Themes Of The Movie 42 The Jackie Robinson Story

     On July 23, 1962, in the charming village of Cooperstown, New York, four new members were inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame. As they gathered around the wooden platform, the fans reminisced about America’s national pastime. Edd Roush and Bill McKechnie, sixty-eight and seventy-four years old respectively, were two of the inductees that day (Robinson 142). They were old-timers chosen by the veterans’ committee. Bob Feller and Jackie Robinson, both forty-two, were youngsters by comparison. According to the rules of the Hall of Fame, a player must be retired for five years before he can be considered for induction. Both Feller and Robinson were elected in the first year they were

At the very end of the movie it showed what the ‘main’ people did after the movie stopped. One thing that I will say that bugged me and made me sad and disappointed was the part when the dad and boy are in the stands and are excited fro Pee Wee to come out and then Robinson comes out and the dad starts to yell “get out of here nigger! You don't belong here!” and the rest of the crowd does the same and the kid looks confused and then joins in screaming the same things, but then Pee Wee puts his arm around Robinson and the look on the boys face looked sad and disappointed in himself or so. That scene made me sad and disappointed in the father for setting such an example for his son and making him say something he was unsure of or however he felt about it. The look on the boys face when Robinson came out and everyone including his dad started yelling at him and saying those things, the boy looked a little scared or unsure and concerned about what to do and such. Broke my heart a little, but it was what it was. Overall, amazing movie!! For sure a favorite!

Being an African American in the USA is tough, you have to have a thick skin in order to live a happy life. In the documentary "Jackie Robinson" made by Ken Burns, he does a great job of explaining what Jackie had to go through before, during, and after he played in the Major League Baseball Association (MLB). To start paragraph one will be about the creative techniques Burns used in order to get his point across. Secondly, how these techniques impact the viewer. Lastly, based on the research done how this is still an issue in today's day an age. In the Documentary "Jackie Robinson" by Burns we really see how tough it is to be an African American in the USA, it would be tough to imagine what they have to go through on a daily basis.

George Herman Ruth, better known as Babe Ruth, is an American baseball hero due to his successes that have allowed him to become a household name even after his passing. His great legacy lives on, but for those not alive during his reign over baseball, it is sometimes hard to grasp the Babe’s true life story, which is where film comes into play. In the several films about Babe Ruth, many differentiating perspectives about his life are introduced. In The Babe Ruth Story (1948) and The Babe (1992), we are shown two very different versions of the ‘Great Bambino’. With the help of Ardolino’s analysis of the deification and deconstruction of Ruth in Reel Baseball, it is easy to see the similarities and differences between the two Hollywood Babes. Ardolino states that, “In fact, these movies are dialectically related: the first is an attempt to sacralize Ruth’s checkered life, and the latter is an attempt to replace the hagiography with a Dickensian psychodrama of a bumbling Bacchus who belches, farts, indulges his appetites, is haunted by his past, explodes irrationally when he is called ‘incorrigible’ and never gains any measure of self-control” (115-16). Ardolino’s chapter thoroughly discussed the portrayals of Babe Ruth as a character, which brings to light the similarities and differences portrayed in both Hollywood films. After screening the Hollywood films, we move to screen the documentary about Ruth, a blatant deification, which treats his life story much differently.

He walked onto the field with dust blinding his eyes. Half the crowd was screaming and hollering, and the other half was booing. Jackie closed his eyes calmly, and felt no anger toward the racist insults that were shot at him. Jackie was determined, and full of hope.

The theme I would like to analyze after watching this film would be the inequitable situation the black Americans were put in during that time period. As the slaves freed the civil war and also as the government implemented the emancipation,

I watched “42” this weekend. The movie is based on a few years in Jackie Robinson’s life as the first Black man to enter Major League Baseball. It was amazing.

Jackie Robinson known as the man who broke the color barrier, was both a hero of baseball, and a hero for the fight against racism. He took two of the things Americans valued most: freedom and sports, and brought them to the grand stage. When we take what Robinson did and put it in perspective of when and where it occurred we see the true struggle, and see just how despicable and bitter this time was. It really highlights how the search for freedom and equality coincided with the country’s fight to hold on to segregation and racism.

Becoming the first African-American to break the racial barrier in a white supremacist sport like Major League Baseball during the 1940s when colored racism still occurred is an accomplishment like no other. Jackie Robinson faced numerous hardships and endured countless racial setbacks during his professional baseball career, but managed to set aside his frustrations and continue to emerge as a symbol of hope and unity for all. The makers of 42: The Jackie Robinson Story portray the story of his career as it demonstrates the struggle of race stereotyping during the 1940s and the interpersonal power struggles of being seen as an “equal”. “I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me... All I ask is that you respect me as a human being” (Robinson) is a powerful message that I would like for you to keep in mind as you continue to read.

To the average person, in the average American community, Jackie Robinson was just what the sports pages said he was, no more, no less. He was the first Negro to play baseball in the major leagues. Everybody knew that, but to see the real Jackie Robinson, you must de-emphasize him as a ball player and emphasize him as a civil rights leader. That part drops out, that which people forget. From his early army days, until well after his baseball days, Robinson had fought to achieve equality among whites and blacks. "Jackie acted out the philosophy of nonviolence of Martin Luther King Jr., before the future civil rights leader had thought of applying it to the problem of segregation in America"(Weidhorn 93). Robinson was an avid

42 enhances the audience’s knowledge on what life was like in the late 1940s in the United States for a black man, and it displays the brutal treatment they received. In the beginning of the movie it talked about how if a black man served in the army they could receive respect there, but when

I thought the movie was fantastic! The characters were perfect and so well played. It really showed all the great aspects of Jackie Robinson and his family. It also portrayed all of the hardships he had to go through and live with everyday. The message the movie was sending is that racial barriers have been broken, and many other barriers can be broken as well as long as you persevere. I learned all about Jackie Robinson, his family and how he became involved in Major League Baseball. I would most definitely recommend using the movie in class to support a content area. We could probably spend an entire week on the movie and race ideologies. This movie was a perfect example of the ideology, and it teaches you about it too. Overall it was a great film, and I am so glad it came out in time for this

Jackie Robinson and the women’s baseball team both found their own types of discrimination. Robinson, an African-American in the 1940’s, faced terrible racism. Racism is defined as “poor treatment of or violence against people because of their race” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). He was assaulted verbally with words such as “coon” and “monkey”, which are derogatory words to how Caucasian people see

One of the things the movie included was when the movie talked about a boy who was expecting for his favorite baseball player to come up but instead, Jackie came up. It tells how the boy who was noticing people around him being mean and racist when Jackie came out. This scene is very powerful and important because it shows how racism and the hatred against people is spread. Now the kid will reflect on his dad against others who he does not like. The second one talks about how the catcher was alerting the pitcher to throw at him. This is also an important scene because it shows what Jackie Robinson went through as an African-American player. Not only did he receive death threats he was also targeted by the

This movie did an excellent job portraying the time era in which the Civil War was taken place and depicts the emotions and pressures of war. The movie helped me to visual that time period in a better sense and to see the perspective of African American soldiers fighting in the Civil War. The movie showed a lot more in depth and personal feelings of the black soldiers during that time period. The movie portrayed what the black soldiers had to deal with as soldiers of the Union and it helped me to visual what I learned about the black regiments during the civil war. The film even showed the soldiers having to do manual labor and lute the southern towns and cities. It also showed how even though the black soldiers were on the same side as the white soldiers of the Union, the black soldiers were still treated as unequal and faced prejudice daily by the other white soldiers. It also showed the strong belief of many of the white Union soldiers that they fought for emancipation and the freedom of the