The Fighter Vs Rocky Balboa (Analysis)

The Fighter (2011)

The Older Brother (Dickey)

The Younger Brother (Mickey)

In the opening scene we see dickey on the sofa talking to the camera as if he was doing an interview, couple minutes later mickey joins and dickey starts talking about boxing. This suggests that they are doing a documentary on them. Dickey is mostly talking while Micky is just sitting there quietly listening to his older brother. This indicates respect that mickey has respect for his older brother. We see flashbacks of Dickey training Mickey to box. Dickey trains Mickey since dickey is a professional boxer. We know his a professional boxer because we see a flashback when Dickey is fighting in a ring with an opponent with a lot of people watching. When the interview has finished we see a blank screen then we get an establishing shot of the area zooming out and point of view shot of someone sweeping the stones with the rake. Then we get an over the shoulder shot of Mickey sweeping the roads. Next we see a point of view shot again of someone practising to punch. They do not show the face. This makes it mysterious because they do not show the persons face. That’s when we see a clear shot of the camera crew was doing a point of view point. The point of view shot was done on Dickey but we didn’t see his face until Mickey punched him. This shows that film is about boxing. The establishing shot that is used tells us that the area where the boxers live in is like a ghetto area, very corrupted since we get a two shot of two guys in an alleyway selling drugs, old drunken people throwing alcohol and fighting. This shows that the boxers are not living a good life. Also further on the film Dickey starts to take drugs and ends up in prison. This also indicates that Dickey life didn’t turn out very well since he’s in that corrupted area.

Rocky Balboa (2006)

Rocky (Main Fighter)

Mason 'The Line' Dixon (The Opponent)

Starts off with yellow font saying Rocky Balboa indicates that his champion. Then we see someone walking towards a big light and the person disappearing after the guy disappears and the location changes to an arena where the colour of the screen is black and white. We see two guys boxing. Most of the camera shots that were used in that boxing match were low angle shots, on the opponent of Mason Dixon who was more superior to his opponent. When Mason gives the final punch and knocks his opponent out, they use an action match on the final punch. This indicates the power of the guy. As they start the film with boxing we immediately know this is going to be a boxing film. After the boxing match has finished we get establishing shots of different places from night to early morning. These establishing shots were used from someone through a car looking out the window. These establishing shots that were used and the person looking out of the window maybe were telling us the journey of someone new coming to the city. This makes it mysterious who it might be and how they will affect others. The Generic conventions on both films are that family involvement, an enemy, a mentor a girlfriend or a wife.