She comes from a very poor family, and all she wants is to buy a house for her mom. She could have just as easily taken some course, or anything that would qualify her for a better job. There could have been other ways of her reaching success and get out of the harsh life she has been living. Although this isn't a clear moral/ethical dilemma, boxing became an escape for her in social standards, because she didn't have a very good education - or at least we assume. Frankie initially does not want to teach her, because she is a girl (the audience might get that idea) - which is one of our fist encounters with a moral "dilemma"- so Eddie decides to lend Maggie an old punching bag out of pity and because she is very persistent and keeps coming to the gym to practice on her own. Maggie decides to ask Frankie to coach her, and tells him she wants to be the best.
Frankie is an aging boxing trainer and the owner of a shabby gym, and Maggie is a 'white-trash' diner waitress who dreams of becoming a boxer. Eddie is a half blind ex-boxer who lives in Dunn's gym, cleaning and attending to it.
All three characters have a rough past, and seem to be forgotten by most people around them.
The million dollar baby movie#
The movie has three main characters Frankie, Maggie, and Eddie ("Scrap"). It goes way beyond that "good fight movie" that we all expect it to be. The movie presents several ethical and moral little dilemmas as the story goes on.