Raging Bull Heroism

John Schivito

Heroes, Anti Heroes,tragedy, excellence, hubris and nemesis are all concepts that could all be linked to athletes and sports. We see this when we watched the film Raging Bull. In this film we see the rise and fall of a hero, along with the excellence and tragedy that Jake LaMotta has to endure. We see Jake succeed greatly by winning all of his fights and fail greatly when he looses his wife and family. When I saw this film I first looked at Jake as a hero with an extreme amount of determination. He was a hero because of the actions he took and the hard work he put in to becoming the best boxer anyone has ever seen. We see this in the movie when he’s constantly in the gym and always worrying about his weight. He does whatever he needs to do to ensure success and most of the time does not stop until he does succeed. Sometimes however he lets his extreme rage
and sexual jealousy get in the way. He is constantly abusing his wife for things she does and never takes her word with anything she says. He is constantly letting the rage and jealousy get in the way of his boxing career. We see this in the movie when he accuses his brother Joey of having sex with his wife, this resulting in a extreme blowout between the two of them. After this Joey refuses to be in Jakes corner of the ring during his last fights along with his wife and children leaving his life for good. At the beginning of the film we see Jake when he was at his best.
He was winning every fight, had an amazing wife and was soon going to start a family of his own. He had a vision and a goal on his mind and wasn't going to let anyone tell him differently. He knew he was the best and once he knew this we start to see a change. He falls into the fame and riches and starts to become a bum who thinks he’s too good to still train and work hard. He starts beating his wife more and more and lets his anger get the best of him. He starts turning his back on everyone and doesn't want to listen to anyones advice. His Brother Joey is there every step of the way trying to remove him from his problems but after a while even Joey ends up walking away. This is an example of hubris and nemesis, a man who was on top with everything he needed, to a man who has nothing and no support from his friends or family. He got way to caught up in the fame and fortune that he became completely oblivious to what was truly
important. Joey was the only person who could get through to Jake and after a while he wasn't even listening to him. Joey in my eyes is a hero with the same amount if not more qualities then Jake has. Joey is always there for Jake and is constantly trying to keep him on a straight and narrow path. Joey would do anything for Jake as we see when Jake asks him to keep an eye on his wife Cathy. Joey sees Cathy at the club having a drink with a random man. Not only does Joey confront the man but also tells Cathy she has to leave before preceding to smash a glass over the mans head. Joey was asked to do something and