Fighting for Manhood: Rocky and Turn-of-the-Century Antimodernism

Abstract

Fighting for Manhood:Rocky and Turn-of-the-Century Antimodernism Clay Motley (bio) Sylvester Stallone's Rocky, winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1976, not only began one of Hollywood's most lucrative and recognizable film "franchises;" it began a battle of interpretation over the film's meaning. The iconic rise of the underdog from south Philadelphia, serendipitously plucked out of obscurity to fight the heavyweight champion of the world, clearly meant something to the packed, electrified theatres cheering Rocky on as if he were a real fighter. As Rocky's legacy grew to become one of the most recognizable films of all time, the importance of understanding its significance equally increased. Critics curious over the surprise success of Rocky conjectured that it was simply a fairytale of the American Dream or sentimental Bicentennial pap; or perhaps it was an important statement about the neglected American working class, or a sign of growing "ethnic" American pride; maybe it was a dangerously racist film, or a portend of a vigorous and violent "New Right." Regardless of individual interpretations, critics of the film then and now agree that Rocky, for better or worse, somehow caught the zeitgeist—was a film for and of a precarious moment in American society that spoke passionately to a large segment of the population. While we are correct to view Rocky as imbedded within a particular cultural and historical context—that of 1970s America and the coming Bicentennial—profitable insight into Rocky's significance is had by looking nearly one hundred years earlier, to another tumultuous time in American history and culture, to the late nineteenth century. It is through the context of the end of the nineteenth century that we can better understand the tensions, hopes, and fears of the 1970s, and thus can gain a valuable lens through which to understand Rocky's massive cultural appeal and significance. Rocky Balboa's rise from inner-city failure to fighting Apollo Creed to a draw was obviously an injection of much-needed Bicentennial optimism in the midst of one of America's most troubled decades: what is less obvious is Rocky's significance as an antimodernist force. Jackson Lears, when writing of the late nineteenth century, terms "antimodernism" a quest for "authentic experience," for "self-control and autonomous achievement" in the face of modern society's "cultural strain, moral confusion, and anomie" (xix). As will be detailed below, the America of the 1970s and that of the 1890s were both cultures intensely questioning themselves, particularly as to how they felt their present reality was curiously "unreal" as it increasingly drifted away from traditional economic, political, gender, and moral "norms." In the face of such unsettling modernizing forces, both cultures—and particularly the men of those cultures—sought "authentic" experiences that would reaffirm their own and their nation's sense of greatness. Thus, Rocky is an example of Americans seeking what was "genuine," "manly" and "true" in a society perceiving itself as losing its original purpose, toughness, and authenticity. Of course, the parallels between the 1970s and the late nineteenth century only go so far: in many ways, the society that produced Studio 54 and protested the war in Vietnam could not be more different than the Victorians who rallied around "Remember the Maine" all the way to San Juan Hill. However, by looking at major historical and cultural similarities between the two periods, particularly the economic and social disruptions that endangered American men's sense of autonomy and power, we can see that the 1890s and 1970s have much more in common culturally than a superficial glance would suggest. In fact, both societies were searching for a transcendent sense of identity in the midst of modernity-inspired confusion. Particularly, both societies looked to what was considered an earlier, more essential and violent manhood that would invigorate both themselves and their "listless" nation. These antimodernist sentiments explain the significance of Rocky Balboa, the out-of-shape loser, drifter in an urban underworld, who is steeled by passing successfully through a time of crisis, and is reborn a winner. Rocky's trajectory from a symbol of urban decay to a prototypical "self-made man" mirrored many...