The American Belief of 'Improvement' in the Subtext of The Grapes of Wrath and Rocky

There are many common traits associated with being an 'American' that are echoed and enforced through American cinema. Most, if not all, of these traits have been embedded in our culture since the colonial era of American history because they have "become belief-behaviors imitated by successive generations" (McElroy, "Culture Formed" 16). One such identifiable American characteristic is the belief of 'improvement'. The notion of improvement is the belief that hard work is the key to improving any life, that America is the land of opportunity, and that people have the power to shape their own lives no matter what the circumstances. This notion transcends time due to its 'parental' immigrant beliefs that John Harmon McElroy demonstrates as: "improvement is possible, opportunities must be imagined, and freedom of movement is needed for success" ("Immigrant Beliefs" 61). This American characteristic of improvement is reflected and reinforced through the 'screen' of the classic American films of John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath and John Avildsen's Rocky.

The very nature of the plot or text in both films serves to reflect the notion of improvement. In "The Films Subtext", Bernard F. Dick sees that that 'text' is the outer world of the film that is projected on the screen and that it is "the collaboration between a director, a screenwriter, a cast, and a crew" (83). The text of The Grapes of Wrath focuses on the Joad family during the 1930's, who are forced to move out of their home and land in the 'dust bowl' of Oklahoma during the Depression. After receiving a flyer stating the need for migrant workers in California, they pack up their limited belongings and kindred people in an old jalopy truck to make the thousand mile trek. On the way they face starvation, death, and many other obstacles that make their journey difficult. The Joad clan face even more unexpected hardship in California, as there are minimal jobs and low wages. Their journey and lives seem grim, but they never seem to give up hope the whole film through. Rocky's text deals with a down-and-out reluctant loan shark collector and part-time boxer named Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) who is chosen as a replacement opponent in a New Year's Day Bicentennial match for Apollo Creed. Creed (Carl Weathers) looked locally for a replacement in order to give an 'underdog' a chance of obtaining the World Heavyweight Champion title and picks Rocky. Even though Apollo won the match in the end, it was Rocky who won the heart of America.

The way the text plays out in both these films reflects the American trait of improvement by emphasizing the idea that America is the land of opportunity. For the Joad family, a simple flyer was enough for all of them to dream of the possibility that awaits them in California. They continued to imagine the opportunity to once again own their own land and start over. Grampa Joad (Charley Grapewin) said it best when he exclaimed, "wait til I get to Californey. I'm gonna reach up and pick me an orange whenever I want it. With some grapes. Now there's somethin' I ain't never had enough of." In Rocky, it is Apollo Creed who reverberates this ideal to us when he handpicks the 'Italian Stallion' from a directory, 'sentimentally' claiming that he believes that America is indeed the land of opportunity and wants to give an 'unknown' the chance to win. The fight would come to have a very 'American Tale' of an African American man pitted against and descendant of the person who discovered American in the first place: an Italian.

Both films also focus on the idea that hard work is key to improving life. In The Grapes of Wrath, the Joads face nothing but difficult hindrances and hard manual labor in California. The whole family labor as fruit pickers on other people's land as they pioneer through the terrain, in hopes of making enough money for sustenance and property. Rocky, on the other hand, works at disciplining his body during his training for the match. Whether it is by chugging 5 raw eggs and running through the early-morning streets of Philadelphia in Converses or by the sweat poured out in the gym and while pounding a slab of meat, Rocky certainly showed his hard work in proving that improvement is possible.

