Kernels of truth from cornball cinema

Few films are as unashamedly sentimental as "Field of Dreams," which attempts to elevate the game of baseball to the heavenly realm of the ethereal and serve as a wish fulfillment fairtyale for adults. Despite its mawkish inclinations, the movie proves to be an irresistible charmer to those who don't have a heart of stone. Here's our group's take on this 25-year-old baseball diamond in the rough:

WHAT DID YOU FIND REFRESHING, SURPRISING, OR EVEN DISAPPOINTING ABOUT “FIELD OF DREAMS”?

• It’s unabashedly wistful and nostalgic for a bygone, simpler time.
• It is, as writer Emanuel Levy put it, “typical of many 1980s movies in its peculiar blend of countercultural and traditional values.” This is a film, like The Big Chill and others of this period, that depicts the mellowing of the Baby Boomers and Flower Power generation, as they assimilate more conservative values in their middle ages.
• Despite its utopian vision and dreamy, ethereal atmosphere, it serves as a peculiar promotion of capitalism as an important and essential American value. Ray follows his vision, and is rewarded by being able to capitalize monetarily on the fulfillment of his dreams. 

HOW DOES THIS FILM COMPARE WITH OTHER FAMOUS BASEBALL FILMS LIKE THE NATURAL, PRIDE OF THE YANKEES, EIGHT MEN OUT, FEAR STRIKES OUT, ETC.?

• This doesn’t showcase much real baseball playing or games; but it does feature actual legends of the game (Shoeless Joe, etc.) and it romanticizes the game and is imbued with a wistfulness and sentimentality that can appear corny to some.

THIS MOVIE IS LESS ABOUT BASEBALL AND MORE ABOUT WHAT?

·       The power of redemption and getting a second chance—a second chance to spend time with a loved one (Ray and his dad), to satisfy an unfulfilled wish (Moonlight), to right a longtime injustice on the baseball field.

·       The meek shall inherit the earth: Ray is a simple man from Middle America—an everyman

·       Metaphors: How baseball is a metaphor for life, the farm is a metaphor for one’s chosen career or road in life, how the baseball diamond is a metaphor for heaven

·       Having faith in a dream, and faith in a loved one who has that dream, and faith in things that you or others cannot see.

·       It presents a different vision of paradise or the afterlife, suggesting that heaven can be a thing as simple as embracing the joys of a beloved sport.

WHAT OTHER FILMS OR TV SHOWS DOES “FIELD OF DREAMS” BRING TO MIND?

• Harvey, in that the lead character sees an apparition that others cannot
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind, another film that, as critic Richard Sheib wrote, “taps into the great American search for faith beyond suburbia”
• The Twilight Zone
• The Natural, in that both films end with a father playing catch with his son and making up for lost time
• The movies of Frank Capra, which are similarly sentimental and also feature everyday Joe characters who are wistful for a simpler time.

OTHER NOTABLE BASEBALL FILMS

• Bull Durham
• It Happens Every Spring
• Angels in the Outfield
• Eight Men Out
• Bang the Drum Slowly
• 61
• 42
• The Natural
• A League of Their Own