ROCKY The Fight of Life

When you think of the marriage between sports and cinema, the boxing-centric Rockyseries surely stands on the top of many viewers’ lists. A film franchise that has been dominating box offices since its humble origins in the mid-1970s, it has found new blood in our modern culture through the new slew of Creedfilms released throughout the decade. With any long running property, the idea of parody definitely enters the fray as writers do their best to increase the thematic stakes while never trying to jump the proverbial shark. It’s a delicate line to be wary of especially for a franchise that has been known to play towards the more gimmicky tropes within the genre. There could be a sound argument made that at a certain point these films were and still are unable to be taken seriously

So on the heels of Creed3which released earlier this year to both critical and audience fanfare, shouldn’t we ask how these stories are still able to produce such successful results? With the star power shifting with each new addition, and the “training montage” sequence of each film nearly becoming a played out formula, one would think these films weren’t worth the hundreds of millions of dollars invested into them, right? But the core themes that stand true within each new film is an earnest lesson that finds a way of connecting with each viewer offering an abundance of hope too tempting to cast these movies away. The Rocky series above all else provides the indomitable story of the fight against life.

Even when inspecting the origins of this Hollywood goliath, one can find that before the household names and flashy studio budgets, the film was an independent project with slim chances of relevancy. The original 1976 Rockywas written in a state of grave desperation and desire. Sylvester Stallone was just another struggling actor looking for his shot to make it big. After bouncing around parts of small roles and background characters, Stallone was nearing his 30s with no signs of achieving the movie stardom that kept him pushing. He was financially at the end of his leash and from an untrained eye it appeared he had wasted his life trying to attain an occupation he was unfit for.

But in 1975, following the Muhammad Ali versus Chuck Wepner fight, Stallone holed himself away for three days and produced the original draft of the Rockyscreenplay. He hoped this would be his ticket into finally accessing the field he spent his entire adult life marching towards.

And throughout his bargaining with each studio trying to get the script pitched, he had only one condition, that he play the lead role in the film. And although it took time and determination, eventually the studio relented and a movie star was born. Rocky(1976) began with a $1 million budget and went on to gross $226 million along with immense critical praise.

The background behind our favorite pieces of media can often demonstrate the themes better than the work itself. It is a clear narrative being told within the themes of every movie in the franchise that points the camera back to the “little guy” and allows their story to be told. It’s easy to see how the public clings so easily to each film because no matter the opponent, director or era, we all are still having our own interpersonal battles in a different ring that these movies motivate us with the mentality on how to take down.

Something the newly crowned Creedfranchise does that separates it from its Rocky Balboa centered origins is focus on the identity side of struggle. Whereas the original character came from nothing and each film highlighted his new challenges with unexpected success, the new trilogy starring Michael B. Jordan as Adonis Creed takes a different approach. It adds more variety into the realistic faults of abandonment, selfdoubt, and real life adversity that brings more emotion out of the audience. More than ever, the boxing matches are simply a built up execution of the literal conflicts stirring inside each character which are incredibly relatable. This isn’t to imply that the films should be taken too seriously or that the film itself even takes itself that serious but there has been more of an emphasis placed on accounting for the psychology of the man behind the gloves. The newer films reflect a young man in constant doubt on whether it was a mistake for him being born and lashes out as constant proof of his existence. And on that path his worthlessness is verified by figures that step in and out of his life. Even on the upswing of his career, his internal proclivity to violence creates a bridge wherein despite his growing age, he is unable to communicate the stressors of his life without violence. These central conflicts along with many more grounded issues present a story not too far disconnected from the issues of your ordinary viewer. The movies portray our issues visualized into a sweat-filled battle royale as to give hope that this fight against life is never ending but also never lost until we throw in the towel.

Creed3marked the ninth installment for the franchise, and there's no sign that this film will be the last. Running a film franchise past its expiration is too common in Hollywood, one need only look at the ongoing sagas for both TheFast&Furiousand Transformersfranchises (which both have upcoming 2023 cinematic releases) to see this exemplified. It would be disingenuous to propose the series has failed to produce any less than quality films. With it now being close to 50 years since the original film, it was bound that some were going to reflect the tropes and downfalls of when they were created. But even in the midst of the big screen flops and missteps still lies the attempt to offer a different perspective on struggle.

Rockywill always be successful to me because there is utterly no limit to the obstacles we all face thus no shortage of inspiration to draw from. Myself and many others anecdotally grew from witnessing those feelings of ineptitude melt away from watching the unconquerable human spirit these movies present. The courage to stand toe to toe with unrelenting forces of life is a muse we as people can never get sick of as long as it's treated with the integrity and sincerity they deserve. So in that sense I believe these lms, just as the main messaging from the series teaches us, will keep going.