31st Annual Student Research Conference
Exposing Ideological Constructs in A League of Their Own
Taylor L. Payne
Dr. Mark Smith, Faculty Mentor
A League of Their Own is a comedy-sports drama and fictional retelling of the real life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League formed during World War II. The motion picture is often praised, although unintended, as a standout feminist film. Carol Pierman’s work, Baseball, Conduct, and True Womanhood, negates the feminist praises the film receives by claiming that the regulations the AAGPBL set forth crippled the independence of the women while under the league’s control. Pierman illustrates three ideological constructs faced by the players: feminine or womanly appearance, unacceptance of homosexual relationships, and limited upward class mobility for women. Pierman’s work, however, stops short of a rigorous analysis of this film. A critical lens in this study employs Pierman’s criticism to more thoroughly determine how truthfully the film represents the ideological regulations of the 1940s era that guided the AAGPBL players in real life.
Keywords: Women, Baseball, World War II, Film, Ideological Construct
Topic(s):Communication
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 208-2
Location: VH 1010
Time: 9:45