Rocky Movie Racism

Race is and always has been an important topic in the history of the United States. The focus on race and how it affects society came to prominence during the slave trade. Clearly when you have one race claiming superiority over another race, especially to the extent of establishing ownership over one another, it is quite obvious how significant the concept of race really is in American society. Progress was made when the US abolished slavery. The problem is, however, that racism didn’t die when slavery did. The difference being, racism is not clearly laid out in American society today. This doesn’t mean, however, that the new “hidden racism” cannot be seen in our society. One example of this can be seen in the Rocky movie series, starring actor Sylvester Stallone. What can the Rocky series tell us about subtle, underlying racism in post-slavery American society? Turns out this series can tell us quite a bit. See the racism is not clear in the Rocky movies, just as it is not clear in American society. Through different scenes and aspects of these films, one can see the labeling of African Americans as villains or enemies as well as the limited mobility for African Americans in the US today.

The first subtle racist theme that I noticed in the Rocky movies is the labeling of African Americans as villains or enemies to society. In Rocky I, the first installment of the series, this can be seen when you think about the big picture of the storyline. Rocky is introduced as a hardworking, lower class white man with ambition. In this first movie, he ends up fighting an African American man by the name of Apollo Creed. Apollo is shown to be a very flashy guy compared to Rocky, who is shown to be the epitome of humbleness. Th...

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... the color of their skin. This can be seen not only in the Rocky movies, but also in our country’s prison system. Even with studies proving otherwise, incarceration of African American men is very disproportionate. Mobility is also very limited for African Americans in society today. Based on historical events and the subtle disadvantages that African Americans have, it is much more difficult for them to achieve upward mobility when compared to white Americans. Race is something that should not have as much influence as it currently does in our society. The only thing that race should do in this country is make our population more colorful and ethnic. We need to work on domesticating our differences instead of using these differences against certain groups of people. We need justice for all, not just in our laws, but also in the way that we treat each other.