Introduction: "It's a fact, I'm a nobody. But it doesn't matter, you know? Because I kept thinking, it doesn't matter if I lose, even if he breaks my head, because I just want to stick to the end. No one can play the full game with Apollo, and if I can play the full field, when the bell rings, I am still standing on the field, and for the first time in my life I will understand that I am no longer a crappy. ”
When it comes to sports films, the first impression is the fast-paced editing, the bloody competitive scenes and the cheers of the victors. In this kind of film, the author always seems to embody the value of "as long as you do it can become stronger", but often ignores some calm thinking about the irreparable objective differences. In this type of film, the image of the weak can only exist temporarily, they either transform themselves from waste wood to strong in a series of quick cuts, or become the victims of competition and are buried in the audience's consumer cheers to set off the greatness of the strong.
The film Rocky 1, released in 1976, showed the audience the boxing path of a small person. Interestingly, Stallone, as the director, is also the actor of the film's protagonist Rocky, although Stallone was already full of muscles at that time, but inside and outside the film he showed the hardships of "small people".
Stallone became famous for the story of being rejected 1,850 times by 500 companies in the early days of Hollywood. Since then, he has become famous with the "Rocky" series and the "First Blood" series, Rocky and Rambo have become classic screen images that inspire generations of young people, and Stallone himself has become synonymous with blood and inspiration.
Unlike the fast-paced editing and blood-pumping competitive scenes mentioned earlier, Stallone seems determined to tell the story of a loser in Rocky 1, and the loser here is not the loser who eventually counterattacked, but a complete loser in this film. He was born at the bottom, his body was ill, he had no love experience, his record was so dismal that he was almost abandoned by the boxing world, and he could only continue to consume his body to maintain his life in the underground boxing gym. If you talk about the bottom, no film is more low-level than the Philadelphia scene shown in "Rocky 1", the dilapidated buildings, the sirens echoing on the dark and empty roadside, and the groups of depraved young people on street corners singing and drinking around the lit garbage cans, and lighting cigarettes in their hands from time to time, like a beat generation image.
In such a cityscape, Rocky's image has a natural sense of historical pandering, and the gangster's helpers and the blessings of Italian ancestry make this character more low-level. Despite the unsatisfactory life, the kindness of Rocky's nature casts a rustic coat over all the bad labels he has, and in the film he sees the little girl in the neighborhood fooling around with the street youth who will actively pull her out of the group, teach the girl not to say dirty words and not to smoke, and although the response is a middle finger and more ugly insults from the girl, he is still happy to pull the girl out.
As most Hollywood movies emphasize at this time, the light of the American dream also shines on this little person. Heavyweight Boxing Championships attracted much attention because it coincided with the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the founding of the United States, and the original opponent of boxing king Apollo was vacant because he could not participate in the battle, and Apollo, who had a keen sense of business, immediately decided to choose a person among the bottom boxers to carry out the decisive battle of the century. Rocky got the chance because of his nickname "Italian Stallion", and in the face of huge prize money, he chose to accept this game with no chance of winning.
The film also intersperses the emotional line of Rocky and Yardrian under the main line of boxing, which is the same as the underlying nature of Rocky, and Yardrian is also arranged to be a complete loser image in the film, she is not good at communicating with people, older, no emotional experience, she lives with her brother Poly, and suffers from her brother's white eyes on weekdays. Rocky's relationship with Jadrian reflects his soft heart under his fierce exterior. He would take Yardrian to the zoo to see his favorite animals, and take the timid Yardrian to the rink to skate in an attempt to impress her.
The main reason why "Rocky 1" can have a historical status beyond previous sports films is that it dares to break the previous "I can do it" creed and claim that "I can't do it". Rocky's lack of confidence in himself confirmed this, as he knew better than anyone that he could not win the championship tournament between himself and Apollo. Back in boxing itself, the conversation between Rocky and coach Mike is a true portrayal of the injustice he suffered: "You're still talking to me about your heyday, you've at least had your heyday, Mick, what about me?" Where is my heyday? ”
In the face of Mick's belated concern, Rocky roared hysterically, on the one hand, dissatisfied with Mick's neglect of himself for ten years, and on the other hand, unwilling to be inferior to himself. In the end he could only face Mick with a tone of refusal: "Aren't you trying to help me?" Come on, I'm right here, try to help me! This is Rocky, when he is used to being ridiculed, those so-called ideals naturally become meaningless jokes, and what he needs to do is not to win, but to prove that he is not waste.
In the final game, Rocky did not win, of course, everyone expected him to win, but losing is the essence of this film, after all, there are too many bad narratives that can become world champions after a short period of training. Losing the game is only a result, but Rocky's simple, tenacious, and sincere spirit has long penetrated in the process of his training, when he gets up every morning to drink raw eggs, run through the streets of Philadelphia, pass the railroad tracks, parks, rows of small traders and finally climb the high steps and shout, he has become a spiritual monument in the hearts of the audience, the result of the game in the film is more like a plot arrangement to complete the narrative, which is where "Rocky 1" beats previous sports movies. It infects every viewer with the confessions of the weak, telling us that even if it is not the strong, there is a sense of fighting.