A3 Rocky "American Dream" Blog - Jimenez, Melanie

Melanie Jimenez

Film Studies

10-22-18

ROCKY AMERICAN DREAM BLOG

The American dream can be defined as the idea that everybody in America should have the opportunity to achieve prosperity and success through their own hard work and determination. The set ideal of the American dream is that regardless of your background socially and economically, you are able to pursue your own version of success in a society where upward mobility is possible for all. America is known for being the country of freedom and equality. Without these qualities that make this country so unique, individuals would not be provided with the opportunities to attain their idea of success. Through this principle, individuals can live their lives to the fullest as they define it. America has grown mostly as a nation of immigrants who turned nothing into something and passed it on for generations to come. Through this dream, people are given the hope that they can pursue their own ideas of happiness, as well as the freedom to accumulate wealth and lead a dignified life.

The film Rocky takes place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and focuses on the struggles and achievements that boxer Rocky Balboa (played by Sylvester Stallone) makes due to the grand and rare opportunity he was given. Balboa begins as a small time boxer trying to make a name of himself, and some cash along the way! As the film continues, Rocky “The Italian Stallion” Balboa was given the opportunity of a lifetime to fight big time boxer Apollo Creed (played by Carl Weathers) for the heavyweight champion title. Creed was searching for a new opponent to fight for the title after his prior opponent got injured. He comes across “The Italian Stallion” and takes liking to his name. Considering Rocky was unknown to the public and an easy target to defeat for the title, Apollo Creed insisted on giving him a chance to go against the best. When contacted, Rocky was unsure of what to do with himself. He was unsteady/doubtful of how things could go down and was uninterested at first. However, Rocky Balboa grew fond of the idea when coming to realization that this was his opportunity to make a name of himself and expand his boxing career.

Rocky worked hard, going through drastic training, in preparation to fight Apollo Creed for the heavyweight champion title. With support and his perseverance, Rocky was ready to fight and prove he could go the distance. When fighting, Apollo Creed was surprised of Rocky’s abilities and no longer thought “The Italian Stallion” was going to be an easy win. In the end of the fight, Apollo is just happy he did not completely lose to an unknown fighter- which would’ve been a negative hit to his reputation. Rocky Balboa is also satisfied with the match. He proved himself of capability to be great and did the best he could. Which was enough of a win for him, resulting in him sparing Creed a rematch and completely defeating him.

Rocky “The Italian Stallion” Balboa is a prime example of the American dream. His strength and determination brought him from nothing to something, rags to riches! The film focuses on his rise to potential, which is what the American dream is all about. He was given an opportunity of a lifetime. With his passion for boxing and his determination to make a name of himself, he took that opportunity and made the best out of it to achieve his wante success. Although Rocky has faced much adversity throughout the film, he still progressed into a better boxer and person overall. He went from being considered a bum to being well known in Philly for his skills.

I personally enjoyed the ending of Rocky. Instead of making it movie magic and giving it an ending that everyone would expect, it portrayed and focused on the struggle he went through. Although he did not win the heavyweight title to be exact, he can still look back and be proud of his success because of the hardship he experienced. Giving Balboa the heavyweight championship win would not have had the “American Dream” reality that it gave off in the film. I believe the movie was successful because others can relate to the struggle behind the success. Rocky portrayed a message that success does not come right away. You may have to face many obstacles, and you may not achieve goals a first time. However, with determination and hunger to succeed, those obstacles will be worth the fight. Balboa ending the fight with a tie shows that he was proud of how far he got because of his determination to prove himself as a good fighter. He may have not won his first fight, but he proved himself to many that he is capable to achieve greatness- which was important to him. He may not be winner of the boxing heavyweight championship, but he is a winner in his own eyes. Nobody can take away his pride over the success achieved. Viewers can take this as a lesson that hard work may not pay off right away; but if you keep striving, you will get where you want to be.

