Million Dollar Baby

1)   Through out the film “Million Dollar baby” there are a variety of events that have the potential to provoke certain emotions from the perspective of a spectator.  These emotions vary based on the opinions and actions of the characters such as the scene towards the end of the movie where Clint Eastwood’s character puts Hilary Swank’s character to rest after a crippling accident. The emotions evoked from a scene like this would be along the lines of sadness (from the death of a likeable and fully fleshed out character), relief and happiness (from the fact that she has been laid to rest, away from her vegetable like state). As a drama, these emotions are meant to jump back and forth as it would, realistically.  For example, the character of Danger is the film’s comic relief who is blissfully ignorant and unintelligent. He unsuccessfully gets himself involved in boxing, much to the amusement of everyone around him, and using racial slurs towards Morgan Freeman’s character in an oddly innocent, ignorant manner. These elements of comedy balance out the harsher aspects of the film such as the scenes suggested above. Another key emotion in the movie is shock. When Hilary Swank’s character is illegally struck by her opposition in a title match, resulting in her falling onto to a stool, landing on her neck and breaking it. The scene is made more cringe inducing by the grotesque sound design and the use of slow motion which prolongs the snapping of the neck. Despite the audience being aware of the outcome, the body horror is what makes us as a viewer feel sickened, not only by her injury but the actions of her opponent who caused her virtually fatal harm.

2)   The use of micro elements in the movie are used to compliment the performances of the characters and fully convey the emotions that Eastwood wanted. The last scene where Eastwood’s character is in the hospital, the lighting dimly lit with a lot of heavy shadows and the light only cast over a sleeping Hilary Swank, placing her as the focus and convey the misery around her with nothing but dark shadows. This scene also has no music to accompany it, allowing you to only hear the beeping of the heart monitor.

3)   No, in my honest opinion, I do not believe that the film is a weepie. The reason being that there are only a few scenes which could be considered upsetting to the spectator. Furthermore, the context in which she is injured has most likely never happened to the average spectator (i.e. a sport related injury as severe as hers).  The scene is would probably not be relatable to the average film viewer as the means of her accident is would be quite obscure. I believe most would feel a sense of empathy for Hilary Swank’s character but not feel completely saddened by her death.