...Finish last?
It's crazy, but there's somethin abt the Rocky series. I've seen stone cold
audiences erupting into cheers and jumping up and down like crazy school
children while watching rocky run up those philadelphia steps one more time. Of
course, there has been lots of explanations, most prominent of them being
the "underdog story". That idea of a "common man" surviving against the
odds and all that bullshit.
Well yes, i do agree. but then i feel there's more to that. I mean, i agree
with the underdog funda, yeah. That's very obvious anyway. But then, there's
somethin more to that. How long are you going to cheer an underdog? If you
closely watch the Rocky series, one to six, you will notice a simple fact -
more than being shown as an underdog, Rocky is shown as a genuinely good
human being. In my opinion, that's the whole point.
When we are kids, we are all "good human beings". But as experiences pile up,
inevitably we end up learning that "good people finish last" (If you don't, you
are plain stupid). In other words,
we all reach a stage in life where we say goodbye to that fond stage of life
where we tried our best to be a "good human being". In my opinon, that's what
the Rocky series is all about - the illogical return of the absurd theory that
good human beings do climb up those steps and raise their fist in one
final hurrah.
Of course, then you ask - come on man, isn't the Rocky theme all about hard
work, those one handed push ups, that will power, those knee crunching long
runs, blah blah. Again, i have to return to my earlier theory, albeit in
another form - if you look around, it's an accepted "norm" that good people
are never agressive. Good people are supposed to be peaceful, the sort who
would sit down and meditate while facing a life-threatening situation. That's
where the whole idea scores, i feel - the concept of a genuinely nice person
standing up against the odds, and showing the sort of hard aggression that's
normally associated with cold hearted specimens handpicked by evolution
to bulldoze a way ahead in life, no matter what.
So the suggestion seems to be, you can be good at heart yet still race and win.
Might not work in real life though - Look at racing, and it's so apparent. The
average racer or athlete, whatever the sport may be, is programmed to exhibit
a ruthless killer instinct at every point in life - whether it be on the track
or while giving a press interview or while taking a simple walk along the pit
lane where you just might bump againt another racer.
(Exception - #46, The Doctor)
Anyway, to everyone out there who has involuntarily hummed "Gonna fly now" while
going past 10 miles at 6am, "Rocky Balboa" has crossed that magic 100 million
gross.
