Student version

Rocky IV Online Worksheet

Write brief answers during viewing, then use scenes for analysis. You do not need to describe graphic violence.

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Before viewing

1. How could a sporting event become a symbol of rivalry between countries?

2. What is the difference between a stereotype and evidence about a society?

Part A · The exhibition and its cost

3. What motivates Apollo to accept the exhibition match with Drago?

4. How does the exhibition entrance turn the match into a national spectacle?

5. How does the film introduce Drago as a threat? Name one film technique.

6. What happens to Apollo, and how does it change Rocky’s motivation?

7. Why does Adrian initially oppose Rocky’s plan?

Part B · Choosing and preparing to fight

8. What personal risk does Rocky accept by agreeing to fight in the Soviet Union?

9. How are Rocky’s and Drago’s training environments contrasted?

10. What message does that training contrast suggest?

11. How do music and editing make the training feel like progress?

12. How does Adrian’s arrival affect Rocky?

Part C · The match and its message

13. How does the crowd initially respond to Rocky in the final match?

14. What changes in the crowd’s response as the fight continues?

15. What does Drago’s rejection of outside control reveal?

16. What idea does Rocky express in his final speech?

After viewing

17. Choose a scene where a character is treated as a national symbol. Explain how.

18. Does the film give American and Soviet characters equally complex identities? Explain.

19. How does the ending support or complicate the film’s earlier message about rivalry?

20. Choose one Cold War claim suggested by the film. What source would help check it?

Final written response

How does Rocky IV turn a personal boxing match into a message about national rivalry? Write a paragraph with a clear claim, evidence from two scenes, reasoning, and one limitation of using this film to learn history.

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