Questions:
‘Undercharacterisation’- Do you agree with this argument?
Do you think that this film reinforces gender stereotypes? Explain your answer!
Does Maggie’s character lack agency? Explain your answer!
Do you agree that this a ‘two-hour affirmation of the dominance of privileged white men’? Discuss!
Character agency:
“She pushes on the plot more than the plot pushes on her. Even better, the plot exists as a direct result of the character’s actions.
The story exists because of the character. The character does not exist because of the story.”
(http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2014/06/03/just-what-the-humping-heck-is-character-agency-anyway/)
perspectives on gender 
Questions:
‘Undercharacterisation’- Do you agree with this argument?
Yes where the truth , I want answers. They don’t fully explain in order to get a full understanding of who they are. With the extra information more of the story line and characters would have made sense.
Do you think that this film reinforces gender stereotypes? Explain your answer!
Hell yeah Frankie. What is more typical then a black man , white man and girl story. The white is superior while the black and girl characters fall into degrading stereotypes. There is not many ways in which the characters break free
Does Maggie’s character lack agency?
No Of course not . Without Maggie there isn’t much a story as the story is orientated around her life.
Do you agree that this a ‘two-hour affirmation of the dominance of privileged white men’? Discuss!
yes it is self explanatory. Go back and count how many females there are compared to males. You will discover that the ratio isn’t even .
love Rille and Lara
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‘Undercharacterisation’- Do you agree with this argument?
– No. You get to know the characters more and more as the film goes on. They’re already developed as the movie begins. No need to develop their characterisation – you need to judge them on their actions now which exhibits their character.
Do you think that this film reinforces gender stereotypes? Explain your answer!
– The film does reinforce gender stereotypes but some break away from it – subtle, contributes to the overall feel/ atmosphere of the film. They don’t use stereotypes to demean people. They use it to explore human response and emotion. They a shine a light on lots of stereotypes – diverse exploration.
Does Maggie’s character lack agency? Explain your answer!
– To some degree. The plot is contingent on the fact Frankie took up Maggie. However, the plot of the film has a focus on Frankie’s character.
Do you agree that this a ‘two-hour affirmation of the dominance of privileged white men’? Discuss!
– No! Focuses on Frankie a lot but there wouldn’t have been a movie without the other characters who aren’t privileged white male men.
Bridgette, Gen, Tiz and Angie x
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1. ‘Undercharacterisation’- Do you agree with this argument?
AGREE:
Frankie (Clint Eastwood):
• You know a brief account of his life at the start of the movie, mainly because of his ex-client who quit fighting
• This gives a really limited insight into his love for fighting which only assists in building the plot line as oppose to actually focusing on his character
• There’s no deep analysis of his character because the viewer’s opinion on him is his dependant on other characters and situations in the film
Danger:
• You never know why he’s at the gym or his family or any of his background
Maggie’s Family:
• Prejudice is created by the viewer when they first enter the film because of the stereotype
• The viewer may think they know their personalities but this is due to their reaction to Maggie’s condition, not necessarily their own personalities
DEGREE:
Maggie:
• We find out about Maggie through her actions. E.g. Her determination and strength as portrayed through her actions
Scrap:
• He’s protective of Maggie which gives an insight into his character
• Because of these characteristics it gives the idea that Scrap is caring, kind and not prejudice towards gender
2. Do you think that this film reinforces gender stereotypes? Explain your answer!
The start of the film shows conformity to traditional gender stereotypes specifically by Clint Eastwood’s character who refuses to train Maggie only due to the fact that she’s a girl. Frankie’s determination and interest in boxing itself defies this stereotype, however; it later conforms when she becomes a paraplegic questioning the defiance originally shown in the film.
3. Does Maggie’s character lack agency? Explain your answer!
Yes! Maggie’s character definitely challenges gender norms in the film but this can be interchangeable with different plots and different films. For example, strength shown by Catniss in The Hunger Games can create a parallel with the strength and determination by Maggie. As such, there is no distinguishing factor that outlines Maggie’s character standing out amongst other similar films.
4. Do you agree that this a ‘two-hour affirmation of the dominance of privileged white men’? Discuss!
To some extent this film is a two-hour affirmation of the dominance of privileged white men when focusing centrally on the character of Frankie. Due to Frankie being the most predominant white male in the film, it is a highly reoccurring theme throughout the film as he typifies the general stereotype of a ‘privileged white man,’ however; the plot line itself doesn’t overly focus on this subject of the dominance of privileged white men.
LOVE LISA AND VICKI XXXX
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‘Undercharacterisation’- Do you agree with this argument?
There is limited understanding about each of the main characters. There are dozens of holes in the plot which could be explained by further character development, but they are left ambiguous. All we know about Maggie is that she wants to be a professional boxer (but we don’t know why), her family cover almost every hillbilly-dolebludging-white-southener stereotype that exists, and that she is in her early-thirties. Similarly, all we know about Frankie is that he has lived his life coaching boxing, he has misogynistic tendencies (“I’ll try to forget that you’re a girl.”), he has an estrangement with his daughter (but we don’t know why or what) and that he has a friend he supports who is a disadvantaged black man. This underdevelopment of character forces us to ask so many questions to fill out the plot and the idea of the characters in our minds. Where is his wife? How did Maggie leave her family? What did Maggie do for 32 years before she decided to box – that is a very long time without explanation? Why boxing – why that specifically? Perhaps because it was a convenient male dominated sport which puts women at a disadvantage and would make audiences subconsciously congratulate Maggie for being successful in a ‘male sport’. We gradually find out how Frankie has changed, but without back story it is hard to understand the character fully.
Do you think that this film reinforces gender stereotypes? Explain your answer.
Yes. The entire plot line revolves around the assumption that ‘woman’ has negative connotations. Frankie starts with misogynistic ideas of female inferiority when Maggie asked him to train her, and he only changes his mind when the plot calls for a character epiphany to make the audience see him as the hero. The kicker is, Maggie buys into the assumption that she is less because she is a woman. When she asks him for an assessment of her performance in training she says she thinks she did pretty well, for a girl. That she is a woman, doing a man’s sport, is a backhanded reference to the fact that as a woman, she has no place there. It is a subversive and clever premise to trick people into not realising that what they are watching is deeply unequal and discriminatory.
Does Maggie’s character lack agency? Explain your answer.
Maggie seems very focused on her goal of boxing, so on the surface it seems like she has drive and determination however all she really does is box with bad technique until Frankie comes to help her. She in many ways allows Frankie to control her life and influence what she does. He teaches her how to fight, he influences the way she thinks, he gets her fights, he turns off her oxygen, he even tells her to buy a house; so she does. The only time she ever really seems to progress, it is because of something Frankie has done or said. It is feigned agency if any agency at all, making her seem singularly focused on her goal, however this can be attributed to her simplicity of character.
Do you agree that this is a ‘two hour affirmation of the dominance of privileged white men? Discuss.
It seems to be a backhanded sexist ‘even though you’re a girl you can still do a man’s sport’ point throughout the whole movie. It seems to be a high-five to women for their success in a typically male dominated sport, however by saying this, in the same sentence it is an affirmation of the stereotype that it is not a place for women. The fact that an old, white male is deemed the hero who takes care of his disadvantaged black friend and a disadvantaged woman does point to the dominance of white males in our society, quite happily masquerading behind a façade of equality and acceptance, which it is not.
Ash and Rach 🙂
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