In many sports dramas you follow a hard on the outside guy that is as manly as they come and all they want to do is win. Films like rocky, creed, coach carter, and F1, all follow this formula. It got me thinking about how these films truly represent these characters as that is just like a quick view into how these characters really are, if you look at but deeper you can find these characters motivations and aspirations and they usually end up appearing very similar they end up representing something drastically different
First film we can look at to get an idea is coach carter. This film is about a basketball coach who turned a high school team, who were known for being terrible, and turning them into a record setting wining team. The main character coach carter is represented as a mean, aggressive, stern dude that pushes his team to the very limits while also holding them to extreme standards, at least for them. On the surface his motivations are simple he wants to turn this basketball team into winners and does so by being as rough as possible. But when you look deeper into the film you see that his real goals are to turn these students lives around and allow them opportunities past high school and the way this is represented is through him being tough and holding these players to such high standards feeding into the “manly as they come” idea but truly representing the idea of a future and caring for people on a level so deep that he isn’t a “manly as they come” but a guy that wants to see a future for young people.
Another film to look at is F1. This is a film about driving in formula one and again it looks like the main characters goal is to win but the true goal of this film is not to win but to do what was considered impossible, they only needed to win once, not a whole season, not multiple races, just once to prove that they could and the main character is definitely represented as a “manly” dude but there is a scene in the film where you see beyond that and you see the true purpose of why he does what he does. And through the film we see him bring this “team” into being a real team. So on the surface it looks like they are just trying to win but in reality what it truly represents is a team coming together to achieve something small in reality but huge for them.
The final film I want to look at is rocky. This one in particular is perfect for what I am trying to say as this story doesn’t end in him winning technically. The whole plot revolves around the fact the champion boxer challenges someone people consider a nobody and he has no chance against the champion. This nobody is represented as someone who doesn’t care and someone who is just a manly man tough and shows no emotion. But the real message of the film is showed throughout the point of the film isn’t about winning its about pushing yourself to the limits and going all the way even if you loose you still proved to yourself you are more than what everyone says and that right there is the true message of this film.
IMDb. (n.d.). F1: The Movie. In IMDb. Retrieved January 28, 2026, from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16311594/
IMDb. (n.d.). Rocky. In IMDb. Retrieved January 28, 2026, from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075148/
IMDb. (n.d.). Coach Carter. In IMDb. Retrieved January 28, 2026, from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0393162/
No comments:
Post a Comment