MYTHOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF THE BOXER PROTAGINIST ROCKY BALBOA

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to characterize the image of the protagonist of the saga of the boxer Rocky through the prismof mythopoetics as a type of new cultural hero in the field of sports. Research methods are historical and cultural, mythopoetic,and comparative. Its application allows to outline the genetic connection of the image of the hero-boxer with the literary tradition;identify its main parameters as a mythohero; allocate the points of intersection of the author's myth with the myth of the Americandream; consider the acquisition of the mytheme of Rocky the beginnings of the ideologeme.

Results of the research: The genesis of the image goes back to the traditions of neo-romantic literature. The active appeal to a ritualand a myth, and a new wave of interest in sports as an embodiment of the principle of agony and, therefore, the popularity of sportsdrama, resulted in the mythologization of the boxer character in the culture of the 20th century. The distinct feature of the movieis a genre syncretism; it is a combination of sports drama, film-biography, action, and melodrama with typical for mytho-scenarioarchetypic situations. This determines the mass audience and the range of interpretation of Rocky’s story, formed as a mythologicalscenario. Rocky’s biography interweaves the facts of life of the real prototypes (boxers Rocky Marciano, Rocky Graziano), fictionalcharacters (heroes of Hollywood sports movies), and autobiographical (Sylvester Stallone). The connection with sports as a ritualgives the film a mythological connotation. Simultaneously, it highlights the utilitarian aspect, inherent in the American traditionof Enlightenment and focused on the practical application of the context. The stories of Rocky’s boxing matches, and the stories of hisrelationships we perceive as “steps” of his initiation to a new cultural hero or a hero of mass culture. This occurs in a chronotope withcharacteristics of large (Philadelphia) and small (boxing ring) topos as places of professional and personal recognition. Rocky IV stands out among the films of the franchise; the protagonist embodies the athlete-defender of the national way of life that fights against a boxerfrom the “empire of evil”; and from the cult hero from of mass culture he turns into a mytho-ideology.

Conclusions. The popular character of world cinema Rocky Balboa realizes the typical for the 20th century need for the newcultural heroes. Belonging to the two entertainment spheres – cinema and sports – the character created by Stallone gained immensepopularity and a long screen “life”. Whereas Rocky’s assertion to the mytheme, and then ideologeme, led to a “fantastic” origin asa character, that is, a combination of biographies of real and fictional prototypes; connection of life scenario with rituals; correlationof moral and ethical beliefs of the hero with the ideas of the national myth of the American dream; his life trials as stages of initiationin the sacred chronotope.