Mr. Monahan
Intro to Film Studies
1 October 2018
The ‘American Dream’ is the idea of people coming to America with the goal of having economic prosperity and success, achieved through hard work, determination, and initiative. Many connect the American Dream with immigrants, who usually come here for a better life-- to be free from the threat of war, have religious freedom, or whatever other factor is pushing them from their home country. Many believe that the movies of Rocky and Sugar exhibit the American Dream as films depict the two people trying to be successful through sports.
Rocky is directed by John G. Avildsen and stars Sylvester Stallone as Rocky. He is obviously Italian and probably the child of immigrants. He begins the movie as a low ranking boxer, earning around $40 in one fight. He is lower working class, which is evident by his apartment and the neighborhood he lives in. Though he does do boxing as a job, he also works for a loan shark as a collector, meaning he engages in what one would consider “mafia style work”. He does come off as a tough guy, but throughout the movie one can see him being compassionate. In the film, he walks a foul-mouthed neighborhood girl home and doesn’t break the thumb of a guy who owes his loan shark of a boss money.
Sugar is a film directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden and features Algenis Perez-Soto as Miguel Santos, or Sugar. He is a man from the Dominican Republic who works as a pitcher and dreams of making it to the big leagues. He begins the movie as a pitcher from San Pedro de Macoris, playing at a baseball academy in the Dominican Republic.
Each film really delves into the idea of the American Dream, when each man gets their big break. In Rocky, current Heavyweight Champion of the World Apollo Creed invites Rocky to fight in him in this big important match. This happens because Apollo Creed’s original competitor got injured in training. While scrambling to find another competitor, Apollo Creed thinks that him challenging an underdog boxer would make for an exciting show. Apollo Creed was one of the best, if not the best, boxers of the time and so this was a big deal. In Sugar, Miguel advances to the United States minor leagues and has the chance to come to America. He begins training with the Kansas City Knights and then moves to their suborganization, the Swing. Sugar is a perfect example of the American Dream, a man coming to America for success, through his hard work and determination, despite him not actually making it to the big leagues. Rocky is as well, but in a different way. Despite Rocky working hard as a boxer, he didn’t work hard to be successful. His goal wasn’t to become the best boxer in the world, it was to have boxing be his career. This is one of the main ways that Rocky and Sugar differ.
The way that both men are similar is that both have to adjust their goals. In Rocky, after he had been working towards beating Apollo Creed in the match, Rocky comes to the conclusion that that’s probably not going to happen. He was the heavyweight champion after all. Rocky decides to adjust his goal to lasting the rounds, to lasting all 15 rounds with Creed in the ring. In Sugar, Miguel gets into an injury and sees that there’s more to life than just playing baseball. He does go back to playing, but when Salvador, another pitcher from his past comes from the Dominican Republic and is better than Sugar, he starts to let go of that dream. It’s important to note that them adjusting their goals doesn’t interfere with them achieving the American Dream. Instead, it makes the goal of achieving success more realistic for them. This similarity also helps develop another one of their differences. After changing his goal, Rocky became focused on romance and dating, while Sugar become focused on living life in New York. For a long period of time, Rocky was interested in Adrian, a woman who was the sister of his friend Paulie, and worked in the pet shop that Rocky visited everyday. Eventually Rocky asks her out on a date and their relationship progresses. After Rocky fights Apollo Creed, he begins screaming Adrian’s name and professes his love for her. On the other hand, after Sugar feels threatened by Salvador replacing him, he leaves to New York, like his friend Jorge did. Here he gets a job, meets new friends, and joins a baseball team composed of people who played in the major leagues. He actually enjoys living in New York and is successful there, accomplishing his American Dream to an extent.
The American Dream is the goal of being successful in America and accomplishing that goal through hard work, drive, and motivation. Rocky and Sugar are two films that exhibit the idea of accomplishing one’s American Dream. The main character of each film starts off with a goal, something they plan to accomplish/ do with their life. For Rocky, it was being a decent boxer and proving to those that have doubted him that he did have what it takes to compete with the professionals. For Sugar, it was coming to America and playing in the Major League of Baseball. Though each had to make some adjustments to their goal to make it more realistic and achievable, both men became successful. They didn’t become millionaires in these specific films, but they were able to live decent lives in America through their hard work and initiative.
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