Examples Of Stereotypes In Million Dollar Baby

Three major negative female stereotypes are presented in Million Dollar Baby. The first is the innocent girl next door, whom, “Like the ideal woman, seeks the protection of a strong man” and “tries her damndest to please him,” (Krupat). The narrator introduces Maggie as a struggling woman who “grew up knowing one thing: she was trash,” (Million Dollar Baby). She wears baggy clothing, her hair is a mess, and for dinner she eats the scraps she picks up from her job as a waitress. Her naiveté due to her lack of education and lack of knowledge of boxing throughout the film characterizes her as sweet and vulnerable as well. When she first tries to train with Frankie early in the film, she tells him that she’s been training for three years but Frankie tells her that it didn’t show. It

quickly becomes clear that Maggie’s success in boxing depends on Frankie’s willingness to train her, characterizing her as a dependent, secondary character.

The second female representation presented in Million Dollar Baby is illustrated by Maggie’s mother, whom Maggie calls a “fat, lazy, hillbilly ass,” (Million Dollar Baby). Maggie’s mother is a selfish, sleazy, welfare cheat who shows no compassion for her daughter. When Maggie buys a house for her mother in an attempt to give her family a better life, Maggie’s mother gets furious because it could affect her welfare. She feels no remorse in telling Maggie that people around town thought Maggie was a joke for competing and when Maggie gets hurt, she is only concerned about getting Maggie’s money, which she illustrates by insensitively shoving a pen in Maggie’s mouth to get her to sign the papers. Maggie’s

mother encourages patriarchal ideals and stereotypes of female passivity as well. As Edward Gallafent explains, “In her view Maggie is not the salvation of the family; the very fact of her being able to earn money is negative, proposing as it does a image which threatens her assumptions of female passivity… Earline tells her daughter to "find a man ... people hear about what you're doing and they laugh...." (Gallafent). Not only does Maggie’s mother perpetuate negative female stereotypes and socially constructed gender roles of female passivity, she also emphasizes the important role that Frankie has as a father figure for Maggie. With such a terrible family, the audience is grateful that Frankie is around to protect Maggie. Maggie illustrates this as well when she tells him “I got nobody but you Frankie,” (Million Dollar Baby). This further positions Frankie as the main protagonist, with Maggie as a secondary character who depends on him.
The third female representation that Million Dollar Baby presents is an animalistic female boxer, Maggie’s final opponent, Billie “The Blue Bear” Osterman. The narrator explains that “Billie was a former prostitute out of East Berlin. Had a reputation for being the dirtiest fighter in the ranks. Didn’t seem to matter to her that something like that could kill a person.” When “The Blue Bear” enters the ring, she is accompanied by threatening music and when she removes her hood she reveals very masculine features, especially compared to Maggie. In order to win the fight, “The Blue Bear” resorts to taking cheap shots that eventually cause Maggie to fall and break her neck. This representation perpetuates the stereotype that female athletes are masculine.