Post by BBally on May 14, 2009 18:29:27 GMT -5
Note: This is an essay I've been working on since last year, after many revisions it's finally completed. I hope you guys enjoy it.
Ever since the beginning of fiction, there have been heroes but among all the typical dashing swashbucklers, wandering cowboys, space adventurers, chivalrous martial artists and even spandex wearing superheroes, there’s a group of heroes that truly stand out among them. Heroes that no matter how over the top their adventures maybe, they were heroes we could really sympathize and connect with. However they’re the same kind of heroes who sometimes get mistaken for the typical heroes they’re so different from. Among them is a troubled Vietnam War soldier and Green Beret who went to hell and back, he’s name is John Rambo
Rambo first made his appearance in 1972 in David Morrell’s novel, First Blood, which was influenced by the Vietnam War and a 1968 novel titled Rogue Male by British novelist Geoffrey Household. The novel was about a tortured Green Beret who after returning home, only received humiliation and embarrassment by having anti-war groups throw garbage at him and call him names such as "baby killer". His experiences in Vietnam and back home resulted in an extreme case of post-traumatic stress disorder. At the same time, inner questions of self identity and reflectiveness caused Rambo to lash out at society rather than handling difficult situations in a "civilized" manner, which results in becoming the focus of a manhunt that results in the deaths of many police officers and National Guardsmen in the process and finally the death of the tortured protagonist by the hands of his own protective mentor, General Trautman.
In 1982, the novel was adapted into a motion picture starring Sylvestor Stallone, whose career that skyrocketed 2 years earlier after the success of Rocky and Rocky II was starting to lose steam after turning up several box office bombs. Assisting in writing the script, Stallone saw this as a chance to get his career back on track as well regain the critical praise he previously received for the first 2 Rocky movies, changes were made however. The movie alters the theme of the book by making Rambo more sympathetic and demonizing the police and national guard. By never having Rambo directly kill any of the police officers and their deaths being brought about by their own maniacal desire to capture Rambo, this change propels Rambo into the seat of hero instead of that of the cold blooded killer that he was in the novel, his fate was changed as well as the movie ended with Rambo surrendering to Trautman after an emotional reunion. There exists footage of an alternative ending that follows the ending of the novel that was dropped in favor of the more “positive” ending. The movie became a box office hit and would later be considered as one of Hollywood’s the most successful movies made in that year.
The success of the movie resulted in a sequel in 1985, Rambo: First Blood II, where Rambo is tasked by Col. Trautman to return to Vietnam in a search for American POWs remaining in Vietnamese captivity. The sequel grossing more than its predecessor, propelled John Rambo into the role of a sharpshooting action hero, transforming him into an action icon, resulting in huge cult popularity worldwide. Rambo became the personification of great heroism through the use of extreme violence and skill, especially when outnumbered.
The Rambo craze was now in full force, everything from merchandising toy guns, plastic knives, action figures, the iconic red bandanna and even an animated series produced by Ruby Spears titled Rambo: The Force Of Freedom, which was also an attempt to cash in on the G.I.Joe craze and had Rambo in a less violent and more heroic role. The show lasted one season and its only positive aspect was its opening theme which was an orchestracal version of First Blood’s soundtrack “It’s A Long Road” composed by Shuki Levy of Power Rangers fame. There were even attempts to cash in on the film’s success overseas with movie titles such as the notorious Indonesian actioner The Intruder and the cult Turkish actioner Rampage aka "Turkish Rambo" and even a series of Rambo adventure books published for the Egyptian market.
Rambo’s success also inspired the term "Going Rambo", which refers to any action or approach which is deemed to be aggressive.
A third movie in the franchise followed in 1988, Rambo III where Rambo joined forces with freedom fighters in Afganistan to take on the Soviet army and rescue his mentor Trautman. The third movie wasn’t as successful domestically but still managed to become a box office hit overseas.
