A Movie for the Holidays: Rocky

Reddit from a December 2019 post

The Holidays can have a dual nature for some of us. This time of year can be a downer for some of us as we take stock of the year that has passed or prep ourselves for winter. Although festive, the season can being depressing or sobering as the time beckons reflection on a year swiftly past or to wintery thoughts. Maybe it wasn’t such a good year. Maybe the holidays make you to feel lonely. Maybe you just feel cold and drained and anxious for the new year.  Paralleling this, we tend to mark the season with tradition- and traditions mean stories.  We all have our annual favorite films or tales to enjoy – stories like a Christmas Carol, or Home Alone.  We haves also made some unconventional stories like Tolkien’s Rings trilogy or the Potter series  annual holiday time stories. These stories align themselves with the psyche and pattern of the season. Perhaps its why we found ourselves watching these types of movies at this time of year.It hits upon the same idea put forth by literary critic Northrop Frye who attributed the four seasons as archetypal patterns of genre. Winter was the genre of satire, or stories of darkness and disillusionment. Frye’s model was also cyclical, so each genre could transform into one another and can create an arch in plot. These Christmas tales or Winter-time tales are appropriate for the season bridging into the renewal time of Spring.

So, if you are needing inspiration  or looking for a new movie to watch in annual tradition, I elect Rocky (1976); a holiday tale of people that felt small, past their prime, and seemingly invisible but found each other and had their  lives renewed- all within the timespan of the Holiday season.

Eventually the spectacle over sequels overshadowed the content of the original, but it is worth a watch or a re-watch.  I’ll point out that Rocky’s plot unfolds on its seasonal trappings and highlight  it with the anatomy of a small scene.

Here is what is compelling to me about Rocky (the boxing movie that isn’t about boxing): it opens days before Thanksgiving and ends New Year’s Day.  The structure is set. As I suggested, the season it takes place lends itself well to the psychological mood. The end of the year is nearing, a winter solstice, a time to hibernate. The central characters in the story all feel behind in life. Rocky, although good natured, is living criminally by helping a loan shark. As thirty-something, he is too old to continue professionally in boxing. Adrian is crippled by her shyness and by her dependent and abusive brother. Her brother, Paul has issues with alcoholism and finances, and is hinted to be a veteran soldier . Mick, a coach and former fighter who missed his chance at greatness, is also nearing eighty years of age.

On a small related note, the cinematography and scenes exhibit the tone intensely.  The Philadelphia slums feel cold, the nights lonely, and the buildings ignored and unkempt.

The day after Thanksgiving, Rocky is offered the chance of a lifetime.  A match with the reigning champion, Apollo Creed.  It may only be a glitzy exhibition match, yet it is a chance for Rocky; a chance to make something of himself, to have meaning, to prove he “can go the distance”. He and the other characters rally. No one says it explicitly, but they are hoping this opportunity brings something miraculous to their future. The match promises revitalization, which perfectly coincides with that start of a brand-new year.                                                                                                                               

Take a moment to watch the scene. Mick comes to Rocky after he learns of the  fight. At this point, Rocky is still uncertain of what he has gotten himself into, only knowing it is  monumental.  Mick implores that Rocky needs good management and proper training, and Mick is the one that can give him that. A tension builds in the low rent apartment as both men lament about what they could have had and how they are running out of time:

The scene has become one of my favorites in the film. All the elements of the scene extend from those hibernating feelings of grief and loss of time. Both Meredith and Stallone quickly show their character and how each relate to each other. As the scene unfolds, you see how each man slip from their social faces and reveal true emotions. The blocking (the choice of character movement within a space) feels natural and realistic (commenting on objects, distancing ourselves when uncomfortable, leaving a hat). Most importantly, the scene serves as a fraction of the whole film; it encapsulates the larger narrative of broken people hoping something new will push them out of the bad, cold, decaying places.  The scene ends as Rocky accepts Mick’s offer and the tension dissipates. The next day Rock begins his training and the tone shifts from that moment on out- to a building sense of revitalization and the movie becomes celebratory in Rocky’s efforts.

I venture to say Christmastime stories generally seem to hold close to this pattern of re-emerging out of cold places with a sparking sense of things renewed. Why not have Rocky be that film this year. Written by a struggling  Stallone, this first film in the franchise is definitely much more smaller and intimate in scale.

Happy Thanksgiving. And have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.