Rocky and the American Dream

In the movie Rocky with Sylvester Stallone, the American dream plays a very crucial role. It not only highlights the many ideals that were present at that time, but it presents the American dream in a very clear way. Throughout the movie, Rocky struggles very much to achieve his "big break". He starts off with almost nothing and no one that cares for him, working a very small paying job and struggling to take care of himself. However, he does not let this keep him from achieving his goal. After being picked to participate in a fight against a world champion boxer, Rocky begins to slowly find his purpose. He immediately begins training for this fight in hopes to prove to himself that he’s more than just a “bum from the neighborhood”. After lots of pain, struggle, and exhaustion, the day of the fight finally arrives and Rocky is ready. In the movie, he admits to himself and his girlfriend, Adrien, that he knows he won’t beat Creed, but he doesn’t care. His primary concern is not whether he wins or loses this fight, all he cares about is proving to himself that he has potential and he is capable of doing great things. He wants to push himself as far as he can go to achieve success for himself, and that is exactly what happens. Rocky ends up losing the fight against Creed, but he is still very proud that he got up there, gave it his all, and proved that he was worth something. In this movie, the American dream was achieved by hard work, determination, and passion. It highlighted the idea that even though one can spend many years working towards their goal, despite if it was achieved or not, some form of success is present. It can either be a success that is defined by society's values or a self-defined form of success, like Rocky's, where all it takes is proving to yourself that you are capable. He lost the fight, but he still achieved the American dream by going the distance, and that was enough for him.