Film Analysis Of Rudy

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Rudy is the biological account of a boy who grew up in a house where dreams did not exist, and no one believed in his chance of playing Norte Dame Football because of his grades, size and lack of athletic skill. Rudy proved that failure is a great internal motivator. Rudy’s life began in a 1950’s steel mining town in Jolliet Illinois. One of fourteen kids the movie really focused on the specific relationships with his dad, and older bro, Frank. This movie showed the greater the struggle the greater the victory. Most athletes’ increase their intrinsic motivation with competitive success, but this was not case with Rudy, the more he suffered failure the more motivated he became. Intrinsic motivation is defined as playing for pride, the love…show more content…
Rudy’s father believes following dreams only causes heartache. “Chasing a stupid dream causes you and everyone around you heartache.” Rudy’s desire to not be like everyone in his family drives him to leave his home for South Bend, Indiana. Rudy’s says to his father, “I DON’T WANT TO BE LIKE FRANK OR JOHN!” Rudy’s father believes that just working a good job at the mill and raising a family should be enough. Frank is miserable working at the mill and does not understand Rudy’s obsession with attending Notre Dame and playing football. His constant negativity towards Rudy only seems to make Rudy stronger in his convictions. When Rudy brings home his first good report card from junior college and tells his father and brother that next year he will be playing for Notre Dame his brother says, “Do we still have to listen to this?” The more Rudy is rejected by his family the more he wants to prove everyone wrong. There were several mentors in Rudy’s life that help supported him in following his dream. This paper will touch on just a few of the majors. The first one was Pete. He was Rudy’s best friend who died in an accident while they were both working at the mill in their early twenties. Before Pete died he gave Rudy a Notre Dame jacket and told him “you were born to wear that jacket.” He also said to Rudy “Well you…show more content…
In Rudy’s case in was not his fear of failure that drove him, but his constant failings and people telling him he couldn’t do it because he was too small, not smart enough or had no athletic skill. In high school his teacher calls him a “dreamer not a doer.” When he tries to take a tour of his dream school, Notre Dame the same teacher says to him, “The secret to happiness in this life is to be grateful for the gifts the good lord had bestowed on us, Rudy not everyone is meant to go to college.” After Pete’s death Rudy then decided he could no longer wait to follow his dream. The more Rudy failed at something the harder he worked. While attending Holy Cross he was denied entry into Notre Dame three times. With each failure he would pick himself back up and work even harder. During his last attempt to enter the school he was feeling extremely discouraged, his entire self-worth was based on getting into Notre Dame and proving everyone wrong. Rudy said to Father Cavanaugh, “I don’t care what kind of job I did, if it doesn’t produce results then it doesn’t mean anything.” The Father says to Rudy “I think it will.” This little statement s helps give Rudy the positive reinforcement he needs to remind him that the external reward is secondary to the internal reward of self-confidence and self-worth. On Rudy’s last and final attempt he was accepted to the University of Notre
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