|
home | what's new | other sites | contact | about |
||
|
Word Gems exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity
Adrienne and Rocky
Kairissi. In the Netflix biography “Sly”, script-writer Stallone confesses to a major realization 50 years ago. He’d hired a girl to type his script, but then she made disturbing comments, to the effect, “I don’t like Rocky. He's not a nice person. He hurts people. He’s just a thug working for a mafia loan-shark. I don’t want to see this movie.” Elenchus. This is not what a script-writer wants to hear. K. Stallone came to understand that his low-budget sports movie was in serious trouble. He then revamped the whole thing and injected several humanizing elements. E. These “humanizing elements” took the form of a love affair.
K. It’s rather astonishing. When people think of Rocky, they might bring to mind rags-to-riches, an epic adventure of a fourth-rate fighter who unexpectedly finds his true self and becomes a world champion. But what is often forgotten is that his lover, Adrienne, also becomes a majestic butterfly escaping caterpillar form. E. Adrienne had been beaten down, in terms of her own self-image, by parents and brother - said she was no good, that nobody would ever want her. She glances at her feet a lot, can't look someone in the eyes.
K. But then, with Rocky’s encouragement, she comes out of herself, makes her debut as this icon of brilliant feminine loveliness, the glorious swan, once despised as the ugly duckling.
E. What a gorgeous woman. K. Absolutely. E. It's been said that all women, who know they're worshipped and adored, are beautiful. K. There's a radiation. And what's remarkable, too, is that each of them, each for the other, sees the other's inner potential beauty well before it blossoms as reality. E. I think what you're saying, right here, is one of the best ways of describing true love. It's a kind of x-ray vision. K. But, Elenchus, let me tell you what I think is the center of this love story. E. They’re in bed, he can’t sleep, and he goes out walking, thinking about the upcoming match with Apollo. He comes back, sits on the edge of the bed, and admits to her his fears: “I can’t do it,” meaning, “Who am I kidding? I’m just a bum in the neighborhood, and Apollo is world-class. I can’t do this.” K. I think what happens next says volumes about Adrienne and about true love. She doesn’t try to give him an empty pep-talk on how he can do it, but honors his thoughts. She puts her hand on his shoulder and speaks heart-to-heart: “What are we going to do?” E. This is amazing, really. K. There was not a hint of “How could you let me down this way?” or “I’m disappointed because it’s your job to make me happy” - none of that ego-centrism. E. She didn't see two individuals but a unit. K. Yes, a unit… a sacred “one person”… and, if he chose to proceed, she would be in that ring with him, and take those blows with him… And I think all this comes very close to an ultimate definition of the real marital love… whatever life holds for us, we will face it together... because I am with you, and part of you, and will never leave you. E. And this is the real reason why this boxing movie is remembered, and revered, 50 years later.
|
||
|
|
