Animals (Motif)
Animals are one of the film's most crucial motifs: Jake wears a leopard print robe, he’s known to the public as “the raging bull,” Jake's neighborhood calls him an animal, Jake accuses Joey of being an animal, Jake threatens to eat his neighbor’s dog, and Jake screams, “I’m not an animal!” in his jail cell. The motif of animals symbolizes Jake’s primal instincts—he cannot express his emotions without using violence to assert his dominance over others, in and out of the ring. Throughout the film, Jake displays his barbarism, and when he attempts to convince himself of his own humanity in his jail cell, we finally feel a degree of compassion for this animalistic man who doesn’t understand himself.
Boxing (Allegory)
The boxing ring functions as an allegory for life and all its myriad struggles. For Jake, boxing is a cathartic outlet—he performs the sport to unleash all of his aggression, paralyzing jealousy, and fury onto his opponents without legal, domestic, or emotional repercussions. The ring is like a the theater where Jake confronts his internal conflicts and animalistic instincts, while the audience passively witnesses him enact this violent scene of self-abuse. When Jake retires from boxing, his life becomes increasingly meaningless: he’s estranged from Joey, Vickie divorces him, he runs a pathetic and sleazy nightclub, he’s 60 pounds heavier, he spends two years in prison, and he pitifully performs series of dramatic readings. Without boxing, he no longer has a true purpose or a legitimate outlet for self-expression.
Mirrors (symbol)
Throughout Raging Bull, mirrors connote a self-examination or performance. When Jake prepares for his act, he stares into a mirror; after he acknowledges that he’s “done a lot of things,” he gazes into his own reflection; when he suppresses his sexual desire for Vickie, he pensively looks at himself in a mirror. Jake doesn’t possess the ability to articulate or express himself with words, so mirrors enable a private examination of himself, a contemplation of how he perceives himself to the world.
Water (Motif)
Warm water connotes Jake’s happiness with Vickie, whereas freezing ice water signifies the strife and misery of Jake’s later life. From her introduction at the neighborhood pool, to her drinking of water at Jake’s parents’ apartment, to her and Jake kissing each other in the pool during the home movies, Vickie is constantly associated with the life-sustaining and purifying quality of water. In this case, water conveys the jovial days of Jake’s domestic life. By contrast, freezing water first notably appears when Jake pours ice over his erection to suppress his sexual desire for Vickie. Later, Jake plunges his bruised fight in a bucket of ice water after his first loss to Sugar Ray. These images symbolize Jake’s mounting aggression and detachment from Vickie, his personal failure and masochism, and a chilling disregard for his opponents.
The Middleweight Championship Belt (Symbol)
Jake’s middleweight championship belt symbolizes his greatest accomplishments. He spent his entire career in pursuit of the middleweight title, and when he finally gains the object representing the title, Scorsese cuts to Jake’s reaction in slow motion. Here, Jake experiences such a triumphant, eternal bliss that his perception of time slows down. However, when Jake later urgently needs $10,000 to avoid jail, he smashes the jewels off his belt, only to discover the jewels are essentially worthless without the belt. Throughout the film, Jake’s actions—rather than his words—define him, and no action is more character-defining than his willingness to demolish the very symbol of his successes. Like everything of importance in Jake’s life, from his relationship with Vickie to his muscular physique to the championship belt, he endures severe pain to get it, and then destroys it.
