MillionDollar
Baby
Philosophy
DeannaLowe
11/8/2013
PHI-1010
Friday1:00-4:30pm
In the “Movie Million Dollar Baby,” the most common philosophers that stand
out during the movie are Aristotle, Nietzsche, and Stoicism. These philosophers are
conveyed through each character, and the setting they are in.
When analyzing the characters and the plot presented of this movie, the common
thread of Stoic philosophy is evident through Frankie Dunn and Scrap. Frankie Dunn is
the manager for many champions; however he has many struggles throughout life. He
lacked a relationship with his daughter, portrayed a bitter personality, and at the
beginning of the film the lighting of the gym is dark and gloomy. Frankie at the
beginning of this film was frankly done with work, fighting, with life in general. Frankie
is obviously a Stoic. In the four steps of Stoicism, he finds himself to be irrelevant by
showing up to work, help train his fighters, but achieved nothing from it. In the second
step he accepted reality for what it was; whether it was a lack of relationship with his
daughter, or losing fighters to new managers, he had completely detached himself from
reality. He sought for nothing; he put off champion fights for Willie, and refused to
contact his daughter. Finally, he couldn’t determine the problem with himself which is
why he attended church every day for 23 years. Eddie Iron-Dupris (Scrap) was also
considered a stoic throughout the beginning of the film as well. He however, had
different struggles throughout the film. He, lived in a small room in the gym, wore torn
clothes, slept on a cot, and cleaned the gym for living. He prior to maintaining the gym
for Frankie was once an incredible fighter who lost his final fight. He had nothing worth
living for; he was done with life as well. He spent his days cleaning up the scraps, all that
was left over from others. He reasons with Frankie about the maintenance of the gym,
about the holes in his socks, about Maggie training in the gym, and about Danger and
how he isn’t bothering anything. He detached himself from reality, by isolating himself
strictly to the gym and making that the only life he knew. He sought for nothing, no
pleasure, no pain; it can be assumed that with the lifestyle he had been living he was
basically done living life. His unhappiness is self-induced he has chosen to live his life
after fighting in a rundown gym, with nothing. Both of these characters are a mere
representation of ethos. Each scar, wrinkle, bruise, or wound defines who they are and
why they are stoics; both have suffered greatly but continue to live life, even if there is
nothing there to live for.
Aristotelian Philosophy is clearly visible throughout the film once Maggie enters
the movie. Maggie enters the movie and it appears as if a light has been cast upon the
gym. She lights up the room, she fights for what she wants; to grow and become better.
She was raised as “trash” and came from nothing. “I'm 32, Mr. Dunn, and I'm here
celebrating the fact that I spent another year scraping dishes and waitressing which is
what I've been doing since 13, and according to you, I'll be 37 before I can even throw a
decent punch, which I have to admit, after working on this speed bag for a month getting
nowhere may be the God's simple truth. Other truth is, my brother's in prison, my sister
cheats on welfare by pretending one of her babies is still alive, my daddy's dead, and my
momma weighs 312lbs.” However, with being from such a harsh background when she
earned the money from fighting she saved it up and bought a house for her mother. This
is a clear representation of Aristotelian philosophy because she believed it was her virtue
to help her family. They did nothing to support her, but when given the opportunity to
give back she didn’t hesitate. The time she trained, and fought to make money she saved
it up to support her family. Maggie is also a prime example of Entelechy, her purpose is
to fight and through her training she blossoms to fight as a champion. She states in the
movie, “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 the only thing I ever felt good doing. If I'm too old
for this, then I got nothing.” She knew fighting was her purpose; it was a genuine passion
of hers. You can also see Aristotle’s cathartic effect through the art of the film
represented through Maggie. Her role evokes many emotions through happiness, and
always keeps the audience fighting for the underdog. She is vulnerable and exposed
through both life as “trash” or fighting in the rings. When she becomes paralyzed the
audience has this connection with Maggie and you can feel such true emotion as she
expresses her feeling towards her shot to Frankie. “I can't be like this, Frankie. Not after
what I've done. I've seen the world. People chanted my name. Well, not my name, some
damn name you gave me. They were chanting for me. I was in magazines. You think I
ever dreamed that'd happen? I was born two pounds, one-and-a-half ounces. Daddy used
to tell me I'd fight my way into this world, and I'd fight my way out. That's all I wanna
do, Frankie. I just don't wanna fight you to do it. I got what I needed. I got it all. Don't let
'em keep taking it away from me. Don't let me lie here 'till I can't hear those people
chanting no more.” When finished with the movie the cathartic effect should leave the
audience wanting to have their shot. Now when comparing Shawrelle Berry to Maggie
Fitzgerald, he too has Entelechy but instead of blossoming he hinders his growth by only
fighting people weaker than him and kicking them down. Danger Barch however had the
most heart of any of the characters in the movie. He was from Texas, and was left there
by his mother and her boyfriend. He wanted to be the Welterweight Champion of the
world. Although, it was evident that he would never have the ability to become a
champion he had more heart than any other fighter in the gym. He would exercise daily,
and was always just so happy and nothing in the world could bring him down. He valued
life whole-heartedly and that is where he represents Aristotle. However, Danger doesn’t
portray that same cathartic effect that Maggie had, because he wasn’t vulnerable and
exposed to life in the same way, he was beyond happy where nothing could bring him
down, which in a way made him un-relatable. Scrap represents Aristotelian philosophy
throughout the movie. Through virtue is what makes a man good, and makes him perform
his functions well with reason and action. He out of the good of his heart helps Maggie,
teaches her how to punch the bag, gives her a speed bag, and encourages her. In all
reality, when Maggie first entered the gym she probably didn’t have the ability to become
a champion, and Scrap saw something in her that many others over looked. In addition,
he would be considered virtuous because he saw no harm in Danger being at the gym,
and would work with him and never belittled him like many of the others had. Scraps saw
it as a value and virtue to protect Danger, and when Danger was being beaten by
Shawrelle he took it upon himself to fight Shawrelle in order to protect Danger. Frankie
would also represent Aristotelian philosophy more towards the middle of the movie.
