For this post, I’ll be doing a comparison on Rocky and Creed. I’ll be doing a comparison on the protagonists Rocky and Donnie as well as their opponents. I’ll also be focusing on the differences between them and their own personal goals that led to the final match.
First I’ll be doing a comparison between Rocky and Donnie. Rocky is a big and intimidating guy who at first was a loser or bum. He had wanted to make something of himself, to make it in life; but he had no real plan to do so. But that eventually changes when he learns he’s getting a chance at the title fight, sponsored by Apollo Creed. Apollo at first glance appeared to be a politician or showman more than a boxing champion. He even made a huge spectacle of an introduction just to hype the crowd.
Next I’ll be focusing on Donnie who is the son of Apollo. All his life he’s had to fight; the opening scene of the film Creed shows him fighting in a juvenile correction facility. He is then found by Apollo’s widow and raised well, but as the years go by, he wants to make his own mark on the world. He later quits his job after getting a promotion and then attempts to go into the pro boxing, he even finds Rocky who he convinces to train him. The need for his own identity is so strong, that he would grow violent and frustrated to anyone who compared him to his father. He faces the raining champ, an Irishmen with an extreme prone to violence, who’s also being sent ro prison for seven years.
Rocky prepares for his fight by doing an extremely rigorous workout regime. He even has his trainer Mickey, a retired boxer himself, to help guide him. Rocky is taking the fight seriously because he wants to make a statement, that anybody can do the impossible. He has the support of his loved ones as well as the community to ‘give him strength’ in a spiritual sense. Apollo initially focuses on the politics this fight would bring rather than train or prepare. this shows that he's expecting Rocky to be a weak opponent, and that he'd win easily. The fight begins and Apollo doesn’t take it seriously, but that soon changes when he sees how hard Rocky is fighting.
Donnie also prepares for his fight under the guidance of Rocky, who’s fighting a battle against cancer, in the same manner as he once did. In order to fight he had to use the Creed name; but now he seems to use it with pride, in that he’s Apollo’s son and still himself. It’s during the fight that we see Donnie’s drive to win. But the champ is a formidable opponent, in that he's prepared and trained for months, and knocks Donnie down. We then see images of all the people who have faith in him; we even see an image of Apollo in the ring. That in itself is the final push for Donnie to get back up.
The end result is that both Ricky and Donnie lost the fight in their respective movies. But they’ve each achieved their goals; Rocky has gained recognition as has Donnie, only he has proven that he’s tough regardless if he’s Apollo’s son or not.