Bull Durham: Tale about Baseball
The 1988 romantic baseball comedy "Bull Durham" contains many of the oldest cliches typical of baseball films since the beginning of cinema. "Bull Durham" tells the tale of a young, upstart player, looking to supplant an older and more seasoned player on a minor league team called the Durham Bulls. The film examines how the power of baseball can bring men who love the game together, and how the love of women can drive even players on the same team apart. It even contains the stereotype that sex can deplete a good ballplayer's talent and energy before an important game, as well as other quirky superstitions of ballplayers on winning or losing streaks. Yet the film manages to transcend all of these cliches through sheer force of character, most notably in the unique persona of the brilliant, sensual English college teacher and baseball fan Annie Savoy. Annie Savoy is no typical sports fan or groupie. Rather, she is portrayed by Susan Sarandon as a strong, confident woman who is sure of her sexual power, and who cheers for the minor league team for her own physical and emotional
Crash rediscovers his youth in Annie's arms, as well as his prowess as a baseball player, although not, the film is at least realistic enough to suggest, quite on the level of the young Nuke. But only one season-Annie likes her affairs quick and easy, with rising stars, not people who have settled into a comfortable and mediocre commitment and career on a minor league team. The film is unique in that it does not contain the misogyny of so many baseball films, and Nuke's superstition about sex is shown to be childish and foolish. The film is more about character than about the plot-the Durham Bulls are an 'okay' team, but anyone who is really gifted on the team will likely seek greener fields of dreams elsewhere. Annie knows a great deal about baseball, and her knowledge gained from her observations over the years teaches Nuke to contain his fastball enough to be an effective force on the field-the parallel with being good in the bedroom is perhaps an obvious one, as the 'young kid' is too quick at first, but the older woman, and also the older ballplayer Crash gives him tips and helps him use his youthful vigor and talent in a more effective manner. At first Annie is smitten with Nuke, but the fact he puts baseball before her pleasure starts to irritate her, as he is afraid that he will lose his game if he 'transgresses' in bed. At the beginning of the film Annie explains that every year she chooses one player, and only one player to spend the season with and mentor, before he heads to the 'big leagues. Baseball is shown to be rejuvenating to Crash, and to provide a wonderful venue for Annie to enjoy herself and her sexuality in a way that she is not able to in the daily grind of her real life when she is teaching bored students. ' One of her first scenes shows her challenging the two finalists to do their best, without any question in her mind that she is a prize worth winning. Soon Crash and Annie have established a more meaningful relationship that is at first frightening to these two commitment-phobic characters, but finally Annie begins to like reading poetry to a man in bed whom she can actually have a conversation with afterward. gratification, not merely to boost her self-esteem as a mature woman. ' Instead it is a study in contrasts, of the career of the talented pitcher Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh whose career is on the way up, and the seasoned almost has-been catcher Crash Davis whose personality Annie begins to find inexplicitly attractive and exasperating by turns. Both male and female influence are necessary-at one point Nuke even wears Annie's garter belt, symbolizing his willingness to cross gender lines! Always, the film is about dreams coming true because of baseball, but the dreams of men and women, not just 'the boys of summer. Only half-aware of his own feelings, Crash eggs on Nuke in his superstitions.
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Acceptance Essays
