A League of Their Own

Warning: this is just a home run of queer feelings

My life was always filled with a lot of queer subtext. It was the underlying tension that shaped the patterns in my relationships with men. It was the cause of my uneasiness when siloed off with the other girlfriends at parties. It was the unnameable feeling that would stir if a woman was to take my arm or turn to me to feel safe. It was the ring of keys jangling in the back of my head when I was see other strong women, living their truth.

And it was there, all through the 90s movies I devoured on loop. Wearing through the VHS tapes in the trunk at the foot of my Dad’s bed.

If I’m honest with you, it wasn’t actually A League of Their Own that I loved the most. Perhaps it’s because we never recorded it off the TV like we did with Fried Green Tomatoes. Perhaps it was a bit too adult for me to choose for myself at the video store which is why I’d come home instead with Little Giants.

Icebox aka Becky from Little Giant and the Beecharmer aka Idgie from Fried Green Tomatoes were my blueprint.

The leads in these films were two queer coded characters and so of course, I was immediately drawn to them. Unfortunately for me, I wouldn’t crack that code until year’s later so instead I took their stories at face value. It was the 90s so naturally Icebox would femme up and forget herself to impress a boy and Idgie love story was edited down to become a super loyal friendship. I absorbed these lessons and replayed them in my own life. Forcing myself into the social camouflage of makeup and dresses, being the one to watch out for my friends at parties.

Wheeler from Captain Planet, DJ from Recess and Zach from Saved by the Bell were that bratty charm I so desired for myself.

Outside of this, it was male characters I identified with. Cheeky boys, leading other into trouble and charming the girls. I saw myself in their stories as they were living the lives I wanted to live.

So I don’t know how quite to describe what it meant to me to be sitting down on the couch with my girlfriend on a Sunday afternoon, watching A League of Their Own. To finally see this story being told how it was always meant to be told. That we all managed to get here in this moment, to be out and proud together, felt the closest thing to magic that I’ve ever experienced.

Yes that is because the show brings all of the subtext of the 90s film to the fore. No longer a wink or a nod, this show takes you by the hand and shows you everything you need to see. I don’t know what it would have been for my younger self to see this but the validation it has given my present self is overwhelming. It’s like I finally got to scratch a bit of my back that’s always been just out of reach.

And that it’s the story about sports queers that got to be the one retold, oh mate, unreal. So much of that experience of sports being the place to help reveal who you are, all jocks will know to be true.

Does it surprise anyone that I was also a softballer? No baseball here in New Zealand but just like Carson Shaw in A League of Their Own, I was the catcher for my team.

I have no idea how the people behind this managed to get it made. It feels impossible that people would agree to a nostalgia remake that challenges the original focal point. So all I can say is thank you. Thank you for giving us this example of what is possible if you say the quiet part loud.

With you,
Alice

PS. It’s streaming now on Amazon Prime, if $$ is a barrier for you, you can actually sign up for a 7 day free trial.

And while you’re at it, you should watch my mate Victoria’s doco - No Women, No Try which is about the realities of being a women’s rugby player in England and also Lizzo’s Watch Out for The Big Grrrls which to my mind, rewrote the book on how to run competition based reality shows.

PPS. AMAZON PRIME PLS START LETTING US REVIEW THINGS HERE IN AOTEAROA. I want to be able to give all the stars but I can’t so instead I will write this whole thing.