When Maggie has her first fight and she is badly being beaten he couldn’t help but to
appoint himself as her trainer in the middle of the fight, and from then on he tells her to
always protect herself. He trains her, and makes it of his best interest to keep her safe and
make sure before she moves up in the number of rounds that she is well prepared. He
also, develops a personal relationship with her almost as if she becomes something like a
daughter to him. When she gets injured at the end of the movie and becomes paralyzed,
he was there daily. He read to her in Gaelic, and when she began to bite her tongue to end
her life he was the first one up no matter what time it had occurred. Her fighting name
was Mo Cuishle, which translated into My Darling, My Blood. He didn’t have to help
her, visit her, or love her, but he did genuinely.
The Final philosopher represented throughout this film is Nietzsche. Maggie
represented Nietzsche in two ways. Maggie is a clear representation of Nietzsche
philosophy of the hand emerging from the subliminal pond. Maggie would be the hand
slowly rising out of the mud and becoming something absolutely outstanding. She
emerges from the trailer park she grew up in, and fights her way out to become a
champion, and have her fight in life. She also represents Nietzsche through his second
form of philosophy the vein of life. The idea is that there is a vein full of blood, as if it
was the vein of life, all abstract above reasons and the world, coming and clamping up
that vein, and restricting it and stopping it. When Maggie enters the movie she is the life
of the gym and is what brings the light to the world of Frankie and Scrap. However, when
she becomes paralyzed at the end of the movie she would represent the vein clamping up
and restricting life. Eventually, when her life ends so does that vein of life and it changes
the lives of both Scrap and Frankie forever. Maggie serves as a parallel to Nietzsche’s
final philosophy of Entropy. Entropy is when the Universe expands into the Big Bang
theory, through the Doppler Effect the Universe will slow down along with
entropy. Maggie ties into this by enter the film as the Big Bang theory and increasing
entropy in the lives of Frankie and Scraps and expanding their worlds. When she loses
her final fight, which would be the Doppler Effect, and becomes paralyzed the entropy
she brings decreases. In Comparison to Maggie, Danger also represents the Nietzsche
philosophy of the hand emerging from the subliminal swamp as well. However their
stories vary, Danger comes from Texas and was left in Los Angeles by his mom and her
boyfriend. How he would represent the hand emerging from the swamp would be him
overcoming his abandonment and having the pure heart to come to the gym happy and
ready to train for the “Welterweight Championship,” even if it wasn’t possible. Billie
“The Blue Bear” would represent Nietzsche’s philosophy of the aesthetic phenomenon.
Her role to fight to win, with no heart, represents the evil of the film. Her evilness evokes
the emotions of the viewers, we need evil to feel. It was the fight that was aesthetic when
Billie hit Maggie and paralyzed her from the neck down, which was the
phenomenon. Scrap would represent Nietzsche with the idea of him being black. He
narrates the film representing wisdom, and the life of an African American rising from
the swamp, which goes as far back as all human beings originating from Africa which is
the deep truth of human race and humanity at its most.
The Film Million Dollar Baby has a beautiful underlying meaning, which is that
meaning isn’t in the world meaning is within us. It is up to us to find meaning within
ourselves and amongst others. Just as Maggie found meaning in her life and brought life
back to Frankie and Scrap in the movie. Frankie had been yearning for that meaning for
years and that is represented through his reading of Gaelic. He wants a much greater
understanding of life and that’s why he questions God. The meaning of the movie is also
represented through Ethos. Every muscle in Maggie’s body was earned and it represented
a piece of her and the work she put in it. Her body is the story behind her soul, whereas a
model could work equally as hard to have a strong body it lacks the ethos because the
objective is for appeal, not soul. The final most meaningful thing presented in the movie
is that possibility derives from nothing. Meaning takes place in the most unexpected
places. In this case the rundown gym in Los Angeles where Maggie trains. When that
meaning is unexpectedly found it blossomed into a beautiful story full of ethos, and
leaves the audience with the intended cathartic effect, and searching for their shot in life.
References:
Works Cited
Eastwood, Clint. "Million Dollar Baby." IMDb (2004).web. 7 Nov. 2013.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405159/quotes