Why does the film begin with the scene in Jake La Motta’s (Robert Di Niro) dressing room at a New York night club in 1958
Raging Bull Film Questions
Why does the film begin with the scene in Jake La Motta’s (Robert Di Niro) dressing room at a New York night club in 1958? How does this introduction the film’s protagonist influence a viewer’s opinion of him?
Why has Scorsese chosen to shoot the film in black and white? How does it lend the film a sense of period (1941-1958)? How does it link the film to two popular film genres of that period (film noir and the boxing film)?
We don’t receive any real insights into Vickie’s character in the film, other than her status as a victim of Jake’s sexual insecurities and jealousy. Should it be believed Vickie’s lack of characterization to be a fault or achievement of the film?
How does the visual imagery of Jake’s first meeting with Vickie (Cathy Moriarty) — especially the uses of blacks and whites, light and dark — establish her as his ideal at the expense of her humanity? What specific images suggest that, as an ideal, she will never be attainable?
In what ways are Jake’s attitude toward his profession and his treatment of his wife similar? How do both exemplify what his brother Joey (Joe Pesci) describes as Jake’s “hard-headedness”? In what ways is his “hardheadedness” a version of the idea of individualism which is so highly prized in our society?
How do the sequence of fight sequences, the toll they take on his face and emotions, illustrate the costs of this individualism? How does the evolving relationship with his brother illustrate the same costs
Why does Jake’ discovery that he is part of a system — no title unless he cooperates with Tommy Como (Nicholas Colasanto) — break Jake, destroy his dream?
In two important scenes Jake suddenly switches from the raging bull to a child in tears, in the scene mentioned above and in the scene when he begs Vickie after attacking her and his brother. What does this sudden switch reveal about Jake’ failure to become a mature adult? What does say about the myth of individual which he exemplifies?
Scorsese often favors long tracking shots in which the camera follows a character in a way which reveals (often without words) an important facet of that character. What do these shots of Jake walking from his dressing room to the ring tell us? A crucial tracking shot culminates his defeat by Sugar Ray Robinson. The camera slowly travels along the rope of the boxing and finally stops on a dripping gout of blood. What is the meaning of the shot, and what does it foretell of Jake’s fate?
The climax of most boxing films is the protagonist’s penultimate fight, but Raging Bull goes on to dramatize Jake’s life as an ex-champ. What is the significance of these sequences, especially the scene in his Florida bar? Consider the events from his initial standup comic routine to the parking lot scene in which Vickie leaves him.
Alone, in solitary confinement, Jake beats the wall and cries, “Why? Why? Why?” What answer does the film offer to this question? Does the final scene in which Jake quotes from On the Waterfront suggest that he has found the answer? What might suggest that he has become a self-parody? Are we asked, at the end of the film to sympathize with Jake, or has he forfeited any sympathetic understanding?
Throughout Raging Bull, Scorsese glosses over the triumphs of Jake’s professional careers. Why does he devote so much time to Jake’s domestic life, rather than his boxing career? How does Scorsese subvert the genre conventions of a sports biopic?
Several visual and thematic clues hint at Jake’s possibility for redemption and salvation. Do you believe Jake finds redemption and/or salvation at the conclusion of the film? Provide plenty of evidence from the film.
In an earlier film Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), Paul Newman plays the middleweight boxer Rocky Graziano, whose rise from the New York slums to the championship, is treated as a version of the American Dream. Supported by a loyal wife, Graziano transcends the corruption of the fight game to find success and happiness. The same American myth receives a fictional treatment in Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky (1976) and its sequels. How does Scorsese use the genre conventions to paint a darker portrait of a boxer’s life and the dream he pursues?
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