I haven’t watched A League of Their Own in maybe a decade or more. I know it’s a favorite of a lot of people and I vaguely remember being confused at the lack of love story when I first watched it. Upon rewatching this evening, I am more confused at the lack of overt queer love story and at the astounding low bar set for men to come off as good guys.
I know this reeks of bitterness, but this movie — which should be a triumph in some ways — is achingly sad to me this evening. In a very incomplete way, I can only say right now it hurts to see women having to do as well as men plus a hundred times better for a fraction of the attention and then have all the credit ripped away when the men show up. Even in the movie Tom Hank’s character is a drunk asshole for most of the film, pays attention for two seconds, and the lead woman pretty much immediately defers to him. Like we are now supposed to believe they started doing a lot better because he decided to take over when they were already winning without him?
And this lead character of the film, Dottie, is a baseball star, loves it, but immediately gives it up when her husband comes home from the war. The film is bookended by her as an older woman going to reunite for the league’s induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame and she is played with this heavy sadness. She clearly hasn’t stayed in touch with any of her old teammates and there’s no real sign that she is happy in her current life, just that she is happy to be reunited with this team that she gave up because she wanted to go back to Oregon and have kids. (Which, yes, fine, but do both?)
I’m more annoyed now at this portal after googling this character I learned that she was inspired by Dorothy “Kammie” Kamenshek, a woman who not only played 10 seasons in the league but who’s SPOUSE was Margaret Wenzell who also played in the league. The queer erasure is maddening. We deserve that movie.
(Not to mention the two-second nod that racism exists when a black woman throws a baseball back to the pitch from the sidelines. Cool.)
I’m not saying I don’t like the movie. I do. I could watch the woman being badass and playing baseball montage all day. But I guess I’m angry that we don’t get more. That I not only see this historical heaviness in both the depiction of the 1940s and the blindness of the early 1990s when this film was made but that I recognize so much of it still today.
And as Cara said, make it gay you cowards!
With Love,
Natalie