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Celebrated film director Frank Capra was a central architect of the "feel good" movie genre now known as populism, which celebrates people, families, second chances, and other traditional American icons such as small town or pastoral life and baseball. Capra developed his own brand of populism by interweaving traditional values of the genre with a younger, more vulnerable hero starting with Mr. Deeds Goes to Town in 1936. The result, Capraesque populism, has had a significant influence on American pop culture in general and forms a small but important subgenre of baseball movie.
This book examines eight of these Capraesque baseball films, starting with the all-important Pride of the Yankees (1942), which one admiring critic has called "Mr. Deeds Goes to Yankee Stadium." An introduction provides an overview of baseball and populism. Individual chapters are devoted to the populist legacy from Will Rogers (Capra's mentor) to Capra, The Pride of the Yankees, The Stratton Story, Angels in the Outfield, The Natural, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, Frequency and The Rookie.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Table of ContentsForewords
Author's Notes and Acknowledgments
Preface: Populism as a Mirror of Our Best Self
Introduction: A Baseball and Populism Primer
1 Passing the Populist Legacy from Will Rogers to Frank Capra
2
The Pride of the Yankees: Lou Gehrig
3
The Stratton Story: Close Parallels to Gehrig's
Pride 4
Angels in the Outfield: A Populist Fantasy
5
The Natural: A Populist Adaptation of a Literary Classic
6
Bull Durham: A Sexy Packaging of Populism
7
Field of Dreams:America's Favorite Baseball Film
8
Frequency: An Unconventional Showcasing of Populist Baseball
9
The Rookie: Back to Populist Biography with a Cinderella Story
Epilogue
Notes
Selected Filmography
Bibliography
Index
Über den Autor / die Autorin
Wes D. Gehring is a distinguished professor of film at Ball State University and associate media editor for USA Today magazine, for which he also writes the column "Reel World." He is the author of 40 film books, including biographies of James Dean, Carole Lombard, Steve McQueen, Robert Wise, Red Skelton and Charlie Chaplin.
