Rocky Balboa and the Fears of White America: Dont be fooled!!! The Rocky film series was not about boxing, it was a metaphor for the fears, concerns, and desires of white America. (This theory was first introduced by Dr. Welsing and I want 2 to further explore it). The first installment of Rocky came out in 1976. That year is defined as the middle of the black liberation, black power, and black consciousness movements. Images of Afros, black leather jackets, and black fists were commonplace. Even black music reflected the times, one of the biggest hits that year was Wake-up Everybody by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. Blackness was loud and proud. No one probably embodied that moment in time better than Muhammad Ali, who had regained his boxer championship just two years before by knocking out George Foreman. Muhammad Ali was black, fearless, proud, handsome, articulate, engaging, skillful, intelligent, and unapologetic about any of it. He was the antithesis of white supremacy, he was black supremacy in all of its glory....and white Americas biggest fear. Enter Rocky Balboa the character. Rocky was the embodiment of white America. He was working class, he was harden by the struggle, he had an everyday people appeal, and although his command of the English language was remedial at best, he spoke to white America in a way that they understood. His opponent in the movie was Apollo Creed. Creed was the characterization of Muhammad Ali. He was literally named after a god, Apollo, signifying his supremacy. Creed represented the history of black greatness from the beginning of time. He was the Moors, Mansa Musa, and Amenhotep rolled into one. Rocky was white Americas great white hope of defeating black supremacy. He lost. In Rocky II, he fulfills the hope and defeats Creed in the rematch. White Americas fear of black supremacy and desire to see it defeated was played out on film. Then in Rocky III, there is a new nemesis, Clubber Lang(Mr. T). He was the not the black supremacy of the past...he was the personification of the new narrative being written about the black man as a criminal and thug. He was street. He was brutal. He was mean. He was the fears of white America as it relates to black men. Even at the present, the stereotype that Lang was, is still attached to black men. Again Rocky defeats Lang and defends, on screen, white America from its biggest fears. The sad part about all of this is that black folks cheered for Rocky. Our children watched these films and wanted to defeat the their own supremacy(Creed) or protect white folks from a stereotype(Lang) that was created by white America. That is the way movies can psychologically manipulate us. Heres a bonus: In 1985, the Soviet Union was Americas biggest enemy and white folks biggest fear. Ronald Regan called the Soviet Union an evil empire. Mikhail Gorbachev was powerful, the Red Army was strong, strategic, massive and unafraid of the United States. The fear of white America was at an all time high as it related to the threat from Soviet Union. So who does Rocky fight in the fourth installment? Thats right...the big, strong, massive, and unafraid Russian. Again the fears and hopes of white America played out on the big screen.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 21:27:09 +0000
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