Prof Myrna Monllor English 124 copyrightMyrna Monllor Jimnez

Prof. Myrna Monllor English 124 copyright©Myrna Monllor Jiménez 2017

About the Story F. X. Toole (Jerry Boyd) 1930 -2002 Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner The author’s style is very visual.

About the Story The Real Million Dollar Baby Katie Dallam http: //www. kdallam. com/1/about_kd. html

Million Dollar Baby The term comes from the nose art of this fighter plane. World War II Consolidated B-24 Liberator Heavy Bombers

The Beginning • How does the story begin? • How is it different from the film? • What do we learn about The Hit Pit?

“Boxing is an unnatural act” Everything in boxing is backwards to life. You want to move to the left you don’t step left, you push on the right toe…Instead of running from pain, which is the natural thing in life, in boxing you step to it, get me? So now, once you’ve made the decision to be a fighter, now you’ve gotta know how to fight, because no matter how tough you are, … these dudes will knock you out” Frankie Dunn Who is narrating? Who said this in the film? What is the effect of changing who said this in the film?

What We Know “Frankie loved warriors. ” • How was Frankie viewed by others? • What do we learn about the Hit Pit through the narration? • What had Frankie told Maggie when he first saw her fight?

Characters: Frankie Dunn “Despite Frankie’s age, he hung with his fighters on the punch mitts, regardless of their size. Frankie had slopey shoulders, and the veins in his forearms stuck out purple and dark against his fair skin. His brows were thick with waxy scar tissues. He was blind in his left eye, And the eyelid drooped. When he slept, it stayed open. He’d been a freckle-face as a kid, had curly black hair. Now his nose was a lump and his face was weathered, a pink map against his full head of wavy white hair. ” Is the Frankie in the novel the same as the Frankie in the film? Are their existential issues the same?

Quotes about Frankie “short story” “ The old white man didn’t look into your eyes, he looked clear through your eyes, and straight to the inside of the back of your head. ” “…but always the voice pierced the mind with images that stuck, because the sound out of the old man painted pictures that became part of you …

What We Know • Why is her name important? • Is she like the character portrayed in the film? • What are her reasons for wanting Frankie to train her? • What did he do to improve her fighting during training?

Characters: Maggie “… she spoke with a hillbilly accent. Two thick braids of deep auburn hair hung down behind each ear, framing a freckled face and a pair of agate eyes, like Frankie’s daughter’s. She was maybe five feet nine and weighed a fit 140. She was relaxed and stood gracefully, her weight balanced on both feet, and despite a broken nose, she was a looker. ”

Margaret Mary Fitzgerald “She was trailer trash. ” “Her oldest sister, Mardell, ran off when she was fifteen. Her brother Eustace was in jail. The other one, J. D. , was a corporal in the army. J. D. had four kids and a pregnant wife and was collecting welfare just to get by. Her other sister still lived with her mother, both of them weighing over three hundred pounds. Welfare and food stamps got them month to month. Aside from fried catfish or fried chicken, they lived on biscuits and gravy, Oreos, and Always Save cola. ”

Billy “the Blue Bear” Astrakhov “ She was a banger who waded in winging shots from all angles, and she’d been easily beating girls from Berlin to Australia. Considered the dirtiest fighter in the female ranks, she was known to head-butt and throw elbows. She was a big draw in Germany. Her favorite trick was to get inside and jam the palm of her glove into her opponent’s nose, breaking it. That she might kill them didn’t worry her. ”

Story Quotes “Everything in boxing is backwards to life. ” “Balance-with balance you’re free, because your reach is longer when your legs are under you, than spread wide apart”

Frankie’s Decision “ Intercede for me, Jude Thaddeus. Though I hate God, I ask for one impossible thing. That if it pleases God, I may be allowed to sleep again. ”

The Ending “With his shoes in his hand but without his soul, he moved silently down the rear stairs and was gone, his eyes as dry as a burning leaf. ”

Differences from the Film • Frankie’s problems with his children • Frankie beats Maggie’s brother and slaps the sister and mother. • Axel’s story is told after Maggie is in the hospital and wants Frankie to help her die. • Though Frankie is a practicing Catholic, his situation is not the same as in the film.

Description in the Story • “the sound of the old man painted pictures” • In the same sentence it could climb high and harsh or loop sweet as a peach, like Benny Goodman playing “Body and Soul, or go on down deep as a grizzly’s grunt. https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Ko 2 c 5 y. Jp 8 G 8 • Trainers, swaying like cobras… • Sweat poured off of everyone…

“No movie in my memory has depressed me more than Million Dollar Baby. ” Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

About the Movie • 91% in the Tomato Meter • 86/100 Metacritic • Made for $30 million, half of which was put by Warner Brothers • Made $216, 763, 646 in theaters • Played in theaters for 6 ½ months • Disability rights advocates protested the ending

About Clint Eastwood • Unforgiven (1992) • Mystic River (2003) • Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) • Flags of our Fathers (2006) Composed most of the music of Million Dollar Baby

Clint Eastwood’s Screen Persona • • Loner Doesn’t follow rules Questions authority Doesn’t have a family • Sometimes plays figures of American authority like detectives.

Clint Eastwood’s Screen Persona

Clint Eastwood’s Screen Persona

Paul Haggis Screenwriter/Producer • Million Dollar Baby (2004) • Crash (2005) • Flags of Our Fathers (2006) • Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) • Quantum of Solace (2008

AWARDS

Why does the film begin with Big Willy’s fight? The Beginning • A fight • Voice Over Narration (Scrap) • An offer for a championship fight (Big Willy)

“I only met one man I wouldn’t wanna fight. When I met him, he was already the best cut man in the business. Started training and managing in the 60’s, but he never lost his gift. ”

How does Scrap’s narrating the story change its perspective in comparison with the text? What are some of the similarities in the storytelling of Shawshank Redemption and Million Dollar Baby?

Characterization What are the characters’ existential problems? Frankie, Maggie, Scrap, Danger

Frankie’s Relationship with His Boxer “You step back too far. You ain’t fighting at all. ”

Frankie’s Faith

Characters: Frankie, though always “protecting”, is always distant.

Characters: Scrap “Instead of running from the pain, you step into it. ” Notice the shadows and the distance between characters.

Characters: Maggie

Characters: Maggie is always shown in action/movement.

Characters: Danger The boxer who was all heart.

Characters: Maggie’s Family

Frankie and Maggie “Always protect yourself”

Themes: Faith “If you do this, you’ll be lost. You’ll never find yourself again. ”

Themes: Euthanasia “I want you to put me down like Daddy did Axel. ”

Themes: Boxing as a metaphor for life “But most of all it’s balance. Remember that word, balance. ”

Symbols

What is Frankie’s relationship with the church? Church Why does Frankie refuse to tell Maggie the meaning of Mo’ Cushle? What does Axel foreshadow? Maggie’s dog My Darling in Gaelic

Parallel Characters Danger Maggie

Parallel Characters

Quotes “Some people would say the most important thing a fighter can have is heart. ” “Show me a fight who’s nothing but heart. . And I’ll show you a man waiting for a beating. ”

“People love violence. They’ll slow down at a car wreck to check for bodies. Some people who claim to love boxing… they got no idea what it is. Boxing is about respect. Getting it for yourself… and taking it away from the other guy. ”

Foreshadowing I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made… And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings. (from The Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats)

Mirror Reflections

God’s Eye View

Interesting Frames