FILMS CITED

Rocky. Dir. John G. Avildsen

Feat Sylvester Stallone (Rocky)

      Talia Shire (Adrian)

      Burgess Meredith (Micky)

      Burt Young (Paulie) and

      Carl Weathers

MGM/VA 1976

A3 The Shining Suspense Blog - Jimenez, Melanie

Melanie Jimenez

Film Studies

11/15/2018

The Shining Blog

The Shining (1980) is a horror suspense film that takes place at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado. Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson) was hired as the winter caretaker of the hotel while it is closed for the season. He took it as an opportunity to cure his writer’s block and brought his wife Wendy (played by Shelley Duvall) and son Danny (played by Danny LLoyd) to live in the hotel for the winter. The movie takes a turn of events when Danny began to experience disturbing paranormal psychic visions, and Jack learns the dark secrets of a previous murder from the last winter caretaker. This causes Jack to unravel into a homicidal maniac who hunts against his own family! Danny having these visions causes him to know ahead of time. The film proceeds to follow Danny and Wendy as they escape their maniac of a father/husband and the effects of suspense throughout the film causes audience to be on edge on what will happen next!

The film shows different elements that help build the suspense of the film. The use of non-diegetic sounds is popular in horror films for having viewers at the edge of their seats waiting to see what’s going to happen. Non-diegetic sounds are known as outside sounds in the film that the characters wouldn’t necessarily hear- their main purpose is to have the audience wonder what the plot is and when is it going to come. Director Stanley Kubrick was big on using sound as an element of building suspense throughout The Shining. For example, viewers can relate to the suspense they felt when Danny was running away from Jack in the maze outside of the hotel. It’s as if I felt my heart come out of my chest from being so scared that Jack would find Danny, and the film would end in the family dying. I can honestly say that the dramatic emphasis created by music playing in the background made my anticipation rise as this scene played out. Every corner Danny took threw me off edge, wondering if Jack will the there ready to murder him. The horrific music in the background puts viewers at the edge of their seats in anticipation as to what will happen next.

    Another way suspense is shown could be the psychic visions that the family has throughout the film. As mentioned before, as the film progresses we notice that Danny experiences these “supernatural”, crazy visions. Viewers may come to conclusion that he had schizophrenia, the mental disorder of having hallucinations that control a person’s ability to think clearly. These hallucinations that Danny had also gave off suspense to people watching. These visions were weird and seemed to have nothing to do with the plot of the film as it progressed. Nothing made sense through Danny’s visions; until Jack goes through his psychotic phases.

Jack begins to go crazy due to the isolation of the hotel and gets similar visions to Danny. Things began to connect when I found out that the previous caretaker of the hotel, a man referred to as Grady, had killed his family, his wife and twin daughters. It clicked for me that the twin girls that Danny kept envisioning throughout the film were the daughters of the previous caretaker. I believe that this was a smart way of building suspense because it made me question, “What does this mean? What does this have to do with anything?”

These visions are a cause of confusion and lead to questions which add to the suspense of what these things do to connect to the big plot twists. Jack’s vision also bring the same questions when he was “talking to” a butler of the Overlook Hotel in the bright red bathroom. Who is this he’s talking to? Is he real or just all in Jack’s head? WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?.. It turns out that this man that he was “conversating with” was a figment of Jack’s imagination. He envisioned the previous caretaker of the Overlook Hotel. This “conversation” could be looked at as Jack’s motive to go on a psychotic downfall and attempt to kill his family.

Although these visions or hallucinations were very confusing and led to many questions both answered and left unanswered throughout the entire film, they all had some sort of connection as to what will happen next. These scenes, along with others that were similar, helped build suspense throughout the film. Even though I am not a big fan horror movies, I really enjoyed this movie because it wasn’t “scary” in a conventional sense, and it always kept me on the edge of my seat, not knowing what to expect. I believe director Kubrick did a great job on displaying suspense throughout the film to help lead up to the plot.

REFERENCES

The Shining. Dir Stanley Kubrick

Feat: Jack Nicholson (Jack Torrance)

        Shelley Duvall (Wendy Torrance)

        Danny Lloyd (Danny)

        Scatman Crothers (Dick Holloran)

Warner Brothers, 1980