Finally, someone gets it: "Million Dollar Bigotry"

[DemBones DemBones]

Demeaning the Poor and Disabled

Million Dollar Bigotry

By SCOTT RICHARD LYONS


(Sorry about the odd spacing in the quotes but it's readable and I don't feel like fixing it.)


"Let February 27, 2005 be remembered as a key moment in the culture wars. It was on that glittery night that "liberal" Hollywood bestowed its most hallowed Oscar to "Million Dollar Baby," one of the most reactionary films since Ned Beatty squealed like a pig in "Deliverance."

<snip, snip>

"No other social group has to endure stereotypes to quite the same extent as people with disabilities. The public has cultivated certain sensitivities toward negative images of race, gender, and sexual orientation. But give moviegoers a suicidal quadriplegic, and they'll respond with a tearful standing ovation. And an Oscar. But probably not more wheelchair ramps."

"That's not the only harmful stereotype in the film, however. There's another group kicked around in "Million Dollar Baby" that I haven't seen anyone rush to defend: namely, the stereotype of the white trash welfare queen and her Jerry Springer brood."

<snip>


"If "Million Dollar Baby" is "Hollywood's best political propaganda of the year," it's certainly not the liberal sort we always hear so much about. Far from it, with its flagrant stereotypes of the poor and the disabled ­ and its euthanizing "solutions" for both ­ it reflects a worldview that is darker and more dehumanizing than anything we've seen for some time. Naturally, in today's political climate it gets Best Picture."


http://www.counterpunch.org/lyons03012005.html



I didn't realize the film was also anti-welfare and/or anti-Southern but I've long suspected the inside of Clint's soul is a dark place. This is not a movie I ever want to see; there's enough ugliness in the news without seeking it out for entertainment.