Rocky (1976 Film) Literary Elements

Rocky (1976 Film) Literary Elements

Director

John G. Avildsen

Leading Actors/Actresses

Sylvester Stallone

Supporting Actors/Actresses

Talia Shire, Burgess Meredith, Burt Young, Carl Weathers

Genre

Sports Drama

Language

English

Awards

Selected in 2006 by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry.

Date of Release

November 1 1976

Producer

Irwin Winkler Robert Chartoff

Setting and Context

Philadelphia, 1975, during the golden years of boxing

Narrator and Point of View

The point of view is that of Rocky Balboa, challenger to the heavyweight championship of the world title

Tone and Mood

The tone is hopeful, motivational and rousing.

Protagonist and Antagonist

Rocky is the protagonist, Apollo Creed the antagonist.

Major Conflict

The championship bout is the physical conflict in the movie.

Climax

Rocky takes Creed the full distance in the bout which is something that nobody has ever done before.

Foreshadowing

A split decision foreshadows Creed's win because as the incumbent champion he is awarded the title in the event of a non-unanimous score from the judges.

Understatement

Creed has understated Rocky's talents, as has Creed's team. They believe he is easy to beat because he is not a very experienced or stylish boxer.

Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques

This is the first film that made use of the Steadicam which was used to accomplish filming a moving subject, in this case, running alongside Stallone in the scenes that featured Rocky training.

Allusions

The characters allude to the boxers who went before them, specifically in the 1920s and 1930s when Mick was a bantamweight champion.

Paradox

Rocky actually outscores Creed in the fight and has the only knock-down but loses the match because the judges cannot agree on a score which gives Creed the title by default.

Parallelism

There is a parallel between Rocky's uphill fight in the ring and his uphill fight in getting Adrian's brother to accept him.

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