chase her dream of becoming a boxer and encourage her along the way. Although this male encouragement of female participation in sports seems to promote female empowerment, a closer look at Maggie’s relationship with Frankie reveals that Maggie’s only purpose in the film was to be the daughter Frankie lost so that he could redeem himself by being a good father. Instead of portraying an empowered female athlete, Million Dollar Baby reduces Maggie to a tool in Frankie’s redemption of masculinity. As Hannah Hamad explains, “Postfeminist fatherhood is the new hegemonic masculinity.” Frankie’s aging masculinity is thus reversed by his paternal redemption. From the beginning, Frankie is depicted as a failed father, illustrated by the ‘return to sender’ letters that he writes to his daughter Katie who never responds. This suggests that his developing relationship with Maggie is the central story in the film rather than Maggie’s pursuit of a successful boxing career. This is also illustrated as Maggie compares Frankie to her father, telling him, “You remind me of my daddy.” Maggie …show more content…
No chance in the world of being what she needed to be. A year and a half later, she’s fighting for the championship of the world. You did that…Because of you, Maggie got her shot. If she dies today, you know what her last thought will be? ‘I think I did all right.’” As Viridiana Lieberman explains, Million Dollar Baby “literally sacrifices its female athlete for a celebration of the father figure,” (Lieberman 25). The story is not about Maggie’s success, it is about Frankie’s role in getting her there. It doesn’t matter what happened to Maggie in the end, Frankie successfully redeemed his masculinity by being the father he couldn’t be to his own daughter. This is further emphasized by the final shot of Frankie sitting in the diner where Maggie and her own father used to eat. He achieved his purpose, and Maggie was just his tool to get
He takes Maggie everywhere he goes. At some point, he is judged as a bad father as he allows Maggie to skip school often. Valentin has his own reason; she was diagnosed with an unknown sickness and he wants to spend as much time as possible with Maggie. Valentin and Maggie visit the doctor’s office very often in order for Valentin to receive his “shots”. In reality, Maggie is receiving the vitamins she needs for her health. Although Valentin has no experience, I believe he does an amazing job raising Maggie. Maggie has a father role figure to watch over her and protect her. At one point in my life, I did not. I was not able to live with him until I was six years old. I believe Eugenio portrays the problems many parents may cause their kids when they go through a
According to Schrock and Schwalbe understanding a man is being able to clearly identify that they have traits of hegemonic masculinity. Masculinity is defined by Schrock and Schwalbe as “a set of conventional signifying practices through which the identity ‘man’ is established and upheld in interaction.” (131) However, Bird defines a man, through the three different acts of hegemonic masculinity, which includes emotional detachment, competiveness, and sexual objectification of women. Women in many different films are known for being subjugated by men. Some women are able to overcome being subjugated and are able to have control and dominance when it comes gaining power. Women are able to achieve this through both manhood acts and their own actions. In
The movie that will be examined in this critical film review is Million Dollar Baby. Million Dollar Baby was set back in time with a girl wanting to fit but the trainer did not want to train her. In the beginning of the movie, Frankie the trainer did not want to teach her how to fight because he does not train girls. As the movie progresses, Eddie “scrap”, a back in the day amazing fighter was able to convince Frankie to take Maggie and train her to be the best. When Frankie starts to train Maggie, one can tell that there is a father/daughter relationship between the two of them all the way up until the end of the movie. Both Frankie and Maggie have negative pasts; Frankie’s past being his daughter wanting nothing to do with him, and Maggie’s
In this story, Maggie is a lot like her mother. They both are uneducated, loving, caring, and allow Dee to run over them. Maggie has been through more things than her mother has though, because of the incident that happened. Maggie has scars like Emily, except Maggie’s scars are from a house fire (319). The house fire has impacted Maggie’s life tremendously, since she is very self-conscious and shy. Walker stated that Maggie is “ashamed of the burn scars down her arms and legs (318). The mother is protective of Maggie and will be there for her whenever she needs her too. Even though her mother knows all her struggles, she still supports her and pushes her to be better. I think that is one reason she pushes her to marry John Thomas, because she wants her to become her own person and to be strong (319). The mother of “Everyday Use” is opposite from the mother in “I Stand Here Ironing”, because she is there for her children no matter what their financial status
Masculinity is described as possession of attributes considered typical of a man. Hegemonic masculinity is a form of masculine character with cultural idealism and emphasis that connects masculinity to competitiveness, toughness, and women subordination. Masculinity hegemonic is the enforcement of male dominion over a society. Masculine ideology dates back to the time of agrarian and the industrial revolution in Europe when survival compelled men to leave their homesteads to work in industries to earn a living for their families while women remained at home to take care of family affairs (Good and Sherrod 210). Women did not work in industries then because industrial labor was considered too physical beyond their capacity. This led to definition of roles which placated the position of men in a society while condemning women as mere subordinates who cannot do without men. The critics of gender stereotypes in America describe the following five hegemonic features of masculinity: frontiersman ship, heterosexuality, occupational achievement, familial patriarchy, and physical force and control (Trujillo 4). The advent of the 20th century led to sweeping changes in American masculinity.
