Idiots and Clint Eastwood Movies

OK, so, what I'm going to say here is rather big spoiler for Million Dollar Baby, so in order to not, y'know, accidentally ruin the movie for y'all, I'll be using the old web-technique of writing it in white text.  You just highlight with your cursor and it magically appears.  Wow.  Ain't technology grand?

And if you happen to read my journal via alerts and don't want the movie spoiled for you, well, you'll just want to delete this particular alert right now, without reading further.  

OK, we all good with that?

Good.  If you've already seen Million Dollar Baby, start with the highlighting here

>So, at the end of the movie, I'm staying to watch the credits (as I always do, being a respectful theatergoer).  The people behind me are staying to watch the credits, too, although (being less respectful) they're using this time to diss the movie.  So this one woman says that she didn't like the movie because she came at it from a "political" point of view.  And I'm thinking, "OK, she's not a big fan of right-to-die."  But, no, that isn't where she's going with this AT ALL.  She goes on to say how, she's a feminist, and (at first) she really liked this movie because it was all about this nice, strong female character.  And she liked how they didn't sexualize her body, or make it love story, or do anything like that.  (And I'm thinking, "Right on, sister!")  And then she says, "But then it turned out the message of the movie is, 'if you're a strong woman, you end up dead.'"

And I'm just so SHOCKED by the fact anyone would think this was an anti-feminist movie, or that it was consciously (or even subconsciously) trying to put out some anti-strength message to women.  Was this chick (the one behind me, not the Hilary Swank character) seriously suggesting that the MESSAGE of the movie was that the Hilary Swank character would have been better off just staying in the trailer with her no-good family?  Or waiting tables and living off other people's scraps?  The whole point of Morgan Freeman's speech at the end -- the one giving Clint Eastwood permission to do it -- was that she HAD a fuller life than she'd ever dreamt of.

Not to mention how much STRENGTH it actually took her to ask for him to help her do it, and to even try to do it herself to make it so clear that's what she wanted. 

I am still just SEETHING that someone could so misinterpret the movie, and think that feminists ought to get all riled up over the idea that "Million Dollar Baby" is telling strong women that they'll end up dead.< (End of the spoilery part.)

Reminds me of when I saw "Unforgiven," and I was walking out of there, stunned beyond belief that Clint Eastwood had made such an incredible movie about the pointlessness of violence, and this couple walks by me saying, "It wasn't bad, but there wasn't enough killing in it."

Poor Clint.  I get you, man, even if none of my neighbors do.