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February 19, 2007

1045: "Just another bum from the neighborhood."

Question: If Rocky were made today, would it be as awesome or a complete piece of garbage?

Answer: A complete piece of garbage.

Well, Pete and I think so. We watched it over the weekend and spent some time musing on how it would be adapted for 2007, and whether it would still be the amazing film it was in 1976. Doubt it.

Adrian would be played by some model-turned actress, and incapable of being believed as a loveless nerd. Also, she'd probably get slapped around or something, but have an opportunity to fight back with a punch Rocky taught her.

Paulie's behavior would have to be excused in some backstory and he'd be given a chance to redeem himself; he'd probably get involved in Rocky's training and clean up his own life and blah blah blah.

The trainer's falling out and subsequent reconciliation would be overwrought with emotion and also involve some kind of elaborate backstory engineered to make him a tender, understandable character.

Also, Rocky would have won.

OK, if that spoiled anything for anyone, I apologize but please, please, please don't tell me you've a) never seen this movie or b) assumed he'd win.

Pete is a Philly native and I went to college in Main Line Philadelphia. We're both very pro-Philly but not in the "Dude, it's the 6th borough!" way of thinking. Should Philly be flattered to be deemed a virtual extension of New York City by hipsters fleeing from Williamsburg? Wouldn't that be, you know, patronizing? Anyone who's ever spent any meaningful amount of time in Philadelphia would know that's the kind of thinking that could get your front teeth knocked out. Philly is its own city, if not its own little universe. It likes being whatever it is and despite however things in Center City have improved in recent years (since I've graduated, I've watched entire blocks transform from abandoned storefronts to retail giants like Urban Outfitters and H&M), Philadelphia seems to take a little perverse pride in being... Philadelphia.

"Dude, look at how dirty and crappy everything is!"* we shouted with glee. I love that about Philly; it really is all dirty and crappy. And it really wouldn't want to be any other way. It is, after all, "the town that booed Santa." A place which not only reinforces my anxiety about germs and safety but may trump me in directionless rage and stubbornness -- How could I not love this city?!

Concerning Rocky, perhaps the quintessential Philadelphia ("Filthydelphia! Killadelphia!") movie, I have two problems:

The first is petty and small, but for me, it ruins an otherwise perfect scene. When Rocky sprints up the stairs of the art museum, all we need to see is him silhouetted against the skyline as he raises his arms. The whole sequence would be so much tighter and sophisticated if it cut right there rather than shifting, inexplicably, into slow-mo. It's not needed and it doesn't even really fit with the rest of the film's editing. Pete and I particularly like the scene in which Rocky tells off his would-be trainer only to chase after him and offer reconciliation on the street outside his apartment. We don't see Rocky or his trainer looking tearfully humbled or apologetic; we only see them shake hands in the distance, as a train goes by on the elevated tracks above them.

The second problem is not really a problem at all -- it's simply that Rocky perceives himself to be a complete loser but he's obviously totally awesome. He's funny and warm, and even if he gets paid to beat up people for wannabe gangster, we don't really have much reason to think of Rocky as lowly as he seems to think of himself as being. He's instantly likable, so why is everyone so crappy to him all the time? Are they so low themselves that it taints their perception of others? That can't be it; Rocky's trainer is cruel to him, he says, because he saw Rocky's potential being wasted. Other people (Adrian, the trainer, Paulie, etc.) evidently see Rocky's worth, but they're also meant to represent "the neighborhood" from which he seeks to distinguish himself -- even at the expense of public embarrassment and physical harm. Like I said, this isn't a "problem," per se -- just an observation. It's just hard to see Rocky as the loser he feels he is, but perhaps that's the point and that's why he's such a compelling, empathetic character.

On the subject of great movies, I received a message from fellow Pee-Wee fan and paragon of good taste, The Incredible Amoeba, concerning my blog entry about Lost in Translation. He raised a good point about the way in which all of the Japanese characters are written, perhaps unfairly, almost as caricatures.

I have to confess, I hadn't given that problem much thought before. Pete and his mother (who is Japanese), weren't particularly hurt by the misrepresentation in the film, and like me, they seem to feel these characters are all simply written in service of the film and without intending any offense. Perhaps these characters are written as being one-dimensional because that's the way in which Charlotte and Bob perceive them as being, largely due to their own inability to fully interact with these characters and their culture. For the purpose of the film, both Charlotte and Bob need to be believably isolated from the characters and world around them, and in Japan (where they're particularly isolated due to their inability to speak the language) that would seem understandably possible. That the Japanese people they encounter happen to be written so flatly and artificially is unfortunate but I don't know if that was intentional. As the charming Amoeba points out, even the non-Japanese characters are treated in the same fashion. The film really only has two fully dimensionalized characters, and that the Japanese aren't more accurately represented I think is unfortunate but unintentional.

Comments? Thoughts? Owl-shaped stuffed animal?

* I have never had a long-term friendship or relationship that didn't ultimately develop its own unique form of communication based largely on pop culture references. My brother and I can discuss any issue in life, no matter how difficult, through song lyrics and movie quotes. I really can't think of a situation that isn't, in some cosmic way, able to be linked to Ronnie James Dio. I know that Pete and I are meant to be together because he often claims people have "the heart of a champion."

Posted by ashley at February 19, 2007 11:57 AM

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