It was then that the misinterpretation of the character began, originally conceived as an attempt to criticize the Vietnam War, John Rambo was mistaken as a personification of pro-US military tactics. Rambo would later been seen as a role model for many pro-war supporters while also being despised by anti-war supporters as a pro-war symbol. Rambo was turned from a war torn Green Beret returning from Vietnam into an image of a supersoldier who knows no boundaries, this would later lead to a division among the Rambo fanbase, between those who prefer David Morrell’s original vision and those who prefer the movie version.
Ever since the third instalment Rambo went on hiatus for more than a decade, during this hiatus, Stallone has been planning to resurrect the iconic Green Beret but many saw Rambo as a product of his time who might not have the same impact the character had during the 80’s. However in 2006, the resurrection of another iconic Stallone character Rocky Balboa was released resulting in both critical and commercial success, Stallone would work on resurrecting the Rambo franchise and began filming on the fourth instalment a year later. Simply titled Rambo, the plot revolved a middle aged war torn John Rambo is living peacefully capturing snakes and transporting people and cargo in an old boat. But when he joins a group of mercenaries to venture into war-torn Burma, and rescue a group of Christian aid workers who were kidnapped by the ruthless local infantry unit. Rambo refuses, but is convinced by another member, Sarah Miller, to take them up there. When the aid workers are captured by the Burmese army, Rambo decides to venture alone into the war zone to rescue them.
Rambo was finally released in 2008. Fans rejoiced as their hero returned to the big screen, however this Rambo was different than the last 2 instalments, John Rambo’s portrayal combined both the war torn veteran image originated in First Blood and the action hero image popularised by the later instalments. Gaining mixed critical reception, the movie would go on to make a domestic box office gross of $42,754,105, a foreign gross of $70,489,050 and an intake of $41,368,619 in DVD sales, giving it a total gross revenue of $154,611,774. Stallone was satisfied enough by the film’s profit to begin plans on a fifth instalment.
Throughout the years, the character has been through a never-ending evolution, from war torn Green Beret to action hero to animated supersoldier to icon of Action Cinema. And during that evolution, Rambo has entertainment moviegoers all over the world establishing his place in popular culture. Whatever the future holds for him, one thing is for; John Rambo holds a special place among the heroes of fiction.
Ever since the beginning of fiction, there have been heroes but among all the typical dashing swashbucklers, wandering cowboys, space adventurers, chivalrous martial artists and even spandex wearing superheroes, there’s a group of heroes that truly stand out among them. Heroes that no matter how over the top their adventures maybe, they were heroes we could really sympathize and connect with. However they’re the same kind of heroes who sometimes get mistaken for the typical heroes they’re so different from. Among them is a troubled Vietnam War soldier and Green Beret who went to hell and back, he’s name is John Rambo
Rambo first made his appearance in 1972 in David Morrell’s novel, First Blood, which was influenced by the Vietnam War and a 1968 novel titled Rogue Male by British novelist Geoffrey Household. The novel was about a tortured Green Beret who after returning home, only received humiliation and embarrassment by having anti-war groups throw garbage at him and call him names such as "baby killer". His experiences in Vietnam and back home resulted in an extreme case of post-traumatic stress disorder. At the same time, inner questions of self identity and reflectiveness caused Rambo to lash out at society rather than handling difficult situations in a "civilized" manner, which results in becoming the focus of a manhunt that results in the deaths of many police officers and National Guardsmen in the process and finally the death of the tortured protagonist by the hands of his own protective mentor, General Trautman.
In 1982, the novel was adapted into a motion picture starring Sylvestor Stallone, whose career that skyrocketed 2 years earlier after the success of Rocky and Rocky II was starting to lose steam after turning up several box office bombs. Assisting in writing the script, Stallone saw this as a chance to get his career back on track as well regain the critical praise he previously received for the first 2 Rocky movies, changes were made however. The movie alters the theme of the book by making Rambo more sympathetic and demonizing the police and national guard. By never having Rambo directly kill any of the police officers and their deaths being brought about by their own maniacal desire to capture Rambo, this change propels Rambo into the seat of hero instead of that of the cold blooded killer that he was in the novel, his fate was changed as well as the movie ended with Rambo surrendering to Trautman after an emotional reunion. There exists footage of an alternative ending that follows the ending of the novel that was dropped in favor of the more “positive” ending. The movie became a box office hit and would later be considered as one of Hollywood’s the most successful movies made in that year.