In this paper, I argue that while sexual violence is arguably the monopoly of men, it is culturally cultivated rather than biologically determined. Consistent with the concept of Hegemonic Masculinity which theorises male domination of other males and subordination of females (Connell, 2005), I assert that rape is particularly rampant in societies where sexual violence is an effective means of attaining this status quo. Thus when rape is institutionalised in the context of war where masculinity is measured by the ability and willingness to assert violence upon the enemy, rape becomes rampant because it is not only condoned but authorised (Price, 2001). I then debunk the claims of biological determinism that men are inherently predisposed to rape in order to ensure reproductive continuity (Knauft et.al, 1991) by highlighting that victims of non-consensual sexual penetration are often males, children and post-menopausal women through whom reproduction cannot occur. Thus, rape does not demonstrate biological propensity but rather societal pursuit of male dominance. I conclude that since the occurrence of rape is consistently higher in more patriarchal societies, the issue of rape is more deep-rooted than isolated cases of unregulated male testosterone or criminality but it is rather the by-product of cultural legitimisation of male sexual violence.
As time passes, Maggie’s persistence and Eddie’s pushiness finally change Frankie’s mind. This is when the true story begins. Maggie’s determination and strong will to fulfill her dream, combined with Frankie’s excellent training skills, launch both of them into the professional boxing orbit where they gloriously win battle after battle. Although the story seems like a big cliché, in truth, the world of Million Dollar Baby involves much more than boxing and success. Clint Eastwood treats such subject matters as love, fear, intricate relationships, and even religion.... ...
Maggie is an undeniably insecure girl. She lacks any self-confidence and is very quiet. She doesn’t speak her mind very much, and this is because of her insecurities. Maggie’s insecurities stem from her sister, Dee. Dee had many things that Maggie never had. Dee was beautiful and had an education, things Maggie had always wanted. Maggie lacks confidence because she lived in her sister’s shadow her entire life.
Margaret (Maggie), a young, beautiful woman has a marriage on the rocks and a strong dislike towards Mae and her children. For instance, when Maggie starts talking about Skipper during her con...
Wyman starts off by looking at the main character, Maggie. He explains that in the film, Maggie’s only positive role model was her father. She did not consider her mother a model and eventually developed a father-daughter relationship with Frankie. Wyman believes that Maggie’s scenario falls into the stereotype that women need to be managed by men. She lets Frankie decide when she will train, what her boxing name will be, and whether or not she will die. Wyman then moves on to the next women in the movie, Maggie’s mother. Maggie’s mother, Earline, is shown as a fat, lazy, inconsiderate, and a cheater. Wyman argues that this negatively displays fat people as awful people who are lazy and greedy. She also argues that Earline promotes the stereotype that one of the few options for women is to get fat and cheat the system, like how Earline is on welfare. Wyman then moves on to the final female character in the film, the dirty boxer Billie. Billie stops at nothing to get what she wants and has the attitude of a man. Wyman explains that this enforces the stereotype that women must break the rules and act like
Maggie wanted to show that all her hard graft has given her a new life, but her mother had a different perspective. She has no appreciation of Maggie’s purchase, and she acted like she couldn’t care less. A wide angle shot captures Maggie’s side profile and everyone else in the room. That specific angle shows the seriousness of her mother’s and Mardell’s faces, indicating that Maggie is vulnerable towards them, and to what they are saying. Straight after the camera angle changes, and this time it shows a close up of Maggies face. Depressed and shocked emotions were evident, because her own family did not acknowledge her toil on becoming what she is today. Eastwood uses these direct camera angles to really emphasize on these emphatic emotions and less on the details around them. When Maggie is fighting, her emotions are very different to what is depicted in this scene. Eastwood shows that no matter how hard we try to become successful in a beloved passion, that same success cannot be implicated in the real world. Sometimes we need to admit defeat and just move on with life, without
Brick and Maggie’s marriage is like tin because it conducts heat from the fiery arguments around it. This roof of a marriage is also tin-like because it is flimsy, and does not protect the couple, beneath it. The marriage can be seen as a fragile union. She proclaims to Brick, “I feel all the time like a cat on a hot tin roof.” Brick replies, “Then jump off.” Their marriage is hot because it is full of antagonism, animosity, and arguments usually incited by Brick, and it is also full of Maggie’s lust and sexual frustration. With that sexual frustration, one could say she is like a cat in heat. Each character alienates themselves in different ways and Maggie does so by lying (Sahu). Readers can assume that Maggie and Brick’s marriage is basically a lie, because Brick doesn’t really love Maggie, and Maggie made Brick marry her; Tin roofs seem far, far away from the lavish Pollitt mansion, and they remind readers of the miserable poverty away from which Maggie runs. She is looking at getting the mansion to secure herself under the non-tin roof of the Pollitt mansion. Maggie is also a fighter similarly to a stray cat. She states that her father was an alcoholic and that her mother made and sewed her clothes when she was growing up. When Maggie made her debut into southern society, she only had two dresses: a hand me down, and a home-made one by her
Maggie and her mother the idea of heritage is perpetually subordinate to the fact of a living
However, after Jimmie tries to protect the honor of his family, the relationship between Maggie and Pete stops immeadiately. This leaves Maggie with no place to stay, which is when she becomes a prostitute and lives in the street. Hence- Maggie: A Girl of the Streets.
... plausible that Maggie was not a disappointment. Having suffered a terrible maternal rejection, Maggie, like by an unsatisfied desire for attachment. Maggie transfers to Tom much of the need to feel acceptance. Later she returns to this relationship,