In honor of the holiday, we held a mini movie marathon. After some fantastic Justice League episodes, we decided to watch the most patriotic movie we could find: Rocky IV. After all, it's all-American Rocky Balboa beating up the inhuman Communist, the Soviet enemy, Ivan Drago. How much more American do you get? Stallone's even wrapped in an American flag on the box! So, imagine my surprise when I realized just how much Rocky IV espouses the Communist ideal. Ivan Drago has the best, highest-class, high-tech training available, while Rocky does his practice in the farms and rural areas, working in the natural world. He's the working man, the proletariat, coming up from the low class to take on bourgeoise Ivan Drago. Furthermore, Drago claims that he fights only for himself, while Rocky represents Apollo and the entire United States. Rocky fights for the people, not for selfish (read: capitalist) reasons.
Rocky Balboa is the people's boxer. Rocky IV is about the triumph of the Communist ideal over selfish capitalism. And you thought the Soviets were the bad guys.
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