Raging Bull

The society one lives in invariably influences the vocational path that person chooses to take. For example, living within a communist society, a person’s career is chosen solely by interest or inheritance because every person earns the same amount whether they are a doctor or a janitor. But in our capitalistic, free market society, people are often driven by the desire for money. Sometimes people are able to both enjoy their profession and earn a substantial amount of money, as in the case with Jake La Motta, the protagonist in Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull. Because Jake is a boxer, society is essentially giving him monetary incentive to act in a violent and malicious manner. Jake is rewarded for his vulgar disposition inside the ring, but these actions continue outside the ring, isolating himself from his relationships and turning himself into an animal. He does not distinguish between the acceptable form of releasing his anger (inside the ring) and the unacceptable ways he...