The Baseball Film : A Cultural and Transmedia History
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| Title: | The Baseball Film : A Cultural and Transmedia History |
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| Description: | Baseball has long been viewed as the Great American Pastime, so it is no surprise that the sport has inspired many Hollywood films and television series. But how do these works depict the game, its players, fans, and place in American society? This study offers an extensive look at nearly one hundred years of baseball-themed movies, documentaries, and TV shows. Film and sports scholar Aaron Baker examines works like A League of their Own (1992) and Sugar (2008), which dramatize the underrepresented contributions of female and immigrant players, alongside classic baseball movies like The Natural that are full of nostalgia for a time when native-born white men could use the game to achieve the American dream. He further explores how biopics have both mythologized and demystified such legendary figures as Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson and Fernando Valenzuela. The Baseball Film charts the variety of ways that Hollywood presents the game as integral to American life, whether showing little league as a site of parent-child bonding or depicting fans'lifelong love affairs with their home teams. Covering everything from Bull Durham (1988) to The Bad News Bears (1976), this book offers an essential look at one of the most cinematic of all sports. |
| Authors: | Aaron Baker |
| Resource Type: | eBook. |
| Subjects: | Baseball in motion pictures, National characteristics, American, in motion pict, Baseball films--United States--History and criticism, Baseball--Social aspects--United States |
| Categories: | PERFORMING ARTS / General, PERFORMING ARTS / Film / History & Criticism, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Popular Culture, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Media Studies, SPORTS & RECREATION / Baseball / History, SPORTS & RECREATION / Cultural & Social Aspects, PERFORMING ARTS / Film / Genres / General |
| Database: | eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) |
| Abstract: | Baseball has long been viewed as the Great American Pastime, so it is no surprise that the sport has inspired many Hollywood films and television series. But how do these works depict the game, its players, fans, and place in American society? This study offers an extensive look at nearly one hundred years of baseball-themed movies, documentaries, and TV shows. Film and sports scholar Aaron Baker examines works like A League of their Own (1992) and Sugar (2008), which dramatize the underrepresented contributions of female and immigrant players, alongside classic baseball movies like The Natural that are full of nostalgia for a time when native-born white men could use the game to achieve the American dream. He further explores how biopics have both mythologized and demystified such legendary figures as Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson and Fernando Valenzuela. The Baseball Film charts the variety of ways that Hollywood presents the game as integral to American life, whether showing little league as a site of parent-child bonding or depicting fans'lifelong love affairs with their home teams. Covering everything from Bull Durham (1988) to The Bad News Bears (1976), this book offers an essential look at one of the most cinematic of all sports. |
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| ISBN: | 9780813596884 9780813596891 9780813596921 9780813596907 |
