Feminism in sport and film

“A million dollar baby”

The film was produced in 2004 in America which was directed by Clint Eastwood who was a boxing trainer. He was underappreciated and his mistakes have been haunting him from his past and had a great quest to help an amateur boxer realize and achieve her dreams in order to become a professional. Maggie was a poor 31 years old waitress who was from a low class dysfunctional loser family from Ozarks (Eastwood, 2004). She shows up in a Los Angeles gym that was owned by Frankie who also operated it in order to make a difference through boxing. He was old and a bad tempered trainer who did not agree to train Maggie as he argued that she was too old to start boxing as a career. Nevertheless, Maggie works tirelessly despite the hitch which made Frankie friend encourage and offer to help her. Reluctantly Frankie agrees to help her (Eastwood, 2004). Maggie was able to clinch first round wins for Frankie which resorted to bribery from other managers in order to have Maggie content for the welterweight class which left her with a broken nose in the first round. Socially and culturally boxing is generally accepted as seen as a male dominated field which many would not consider embracing as a career especially for women who was of Maggie’s age (Eastwood, 2004). Her mother was overweight, her brother was jailed, her sister a single mother who only continue to lie about her child being alive in order to continue receiving the government aid.

Maggie’s success did not come easily as she had to train at least five hours every day. The training was extensive as she gained 19 pounds I muscle that was aided by her trainer. The extensive training left her with a life-threatening infection which she did not tell Eastwood about it would have been out of charter for Maggie (Eastwood, 2004). A paternal relationship was established between Frankie and Maggie who did substitute for his estranged daughter that made Frankie reject several offers that were in connection with big fights. As Maggie continued to experience success she thought of giving her mother a good life by buying her a house since they were poor but she was criticized for imperiling the government aid as everybody was laughing about her back at home. The film has an entire character of Eastwood with his estranged daughter as throughout the film they really don’t get well together.  This created a great chance for Maggie to bond and experiences the fatherly love (Eastwood, 2004). The film is seen to empower a female protagonist by showing how she overcame the economic diversity that had affected her life by beating the gender stereotypes.

There is the greed of power as her family is portrayed in a manner that is full of suspicions. She says that her family trouble comes by a pound and it is something that she has to leave with. At the end of the film, her family cartoonist act is seen when they arrive at Maggie’s bedside in order to ask her to sign of her assets to them before she dies so that they can be able to go to Disney land shows oppression to Maggie (Andris & Frederick, 2007). As a family, they should have been there to support her and allow her to sigh of at her own free will rather than asking her.   Her mother’s act of rebuking the house in the name losing the government aid and that she will be required to get job shows oppression to the government. This is because the funds they are been given can be used to support another family or be diverted to other meaningful projects. The embodiment is seen in Maggie’s family is seen to be more materialistic as they value money more than life and they are willing to lie about anything so that they may get financial support from the government (Cornell, 2009).

The film has strongly shown how Maggie a woman follows her dream with great passion, determination, faith and strength and hard work will go a long way in beating all the odds (Eastwood, 2004). Her act has shown that as a woman anything is possible so long as we are willing to work for it which creates a great thrill and earns great admiration to many. There is woman empowerment as there is beneficial growth, strength, independence a life option and victory that makes life worth living. There are struggles, pain conflict and bitterness but all these can be conquered. The film has also shown some weakness as it is loosely based on the life of a real person. Maggie was never allowed to own her success as the real power was given to Frankie (Eastwood, 2004). On a stretch of the imagination, it is not possible to say that the film is entirely feminist as it only had a female boxer but filled with Eastwood character. If I was the director I would have brought a different slant in the film by to explore why and how a woman would view the world in such a manner rather than just accepting it in the way it is given in order to broaden the female aspect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reference

Andris, S., & Frederick, U. (2007). Women willing to fight: The fighting woman in film. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars.

Cornell, D. (2009). Clint Eastwood and issues of American masculinity. New York: Fordham University Press.

Eastwood C (2004). Million dollar baby. Retrived from  http://123movies.to/film/million-dollar-baby-5394/watching.html