The Viper Vibe

Million Dollar Baby wins Oscar but not support

Thursday, March 31, 2005 By Stephanie Nuñez/Staff Reporter

Spinal cord injuries normally occur when a traumatic event takes place, resulting in damage to the cells within the spinal cord. For people that have any type of spinal cord injury, or for people who are left paralyzed because of it, treatments and cures for them are fairly limited, and have to be dealt with as soon as possible. Living with a spinal cord injury that could leave you paralyzed is probably one of the hardest things that a person could go through. It can be hard on the them, as well as on their loved ones. More responsibilities are brought to your attention, as to what would be best for yourself, what abilities you now have, along with what abilities you’ve lost... It’s a battle that you might have to live with for the rest of their life. Living with someone, especially someone you love, who is suffering from a spinal cord injury and is left paralyzed can be just as hard on the people around them. When someone you love becomes paralyzed, you tend to revolve everything you do around what would be best for that person. It’s a necessity to make everything easier, and always wanting to make it better, because you know that deep inside, that person is suffering. In the Oscar winning film, “Million Dollar Baby,” a young woman named Maggie Fitzgerald, played by Hilary Swank, strives to become a champion boxer, when she is badly injured and paralyzed, and Frankie Dunn, who is played by Clint Eastwood, is left to decide whether to help her live, or die. In the end, he lets her go... she dies. This has become somewhat of a problem to all those who have seen the movie. Advocates who argue for the rights of people who are disabled are taking the opportunity to fight back on this case, arguing that the decision to die taken by the character played in the movie by Hilary Swank is sending the wrong message to those who are struggling to deal with spinal cord injuries. Marcie Roth, an executive director of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association told others of a mother with a paralyzed son, who said that after watching this film, it became very difficult for her to keep hope alive in him. Mr. Clint Eastwood has clearly stated that this film is not about the right to die, but about “the precariousness of life and how we handle it.”