Million Dollar Baby: Difference between revisions

Margaret Fitzerald ([[Hilary Swank]]) is a down-and-out waitress striving for a better life. So she does what all down-and-out waitresswaitresses do to help herselfthemselves out - she learns how to box. The first portion of the movie deals with Margaret training herself at the Hit Pit trying to get Frankie Dunn ([[Clint Eastwood]]) to train her into becoming a credible boxer. She eventually succeeds and is able to get Frankie and another trainer and former boxer Eddie Dupris ([[Morgan Freeman]]) to warm up to her.

[[Better Than It Sounds]]. Noted for its strong characters and interesting storyline, the film won four Oscars, including Best Picture.

** {{spoiler|And Maggie becomes a quadraplegic.}}

** Maggie's story about her dog Axel and her father {{spoiler|putting it down when it was sick.}} Actually used more skillfully in the film than in the short story, in which she tells the story right before {{spoiler|asking Frankie to kill her}}. In the movie it comes a good hour beforehand.

* [[Determinator]]: No matter how discouraging her circumstances or the people around her get, Maggie refuses to give up on her dream of becoming a boxing champion. {{spoiler|After she's paralyzed, she's no less determined to end her own life.}}

* [[Gut Punch]]: orOr in this specific case {{spoiler|a sucker punch from behind}} which triggered the [[Genre Shift]].

** When she starts winning big purses, Maggie buys her mother a house. ''A house.''. She berates Maggie for not giving her cash instead. If she's a homeowner, you see, she won't qualify for welfare anymore and she doesn't want to work. {{spoiler|Toward the end, we find out she never signed the ownership transfer paperwork even though she's living in the house, and it's a major plot point that Maggie still owns the house.}}

** Not neccessarilynecessarily. It isn't shown (probably because Clint Eastwood felt that it would distract the audience from {{spoiler|the fact that Maggie has been paralyzed}}), but the referee was getting annoyed with {{spoiler|her constant breaking of the rules, and even threatened to disqualify her once. BilleBillie was probably disqualified immediately once the doctors realized the injuries she had inflicted on Maggie after ''intentionally punching her while the stool was in the way''.}}

'''Father Horvak:''' There are no Demigods, you fucking Pagan! }}

* [[Rule of Drama]]: As powerful as they are, the hospital scenes are a tad unrealistic. In [[Real Life]], {{spoiler|hospitalized patients have every right to decline treatment. If they're attached to a breathing machine against their will, they don't have to attempt suicide or beg friends to euthanize them. They can just ask doctors to turn off their respirator. And no hospital would ever keep a patient sedated 24/7 just to stop them from committing suicide--they would more likely get them psychiatric counseling or put them on anti-depressants}}.

* [[There Are No Therapists]]: {{spoiler|Towards the end, Maggie becomes so despondent that she attempts suicide by biting her tongue and begs Frankie to pull the plug on her. The hospital's first reaction is to keep her sedated 24/7 so she can't attempt suicide--instead of getting her the psychiatric help that she obviously needs}}.

* [[Tongue Trauma]]: {{spoiler|After she's paralyzed, Maggie tries to commit suicide by biting through her tongue.}}