The concept that people have the power to shape their own lives no matter what circumstances they are in is evidenced in each of the films. The best example of the human willpower to survive under oppressive circumstances is expressed in Ma Joad's (Jane Darwell) ending dialogue with Pa Joad (Russell Simpson). After acknowledge the 'beating' they are taking, she declares: "That's what makes us tough. Rich fellas come up an' they die an' their kids ain't no good, an' they die out. But we keep a-comin'. We're the people that live. They can't wipe us out. They can't lick us. And we'll go on forever, Pa... 'cause... we're the people." This concept is also expressed in Rocky, as the film captures the American essence of social mobility for all, no matter what type of life you are born into. Rocky only wanted to "go the distance" because, as he states, "if that bell rings and I'm still standing, then I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, see, that I wasn't just another bum from the neighborhood". People have the power to shape their own lives regardless of position and condition because "in America work, not ancestry or class membership, was the basis of a person's dignity and personal identity" (McElroy, "Primary Beliefs" 52).

The belief of improvement in The Grapes of Wrath and Rocky is also reinforced -- given added strength of support -- through the film's subtext. According to "The Film Subtext", the inner world of the film projected from the screen is the subtext, which "evokes certain feelings and associations in us" (Dick 83). In The Grapes of Wrath, the view that America is the land of opportunity is emphasized when California is referred to as the "land of milk and honey" -- the westward "Promised Land". A review by Tim Dirks examines how this "theme of an oppressed people's epic move to a new home parallels the Biblical story of Exodus. Their family name, Joad, also evokes the Biblical character of Job" (par. 1). This underlying theme provides the audience with the sense that the Joad family will experience extreme difficulties and much hard work such as the character of Job in the Bible, and will also therefore persevere and gain in the end as Job did. Another part of the subtext is the 'Crossroads Restaurant' that is the background for the beginning of the film's introduction of Tom Joad (Henry Fonda). A 'crossroad' indicates an critical point where a major decision must be made, and it is a foreshadowing of the monumental decision for the Joad clan to start their 'Exodus' from 'Egypt' (Oklahoma) to the "Promised Land" (California). This willingness and ability to travel a great distance in exchange for something better is a rooted American ideal.

The subtext in Rocky also reinforces the American trait of improvement. The fact that the name 'Rocky' is directly influenced from real-life boxer Rocky Marciano and that Rocky had a poster of his namesake in his apartment is indicative of the fact that Rocky was already viewing America as a land of opportunity. He was already imagining the possibilities of what he could become. The name 'Apollo Creed' is also significant, in that the mythical Apollo was once ordered into temporary bondage and servitude by Zeus, and the person in the film who bore the name was an African American man (Dick 87). The last name of 'Creed' also evokes the literal meaning of the word, which is a system of belief or opinion. Therefore the fact that Apollo Creed 'believed' in the notion of America being the land of opportunity and, as a result, allowed an underdog to succeed gives the audience a double dose of this characteristic of improvement. The training montage in Rocky is perhaps the most inspirational of any movie. Rocky literally is at the 'crossroads' when he is running from the train tracks to the infamous Philadelphia stairs that he runs up in triumph, all to the music of "Gonna Fly Now". The music and this gesture of victoriously running up many flight of stairs has become known as 'Rocky's Theme', and is embedded in America's mind as the ultimate glory and power for those who strive to improve and climb up the 'social ladder'.

The text and subtext of The Grapes of Wrath and Rocky reflect and reinforce the American characteristic of 'improvement' that has been "enculturated form the beginning of colonial settlement in America" ("Primary Beliefs" 48). This is echoed by William C. Levin's statement that "rooted deep in our culture is an abiding faith that no life can have gone so wrong that it cannot be improved. Our faith in the ability of the ordinary schlub to overcome the odds simply because he or she has the internal fortitude and talent to do so is an endearing American trait" (par. 18,19).

Works Cited

Dick, Bernard F. "The Film Subtext." Anatomy of Film. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998.

Dirks, Tim. The Greatest Films. 2003. 7 May 2003 .

Levin, William C. Bridgewater Review. 21 Dec. 2000. 7 May 2003 .
McElroy, John Harmon. "How American Culture Was Formed." American Beliefs. Chicago: Ivan

R. Dee, 1999.

---. "Immigrant Beliefs." American Beliefs. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1999.

---. "Primary Beliefs of American Culture." American Beliefs. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1999.