Welcome to the Nishma Hollywood and Sinai Discussion Forum blog.
The Corner of Hollywood and Sinai is a regular column on the Nishma website in which Dodi-Lee Hecht comments on recent movies with a view from the Torah perspective
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The Eastwood Universe
ReplyDeleteGood article, however I'd say that the theme of the film is not so much about teshuvah or euthanasia but rather that life is amoral, subject to unpredictable terrible vicissitudes, even though people try to superimpose onto it an imagined moral context. Many of Eastwood's other films have that as a running theme: in Unforgiven, A Perfect World, White Hunter Black Heart, Pale Rider. In most of these films, the illusion of a world that has an inherent morality is shattered, for a main character or for the audience. The 'twist' in Million Dollar Baby, going from what is building up to be an inspiring rags-to-riches 'Rocky' story, with a hero (Maggie) and a villain (the German boxer), victory for the underdog, transformational healing for the trainer, etc. to sudden utter disaster is the same message as the scene in Unforgiven: Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman): "I don't deserve this... to die like this! I was building a house! " Bill Munny (Eastwood): "Deserve's got nothin' to do with it." [aims gun] Little Bill Daggett: I'll see you in hell, William Munny. Bill Munny: Yeah. [fires] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105695/quotes Eastwood's films (aside from his action films) are often journeys from innocence to experience... and experience often means a shattering of illusions through unexpected or sudden tragedy. His films often attack the notion that the universe has an inherent morality, and offer the view that people who assume such a morality are either setting themselves up for tragedy or will become the cause of tragedy. In other words, sh*t happens and don't let your guard down. HP
Hollywood displays its discomfort with physical disability by producing films that portray the killing of people with physical disabilities as morally correct. People with physical disabilities embody the pain that we all want to shed. A society that supports the suicide of some but not others is making judgements on the value of one life against another. Why are we so quick to support the euthanasia of someone paralyzed from the neck down and to condemn the assisted suicide of one in horrible psychological pain but in fine physical condition? Would we be as inclined to assist someone in dire psychological pain to commit suicide? Both acts of euthanasia are halachically problematic; but I'm addressing our inclinations, biases, and predilections.
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