Final Assignment- Million Dollar Baby

Pick a film of your choice. Would you consider the female lead to be a brave dame or a wimpette? Give your reasons. Please make specific references to the article by Susan Isaacs and use 6 scenes to support your feminist analysis.

Million Dollar Baby

The Million Dollar Baby is about a woman named Maggie Fitzgerald played by Hillary Swank whose dream is to become a professional boxer. From the beginning of the film, you can already conclude that she is a brave dame with reference to Susan Isaac’s “Brave Dame Philosophy”. I believe Maggie Fitzgerald fit in most characteristics of a brave dame. She fits in article one, two, three and five.

According to Susan Isaacs’s “Brave Dame Philosophy”, article one says that “A brave dame is passionate about something besides passion”.  Maggie Fitzgerald was passionate about boxing. This was expressed somewhere in the beginning of the movie where she waited for Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) after a boxing match, and asked him if he could train her. Frankie Dunn declined her offer stating that he “doesn’t train girls” and that “girly tough ain’t enough”. This never stopped Maggie from pursuing her dream of becoming a professional boxer. She decided to join a boxing gym of which Frankie owns, to show him that she has the potential to be a good boxer. Her determination and passion for boxing was explicitly shown in the scene where she told Frankie “If I was thinking straight, I’d go back home, find a used trailer, and buy a deep fryer and some Oreos. Problem is, this is the only thing I feel good doing. If I am too old for this then I got nothing”.

In article two of the “Brave Dame Philosophy”, it says that “Even in the worst of times, a brave dame does not give up; she is resilient”. According to Isaacs’s article “I am Woman, Hear me roar”, she states that “Yes, their lives are sometimes tough- in the face of illness, death, economic worries, family traumas- they show amazing resilience” (p.6).  Despite the fact that she is facing troubles in life- scrapping dishes and waitressing to help feed her and keep a roof under her head and not earning enough, she was always determined in pushing herself to do better. In Isaacs’s article “I am Woman, Hear me roar”, she said that “The wimpette’s pain may be real, but she does little or nothing to avert it. She can act, but chooses not to” (p.7). No matter how many times Frankie tried to discourage Maggie to train in his gym, Maggie never gave up trying.  In one scene, she woke up as early as 4:30 AM just to go for a jog. Later on the movie, she was seen training late several times all alone in the gym. Frankie finally then sees her potential and decides to take her in and train her.

 In article three of the “Brave Dame Philosophy”, it says that “A brave dame is competent”. Maggie was definitely competent as she was a quick learner and a good listener. Under Frankie’s training, you can tell that she was getting better every day. Her competence was later on proven when she was winning every boxing match, knocking out every opponent in the first round. She climbed the ranks and made it to the welterweight division in a short period of time.

 In article five of the “Brave Dame Philosophy”, it says that “A brave dame has high ethical standards”.  Maggie was shown to have some ethical standards. This was shown more specifically in a scene where Maggie and Frankie were having dinner, celebrating her victory over which she knocked down her opponent and left her with some injuries that were quite fatal. She was concerned about the condition of her opponent and said “Maybe I should send her something?”. Her character was showing some sort of sympathy towards her opponent which proves that Maggie has ethical standards.

In conclusion, Maggie in every way was portrayed as a brave dame from the beginning to the end. It may seem that a brave dame is someone who is perfect or flawless but they are not. Isaacs states that brave dames are “pound for pound, they are heartier, more high-spirited, more valorous, and infinitely less frivolous than so many wimpettes we see today in literature, film and television” (p.6).