Rocky Balboa

What I Am Analysing In My Text

I will now detail what I am trying to analyse in my text, I am going to eventually write a 3000 word essay on Rocky Balboa, but first I have to detail what is available for me to do.

Rocky
Rocky is a very popular boxing film series which has spanned over 30 years with 6 films. I will mainly focus on the newest of the films known as Rocky Balboa, I will however use context from the earlier films to help explain what I am trying to say.

The newest film is about Rocky being given one chance for a final fight, he’s beloved wife Adrian has sadly passed away and Rocky feels like there is still something left for him to achieve despite being 60. When given the shot he initially declines but ultimately ends up back in the ring for an exhibition match against the current world champion.

When writing a 3000 word essay I will need to analyse the text deeply, I already have a lot of ideas to go by such as the representation and ideology of Rocky.

Representation
When looking at the representation I should look at Rocky as the underdog boxer, I will need to refer back to the first Rocky to help explain how he was first seen as the underdog and how he has once again become the underdog in the new film. I will have to mention how America is the land of opportunity; I will also need to look at how Rocky shows masculinity is shown in the film.

Ideology
Ideology will be an important part of what I will try and include in my essay, with ideology I will need to look at how America is the ‘’best’’ how good always triumphs and how in the new film Rocky is to fight again despite being too old to some people.

Genre
I might look into the mixed genre of the Rocky series; Rocky mainly covers the action drama but also in earlier films romance. I will have to then describe the genres how they are shown and how they appeal to a wider audience.

Audience and audience pleasures
When looking at what audience Rocky attracts, I will need to look back at the genre of the film, other than this I will need to check what makes the film pleasurable to the audience, for example the soundtrack which is very memorable.

Stereotypes
Are their stereotypes in Rocky? I will have to look back on earlier films as well as the newest of the series to analyse the characters and decide wither there are stereotype characters in Rocky.

Racism
Is Rocky racist? After reading through my research I have read that there may be a racial element to the Rocky films for instance he tend to fight black people and he fight a Russian in one of the later films which was just after the cold war.

Rocky Balboa website