The Next Karate Kid 1994, Girlfight 2000, GI Jane 1997, Mulan 1998, and Million Dollar Baby 2004
With the combination of all five of these movies together, a lot is being said tonight about the fight for women's acceptance and proving that they are just as capable of being as tough and powerful as men. Nearly all of these story arcs deal with a young girl wanting to prove herself to her masters but also wants to be accepted and fight for her dreams. Perhaps the most striking female characters of the evening are the ones played by Hilary Swank and Demi Moore. Hilary Swank's first starring role was in the fourth sequel to The 1984 classic titled The Karate Kid, and Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby brought Swank her second Oscar win after her triumphant performance in 1999's Boys Don't Cry. Beginning with The Next Karate Kid, Swank is introduced to audiences as a troubled teenage girl who befriends an old karate master named Mr. Miyagi, and begins to learn to become a better person while fending off her High School male bullies. While not the classic film that the first Karate Kid turned out to be in pop culture terms, The Next Karate Kid works perfectly as the first film of the marathon by introducing a younger and more troubled adolescent version of Hilary Swank. The second movie of the lineup is the 2000 critically acclaimed boxing drama titled Girlfight starring Michelle Rodriguez in her breakout role. In this tale of a young girl fighting for what she wants, Rodriguez plays a young girl named Diana in a troubled neighborhood who trains as a boxer behind her fathers back and achieves a status that allows other females to follow suit in their quest to become boxers themselves. Essentially, this is the female version of Rocky with a young Michelle Rodriguez telling herself that she is worth more than what people say, and decides to go out and seek her worth. The third film in the marathon is Ridley Scott's cult classic feminist film titled GI Jane starring Viggo Mortensen, Demi Moore, Jim Cazievel, and Anne Bancroft. In this film, Demi Moore stars as the first female enlisting for the Combat Reconnaissance Team after being enrolled by a female senator played by Anne Bancroft. Moore's character quickly realizes that her training is not going to be easy and everyone practically expects her to fail. Gi Jane is the third film in Ridley Scott's resume like Alien and Thelma and Louise where he has a female character leading the stories of his films, and presenting them as being strong willed, independent, and fearless. The fourth film is the 1998 Disney classic Mulan, centering around a 17th century Chinese girl named Mulan who joins the Chinese military disguised as a man in the place of her father to fight off the Hans army. Upon seeing that her father is far too old to be going to battle, she takes his place and begins her path to glory with the help of a friendly dragon named Mushu. Out of the films in the marathon this far, The Next Karate Kid, Girlfight and Mulan all center around a girl who not only fights for her dreams, but seeks the approval of the father figure in her life whether its her real dad or her karate master. The fifth film of the marathon brings it all to a stunning conclusion with Hilary Swank returning to form as a boxer in Clint Eastwood's boxing epic drama titled Million Dollar Baby. With the combination of Eastwood, Swank, and Morgan Freeman as the dynamic trio in this epic tale, Eastwood centers the movie around a young woman whose determined to prove herself towards becoming a professional with the help of her hardened boxing trainer played by Eastwood. Although reluctant to train her at first, Eastwood see's the potential in the young girl and takes her under his wing, not only creating an apprentice but also someone he looks up to as a daughter of his own blood. The emotions pouring through the marathon all come to a stunning conclusion with the ending of Million Dollar Baby as well as the message that a woman should always fight for what she wants whether it's a fight against a bully, a fight in the ring, or being in a army that openly discriminated against you.
So what are all of these movies trying to say ultimately? The message of this lineup when you put all the movies together is to never underestimate a girl's full potential or automatically assume that just because they are female they can't do jobs that men are capable of doing nor be as tough as them. The Next Karate Kid and Girlfight say that you are worth more than what you presume yourself to be, and you should always fight for what you want. Gi Jane says that a woman can be just as tough and capable of carrying out tasks that society presumes only a man can accomplish, Mulan says that family ultimately comes first and that discriminating against women is just plain stupid and intelligence and strong will can overcome ignorance. Million Dollar Baby's message is to always believe in yourself and strive for your dreams. The people who you assume don't care about you might do so more than you think. Never give up.
Our heroines for this evening:
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