The Luna Theatre, The Fighter, and Irish Pride

Savannah Szymanski

Professor Conway

Freshman Honors Seminar

10 November 2014

The Luna Theatre

            The Luna Theatre’s delightful appearance and indie folk motif in addition to their respectable service provided for a pleasurable experience while attending a film there. From the theatre’s décor to their products available for purchasing, the Luna Theater established a unique impression where their style and perceptions seem unmatched by any average corporation owned theatre in the area. The theatre’s decorations all followed a folky interior design similar to a style commonly seen in the mid-western part of the country. The Theatre has various shops lined up leading to the theatre entrance where various goods are being sold, including coffee, pastries, artwork, and even clothes. Though the entire theatre was relatively unfinished when the class trip was taken to the theatre, the facility itself still appeared extremely well thought out and prepared for visitors. The theatre has an interesting bravura and character that all mixed together in order to form an intriguing and pleasurable experience at the Luna Theatre.

            Throughout the class trip to the newly built Luna Theatre, the story of Micky Ward was revealed within the entertaining and unique film The Fighter. The film itself was written by Ward and describes the stat and success of his career. The unexpected rise to fame that Micky Ward stumbles upon within the film displays how an unpopular boxer and an underappreciated man can shift from being an underdog to a well-known fighter with a boxing title. In addition to this film, the excerpt Irish Pride also describes the life of Micky Ward in his quest for a successful boxing career of which he and his family could be proud of. The excerpt is seemingly more of a summary of Micky Ward’s life, while the film provides an insight to Ward’s emotional standpoint and personality throughout the peak of his career.

            Micky Ward was born to an opinionated family and raised in the underprivileged town of Lowell, Massachusetts where he developed his talent for boxing while in the shadow of his brother’s former career. The two brothers, Micky and Dicky, were displayed in the film as not only extremely close, but also extremely unequal in terms of the attention they were given by both the members of their community and the members of their family. Dicky received the majority of the attention rather than Micky and could arguably be seen as the favorite son in the family. In addition to Dicky’s favoritism within their household, his former career as a semi successful boxer attracted the responsiveness from the public eye to the point where Micky’s career was perceived as seemingly obsolete. The intriguing character dynamic established between the two brothers in the film not only provides audiences with the personal background of Micky Ward before his achievements in boxing, but also allows viewers to see the emotional mindset of Micky in a way that is not displayed within the Irish Pride reading.

            Micky Ward’s inspiring story of trading in his life as a mediocre boxer with a relatively unheard of career for a victorious and motivating profession along with a championship title proves to be extremely inspiring to the Lowell community given Ward’s ties to the city. Being a native born Lowell community member, Ward is displayed as an inspiration to those growing up within the city. Micky Ward spent the majority of his training time within Lowell, which means not only did he live in the city, but he also endured the most successful period of his career in the city of Lowell as well. The act of completing his training within the city that raised him further reaffirms the reputation Ward has amongst the community members for rising up and retaining an efficacious career despite the large obstacles that one faces when coming from an underprivileged area. At the time of Micky Ward’s career, Lowell was known for its financially unstable and economically deprived community that was faced with a vast amount of issues, including a lack of jobs throughout the city, which eliminated most possibilities for Lowell to improve their standards. By defying the odds presented to him by living in such an economically detrimental area, Micky Ward serves as a star to many Lowell community members, especially the young wishful thinkers of up and coming generations.