Classic Underdog Movies: Adonis Johnson's Stereotypes

In classic underdog movies, a no name individual takes on a world ranked champion and in the end the underdog wins. This is not what happened in Creed. Adonis Johnson, the son of Apollo Creed, starts off as a child in a juvenile facility who gets into a fight because another kid talks about his mother. Eventually, he finds out his father is Apollo Creed, a famous fighter who fought Rocky Balboa and died because of it. By this point, he is conflicted about how he feels about his father because he was an embarrassment born from his father’s infidelity. Nevertheless, he continues to box like Apollo, finds Rocky Balboa and convinces him to train him. Initially, he was resistant but did it anyway since he was persistent. After a while, he has his

This experience is a component of Banduras Self efficacy theory. where athletes experience success by using models. The first model is the observational learning model where the athlete watches someone else do the skill; this is especially effective if the two individuals are around the same age and skill level. The second model is the participatory model, where the learner watches the instructor and then the instructor assists the learner in doing the skill. An example of the observation model is when Adinos plays the video of his father fighting Rocky on the big screen. This is not his first time watching the video, and knows the moves. He gets up, positions himself in the same direction of his father and does the same punching series as

This is another factor that helps an athlete to develop self-efficacy which in turn affects athletic performance. During this time, the parent, coach, or peers provide the athlete with verbal statements that assures them that they can succeed. In the movie, most of the verbal persuasion comes from his coach, Rocky. For example, before the championship fight towards the end of the movie, Rocky gives him a pep talk. He tells him that this fight is not about Apollo Creed, it is not about Rocky Balboa, the fight is about hi and to remember why he is doing it. In addition to that, he ends with saying that I can see it your eyes, you can do this. Another example of this occurs during the actual championship fight, he loses round one, he starts to perform better in round two. Once round two is over, Rocky talks to starts to motivate him saying statements such as, “you belong here”, “now they know you are for real”, “you have to believe you can do it”. After this talk, it appears as if the Adinos confidence increases, as he is able to increase the amount of punches he lands of the champion and even last all the way to round 12 where he almost knocks him out. The same level of verbal persuasion is given to the champion by his coach at the same time. He tells him statements like you are the champion, that kid is just a poser, and you are going to win this just play