The success of the movie resulted in a sequel in 1985, Rambo: First Blood II, where Rambo is tasked by Col. Trautman to return to Vietnam in a search for American POWs remaining in Vietnamese captivity. The sequel grossing more than its predecessor, propelled John Rambo into the role of a sharpshooting action hero, transforming him into an action icon, resulting in huge cult popularity worldwide. Rambo became the personification of great heroism through the use of extreme violence and skill, especially when outnumbered.
The Rambo craze was now in full force, everything from merchandising toy guns, plastic knives, action figures, the iconic red bandanna and even an animated series produced by Ruby Spears titled Rambo: The Force Of Freedom, which was also an attempt to cash in on the G.I.Joe craze and had Rambo in a less violent and more heroic role. The show lasted one season and its only positive aspect was its opening theme which was an orchestracal version of First Blood’s soundtrack “It’s A Long Road” composed by Shuki Levy of Power Rangers fame. There were even attempts to cash in on the film’s success overseas with movie titles such as the notorious Indonesian actioner The Intruder and the cult Turkish actioner Rampage aka "Turkish Rambo" and even a series of Rambo adventure books published for the Egyptian market.
Rambo’s success also inspired the term "Going Rambo", which refers to any action or approach which is deemed to be aggressive.
A third movie in the franchise followed in 1988, Rambo III where Rambo joined forces with freedom fighters in Afganistan to take on the Soviet army and rescue his mentor Trautman. The third movie wasn’t as successful domestically but still managed to become a box office hit overseas.
It was then that the misinterpretation of the character began, originally conceived as an attempt to criticize the Vietnam War, John Rambo was mistaken as a personification of pro-US military tactics. Rambo would later been seen as a role model for many pro-war supporters while also being despised by anti-war supporters as a pro-war symbol. Rambo was turned from a war torn Green Beret returning from Vietnam into an image of a supersoldier who knows no boundaries, this would later lead to a division among the Rambo fanbase, between those who prefer David Morrell’s original vision and those who prefer the movie version.
Ever since the third instalment Rambo went on hiatus for more than a decade, during this hiatus, Stallone has been planning to resurrect the iconic Green Beret but many saw Rambo as a product of his time who might not have the same impact the character had during the 80’s. However in 2006, the resurrection of another iconic Stallone character Rocky Balboa was released resulting in both critical and commercial success, Stallone would work on resurrecting the Rambo franchise and began filming on the fourth instalment a year later. Simply titled Rambo, the plot revolved a middle aged war torn John Rambo is living peacefully capturing snakes and transporting people and cargo in an old boat. But when he joins a group of mercenaries to venture into war-torn Burma, and rescue a group of Christian aid workers who were kidnapped by the ruthless local infantry unit. Rambo refuses, but is convinced by another member, Sarah Miller, to take them up there. When the aid workers are captured by the Burmese army, Rambo decides to venture alone into the war zone to rescue them.
Rambo was finally released in 2008. Fans rejoiced as their hero returned to the big screen, however this Rambo was different than the last 2 instalments, John Rambo’s portrayal combined both the war torn veteran image originated in First Blood and the action hero image popularised by the later instalments. Gaining mixed critical reception, the movie would go on to make a domestic box office gross of $42,754,105, a foreign gross of $70,489,050 and an intake of $41,368,619 in DVD sales, giving it a total gross revenue of $154,611,774. Stallone was satisfied enough by the film’s profit to begin plans on a fifth instalment.
Throughout the years, the character has been through a never-ending evolution, from war torn Green Beret to action hero to animated supersoldier to icon of Action Cinema. And during that evolution, Rambo has entertainment moviegoers all over the world establishing his place in popular culture. Whatever the future holds for him, one thing is for; John Rambo holds a special place among the heroes of fiction.
