), the different aspects of Rocky’s own identity can be defined and explored. Rocky’s attitude and sense of self are subtly different with Adrian, his girlfriend, and Paulie, his friend. These differences grow even more pronounced when Rocky is around people in the boxing sphere and the news peoples he encounters, or people he is unfamiliar with in general. It is when Rocky is alone and no one else is there to judge him that Rocky shows his ‘true self’ and all of his insecurities, although he shares some of those insecurities with Adrian. By using Hecht’s communication theory of identity (CTI), these nuances in Rocky Balboa’s identity can be explored and understood.
According to Hecht, there are four layers of identity: personal, enacted, relational, and communal (Hecht and Choi).

While all four layers of identity are constantly influencing Rocky, the layer that influences him the most when interacting with Adrian and Paulie is the relational layer. The relational layer helps identities “emerge in relation to other people” and helps people to “define themselves in terms of those relationships” (Zaytseva). In the case of Rocky, his identity and sense of self are ever evolving with Adrian throughout Rocky. At first, Rocky is incredibly awkward with Adrian because she isn’t at all seeming to be receptive to his ‘charm’ and he has to rehearse what conversations he plans on having with her and what jokes he wants to tell her the night before he goes to the pet shop where she works (Avildsen). As Rocky and Adrian become more comfortable around each other, Rocky becomes more confident and doesn’t have to rehearse talking points for conversations with her anymore. Rocky’s identity is an ongoing process with Adrian (Littlejohn and Foss, The Communication Theory of Identity). Rocky’s identity is influenced by Adrian’s reaction to him and how she engages with

him.
Paulie is an antagonistic character in Rocky’s life who has been there so long that Rocky considers him a friend. Rocky formation of identity in his interactions with Paulie are on the same level of identity as Adrian, but has the opposite effects. Where Adrian helps Rocky have a more positive identity, Paulie influences Rocky to view himself (Rocky) in a more negative manner. As Eura Jung pointed out, “social relations and roles are internalized by individuals as identities through communication” (Jung and Hecht). Paulie constantly berates Rocky and Adrian, telling them that they owe him and basically they are both terrible people (Avildsen). Paulie also points out to Rocky that the interviewers at the press conference are making Rocky “out to be a fool” and that they take “cheap shots”, influencing Rocky to be more concerned than ever that people think he is stupid or that they are judgmental towards him (Avildsen). Jung’s observation is plainly clear in Rocky’s case; Rocky constantly internalizes the things that Paulie says to him and they help to form Rocky’s identity.
Rocky’s public identity is very different from his private identity. As a boxer, Rocky is very humble, although he gives himself a solidly strong exterior. Boxing is Rocky’s true passion and it obvious in the way he focuses on fights that mean nothing to him and wins despite the crowd heckling him, as shown in the opening scene of Rocky (Avildsen). The identity that Rocky has formed in the area in of boxing is strongly influenced by what others say about him, especially his eventual trainer/manager, Mick. Mick is Rocky’s driving force to become a better boxer throughout Rocky, telling Rocky at one point that he could have been great but he “became a leg breaker for some second rate loan shark” and is wasting his life (Avildsen). Because “humans rely on being social” in order to form their identities, it makes sense that right after this scene, Rocky declines to fight Apollo Creed for the championship belt, saying that the reason is that he is a “ham-and-egger […] and it wouldn’t be such a good fight” (Littlejohn and Foss, Communication Theory of Identity), (Avildsen). Although Mick meant for his words to be motivational for Rocky, Rocky took them to be negative because that is what he is used to.
Rocky’s public identity is also influenced by his assumption that people purposefully make fun of him and mean him ill will. Because “much of identity comes from what we learn and grow up with in society”, Rocky has most likely been socialized into thinking that people are judgmental to him because he talks a bit odd and is a bit slow mentally, which has influenced his identity (Brehm). This is displayed in the scene where Rocky is being interviewed at Shamrock Meats and repeatedly insists that the reporter doesn’t “take any cheap shots”, as he perceived the reporter at the press conference with Apollo Creed did (Avildsen).
Rocky’s basic identity is shown when he is by himself. Rocky has the habit of putting up a very good front of manliness when he is around other people, but when he is on his own he is very quiet, caring, and awkward. Rocky’s identity when he is around people is the identity he is ascribed, or what others tell him to be; he is a strong man who is a bruiser and does what other people tell him to (Littlejohn and Foss, The Communication Theory of Identity). Rocky’s personal sense of self, or his subjective identity is the identity described earlier in this paragraph; he’s more reserved and awkward (Littlejohn and Foss, The Communication Theory of Identity). Despite being a boxer, a profession typically associated with volatile men, Rocky tends to avoid confrontation and in several scenes only yells or says his piece after the person he is mad at leaves the room or the scene in general (Avildsen). Whenever Paulie and his sister, Adrian, fight, Rocky stays out of it until he thinks Paulie will hurt Adrian, which shows that a part of Rocky’s identity that formed early on was to stay out of fights unless it could be helped. Another part of Rocky’s subjective identity is his self-doubt. When Rocky gets angry at Mick, he yells to Mick, “I ain’t had no prime. I ain’t had nothing,” after Mick has left the room of course (Avildsen). This scene displays very clearly how poorly Rocky feels about himself, probably due to being exposed to people who cast doubt on his abilities, which affected how he thought about himself.
Rocky’s identity is based on the people he socializes with. With Adrian, Rocky is truly confident and is comfortable, while when he is Paulie, Rocky has much more self-doubt and thinks that he is worse than he really is. Rocky’s public persona is the person he would like to be because that’s what people tell him he should be, which causes him to be very self-conscious. It’s when Rocky is alone and devoid of outside interference he can be the person he sees himself as being, which is a bit awkward and quiet. Rocky’s identity is influenced by who he is with and how he believes they perceive him.