Project 2.2

Weng Yuchao  (Wesley)

Dr. Marquardt

ENG 1430 W10

2015. 3. 23

   I just watch movie called First Blood, which is an old film showed in 1982. This film is about Rambo, who is a veteran survived in the Vietnam War. He can’t integrate into the society after suffering from that war. When he walked into a small town, a police officer thought he was a drifter. So the officer took him to the station and abused him. Rambo can’t stand anymore and escaped the station to the mountain. Then Rambo used the skills he learned in Vietnam to fight with police in the mountain. Then he got weapon from the police and came back to town to destroy. After that, Rambo's former commanding officer arrived and tried to persuade him to give up hurting people. After watching the whole film, I think this film is a Cinderella story. As a Cinderella story, I think the story should have a hero, he would be ill-treated at first, and he should get through a transition. What’s more, there should be many Villains to have conflicts with the hero. And the hero should have a helper who would stand out to give hero tools or opportunity to make the transition happen.

 AS a Cinderella story, I think there should be an obvious transition in the story. And this transition should have great effect on hero/heroine, hero or heroine would begin to change something about him/herself and make his or her situation better. In the traditional Cinderella story, with the help of some magic things, Cinderella changed herself and made her situation better, she became the queen and didn’t have to do labor work anymore. In the film First blood, Rambo was chasing by the police for some ridiculous reasons. Rambo didn’t want to kill them at first, but the police pushed him so hard that Rambo can’t stand anymore, he began to fight for his freedom and punished these injustice polices.

  What’s more, a Cinderella story should have a helper who stands out when the hero/heroine was in the most difficult situation, and gave hero/heroine a chance to transform and get rid of current dilemma. In the traditional Cinderella story, the helpe is an old lady, who is a witch. The old lady used her magic power to help Cinderella be more beautiful, and many small animals came to help too. And it’s the old lady and these animals that gave Cinderella a chance to go to the party and meet the prince, which lead to Cinderella’s transformation, Cinderella became a queen, and she won’t be ill-treated anymore. In the film First Blood, the helper is Rambo’s former commanding officer in Vietnam War. He knew Rambo very well, he knew it’s hard for Rambo to transform the character solider to a normal citizen. So he tried to clam Rambo down, and explain Rambo’s situation to the police. With the help of Rambo’s former commanding officer, Rambo got rid of the police and became a normal person.

  In addition, a Cinderella story should also have Villains that always against the hero/heroine. Villains usually are people, but not always, it can be environment or something. But villains are something or someone go against hero/heroine. In the traditional Cinderella story, the villain can be Cinderella’s owner, who made her do lot of labor. And other female slaves who always laughed at her can also be villain. These villains go against Cinderella and keep her away from her transformation. In the film first blood, the most obvious villain is the police officer who looked down upon Rambo and abused him in the jail for some ridicules reasons. What’s worse, the police officer called other polices to catch Rambo in the mountain and push him so hard. The Vietnam war can also be the villain, it’s this war that made Rambo be sensitive about the environment and can fit in the society.