Million Dollar Baby

Million Dollar Baby is a 2004 film directed by Clint Eastwood about a boxing trainer named Frankie Dunn and a female boxer named Margaret "Maggie" Fitzgerald. If you want to know the details of the plot and you don't mind spoilers, then please check this out.

There are three parts of the film that I consider contentious.

The first part is Billie "The Blue Bear" and her importance to the plot. She seems to be nothing more than a plot device used to get Maggie's neck broken and turn her into a quadriplegic. I think it's grating that Billie was not even shown being punished for her crimes - because I can promise you, no one in Real Life breaks a person's neck without facing serious consequences. Really, Clint Eastwood could (or should) have found a way to make Maggie a quadriplegic without having to create a Karma Houdini character.

The second part is the portrayal of people from the Ozarks, also known by the terms hillybillies, hicks, and white trash. I understand that people living in rural areas tend to be portrayed rather poorly, but Clint Eastwood's portrayal of them comes off as hateful, mean-spirited, and tasteless. Really, it's like he has a hatred of people from the Ozarks and thinks of them as a shameful disease. This may qualify as Unfortunate Implications, if he did not intend it that way.

The third, and most contentious, part is the pro-euthanasia stance the film takes. I need to say right here and now that I am against euthanasia. Why? Because euthanasia is a slippery slope topic. Perhaps there are cases where it is justified, but then people might start pushing and pushing until it finally reaches unacceptable levels. I simply do not consider Maggie's case to be justified. Also, Maggie compared her situation with a sick puppy that had to be put down. Yes, she wanted to die, and she put herself, a human being, in the same category as a puppy. This may qualify for Unfortunate Implications.

Despite what this film may have you believe, becoming a quadriplegic is not the end of the world. You don't believe me? Take a look at this.

edited 11th Aug '11 4:01:05 PM by TiggersAreGreat

From living around the Ozarks, I have to admit that Eastwood's portrayal is accurate. Most of them are hateful and self-centered. That is why I want to leave.

But when I saw it in the theatre, those same people found the portrayal hilarious.

edited 11th Aug '11 4:55:45 PM by Buscemi

Well, I'm glad to see that someone here hails from the Ozarks. I would have thought that Real Life people from the Ozarks would have been offended by the way Million Dollar Baby protrays them. Maybe it really does take all sorts.

edited 11th Aug '11 5:41:10 PM by TiggersAreGreat

Ozarks...that's the place where all those red water bottles come from, isn't it?

In an unrelated note, why don't we make a thread for Clint Eastwood movies?

That's Ozarka, which I believe is made in Colorado.

Ooops, my bad. Ah, I used to chug those like drunkards back when I was in the States. Good times.

a) Boxing is an inherently dangerous sport. I believe people have even died in the ring. Doesn't mean the opponent is punished if they stay within the rules. I don't think that was unrealistic.

b) Eh, didn't care. I thought it was just about her family rather than about all people from the Ozarks.

c) The part of the film was clearly intending to provoke an emotional and thoughtful response in the audience. Even if you disagree the way it was portrayed, Eastwood was taking on a sensitive topic that is rarely broached in mainstream medium and showing how people could come to think the way they do. For me it was one of the highlights of the film.

Billie knocked out Maggie with a sucker punch from behind after a round had ended. Is that within the rules? I am pretty sure that Billie did not intend to get Maggie's neck broken like that. Still, I would hate to be in Billie's position after that happened. In fact, Lucia Rijker, the woman who played Billie, did admit to being uncomfortably aware that a lot of people hate her character to death.

Now that I think about it, Maggie's mother claimed that everybody back home was laughing at Maggie. Of course, Maggie and her family were the only people from the Ozarks explicitly shown. It is a possibility that Maggie's mother was lying and just being spiteful. Yeah, leave it to a handful of people to do bad stuff and leave everybody assuming that if they do bad stuff, then the group that they are a part of does bad stuff, too.

I have to agree that the euthanasia part is certainly meant to get a reaction out of people. Still, I just wish that the ending did not have to end that way. From what I heard, though, the film apparently handled the euthanasia part more skillfully than the book it was based on did.

edited 17th Aug '11 3:55:43 PM by TiggersAreGreat

I've been to the Ozarks, and clayeaters are nigh universally horrible. Just fucking nasty.

Okay, I just had to look up "clayeater". I had no idea that actually eating clay is a long-time tradition in the Southern part of the U.S. I'm willing to bet that some people from the Ozarks probably think that city-folk are universally horrible.

edited 17th Aug '11 5:24:48 PM by TiggersAreGreat

Wait you haven't actually seen the film?

Why are you commenting on a piece of work you haven't seen?

Of course they do, because they're resentful, backwards hicks with a largely methamphetamine based metabolism.

Pretty area, though.

It's more of a shithole to me. Dirty, with bad roads and the same few places everywhere. The only people that live there are old people and soccer moms. If you want to do something with your life, 90% of your options are to leave.

It's not the place where you want to live but some reason, people keep coming.

Yes, I haven't actually seen the film. I'm not really sure why I'm commenting on a film I haven't seen. Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment.

Then again, this thread has generated some interesting responses, hasn't it? Come to think of it, I don't think we have a trope for bad people from the Ozarks (apart from Corrupt Hick, which probably does not apply to Million Dollar Baby). Yeah, it could be titled Odious Ozarkite, or Horrible Hillbilly. We should head over to You Know That Thing Where to set up this trope.

Okay, guys. I just set up Horrible Hillbilly in You Know That Thing Where. Please do not hesitate to go there, comment, and offer examples!

Well, guys. I ended up discarding Horrible Hillbilly on the ground that there is already a trope called Corrupt Hick. Apparently, Tropes Are Flexible. On the plus side, though, Corrupt Hick now has more examples listed on its page than it did before!

@OP: while i adgree with your views on euthanasia, i think others are rigth when they say it was clearly intending to provoke an emotional and thoughtful response in the audience than be a statement on eastwood's political veiws.

This isn't a good thing in my mind, it felt more than a little emotionally manipulative to use such a controversial subject for a dramatic twist. I would of preferred it more if had a open right to die message from the onset.