Film Description: Directed by Sylvester Stallone and released in 1985, this fourth installment of the Rocky franchise, starring none other than Sylvester Stallone himself, shows Rocky’s desire to beat the Russian boxer Ivan Drago after Drago kills Rocky’s friend Apollo Creed in a boxing match. In the film the Russian boxer is barely humanized, he comes off as a robotic-like figure. The movie itself is a thinly veiled hymn to American superiority during the Cold War.
The clip to the left shows the boxers’ different training styles. Rocky is shown constantly in nature. He chops wood, helps a man with an overturned cart, runs in the snow, lifts stones, and climbs a mountain, all while training for the fight. Drago, on the other hand, is depicted only inside buildings. He is surrounded by scientists and various computers who measure all of his movements as he lift weights, runs, and takes steroids. There is a clear image being fostered of Rocky both as more real and authentic than his Russian counterpart, who not only trains in an artificial environment but also pumps his body full of artificial performance-enhancing drugs.