It's not the typical sci-fi movie, and yet it involves a random baseball field in the middle of a farm, ghosts of the baseball players from the Black Sox scandal, and a bit of time travel. Field of Dreams is based on the short story "Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa" by W.P. Kinsella. The first major difference I noticed was the characters' names. In the short story the narrator or protagonist is not given a name. In the movie he is named as Ray Kinsella (notice: same last name as the author of the short story! What a coincidence :]). I assumed that the characters in the book all had the last name Ullin because the only full name that was given in the book was Glen Ullin, the narrator's father. In Field of Dreams though the father's name is John Kinsella.
Plot
Characterization
Ray Kinsella
Karin Kinsella
Mark
Theme
Plot
- In the movie it takes much longer for Ray Kinsella to build the field than it seems to take in the story. While the story says it took him "Three seasons [for] seeding, watering, fussing, praying, coddling that field," (page 4), it seems as if he is buiding the field for half of the movie. The other half of the movie he is traveling to meet with some others that he believes is involved in his destiny.
- Ray Kinsella helps many people along his journey to figure out why he is building this baseball field. He helps Terrence Mann and Dr. Graham to fulfill each of their dreams. Mann gets to see his baseball heroes all play together again on this dreamlike-field and Graham gets to go back to his old self, play a little bit more baseball in the major leagues, and then realize that he really wasn't meant to play baseball. He was meant to be a doctor and save lives.
- "The Voice" speaks much more in the movie than in the story. "The Voice" tells Ray three key phrases that drive him to build this field and come to terms with his father: "If you build it he will come. Ease his pain. Go the distance."
- The Kinsella family all gets to meet Shoeless Joe Jackson in the movie rather than just the narrator in the story.
- The story only speaks of how Shoeless Joe plays on the field and not of when the rest of the Black Sox players play as well.
- The point of view remains the same in both the movie and the short story. Ray Kinsella tells the story in the movie and the narrator tells the story in the short story. In the movie, however, the narrator is more omniscient and general because Ray Kinsella does not have a voice over in the entire movie.
- Annie has more personality and dialogue in the movie rather than the book. Her character adds more flavor to the point of view because she better embodies the crazy, loving girl her husband describes her as in the story. She affects his point of view on the baseball field because she does not condemn the idea and call it crazy.
- There is not as much detail in this point of view in the movie as there is in the story. The protagonist in the story provides so much detail about Shoeless Joe and baseball in general. Also, in Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella seems much less fond of his father than he does in the short story. The movie point of view is more focused on building the field than the detail of his father's relationship as it is in the story.
Characterization
Ray Kinsella
- "I'm 36 years old, I love my family, I love baseball, and I'm about to become a farmer. But until I heard the voice, I'd never done a crazy thing in my whole life." This quote from the movie embodies Ray's character in the movie and how he views his life. First, he loves his family, then he loves baseball, then he loves his farming. He is different in the movie because he does not seem to be as into farming or Iowa as he claims in the story.
- In Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella still has the same drive and determination that his character does in the short story, but he seems to resent his father more in the movie. In a way, he exalts his father in the book because he recounts many stories his father used to tell him. He also looks up his father's statistics and quickly accepts him back into his life when he figures out that he had been searching for his father the whole time.
- Annie is given much more dialogue in the movie ethan in the story, but she is still portrayed as a young, free spirited wife who loves her husband very much. She loves him so much that she does not think he is insane or crazy for cutting their livelihood in half. She knows how much he sacrificed to have this farm with her, and she is willing to help him reach his dreams like he has helped her reach hers.
- "Hey, what if the voice calls while you're gone?"
"Take a message."
This quote from the movie, said by Annie and Ray respectively, emulates their relationship. They are not afraid to be sarcastic to one another, but they still respect each other. I really like their relationship because they seem to still love each other as they did when they first met. Their love has not fizzled out even in their difficult economic times or even just through the hardships of marriage and life. Annie is a playful character who shows her love through her humor.
Karin Kinsella
- While Karin doesn't have a huge part in either the book or film, she is more prominent in the film. In the book, Annie is the first person to see Shoeless Joe Jackson out on the field. In the movie, Karin says "Daddy, there is a man on your lawn."
- Karin is still the innocent child who experiences and embraces magic. At the end of the story, Mark (Ray's brother-in-law), knocks Karin off the bleachers and she causes him to be able to see the magic of the field. She is the character that has a somewhat minor role but she causes everyone else to believe because she is an innocent child who still believes.
- In both the story and the movie, Shoeless Joe comments about how there are lights on the field.
SJ: "What's with the lights?"
RK: "Oh, all the stadiums have them now. Even Wrigley Field."
SJ: Makes it harder to see the ball."
He also says the same dialogue from the story in the movie about his passion and love for baseball. He felt as if he had a part of him "amputated" when he was no longer allowed to play baseball. - Shoeless Joe is sort of the guardian angel figure in the movie. Ray Kinsella believes that he is looking for Shoeless Joe the whole time, but in reality he is looking for a better relationship and a sort of do-over with his father. At the end of the movie, Shoeless Joe says one more time "Build it and HE will come," and points to Ray's father John as a young baseball player. In the movie, Shoeless Joe brings him to his father again and helps to rekindle their relationship.
- In the book he is named Glen Ullin and has been given many details. His son Ray seems to like him more in the book rather than the movie. John became burnt out after he didn't make it any farther in the minor/major leagues and he settled down and had a family. He just doesn't seem like he was happy with his life, and Ray is most afraid that he will end up like his father was.
- In the end, John has a deeper connection with his son when he is a ghost than the whole time he was alive.
RK: "Hey...Dad? You wanna have a catch?"
JK: "I'd like that."
This simple conversation shows a significant resolution in the story. Ray realizes there was more to his father than just baseball and a crushed dream. He realizes how his dad may have been unhappy, but without him, he wouldn't have the drive or passion for his own life.
Mark
- Mark is a new character in the movie who has a small yet significant role. He is the doubting Thomas who cannot see why his brother-in-law Ray is building this baseball field. He wants to take control of the farm so that he can get it back on its feet since his brother-in-law had some kind of crazy fit and decided to turn it into a baseball field.
- He is very involved in his sister and brother-in-law's financial situation and pushes to take the farm into his own control. He thinks that Ray is crazy for cutting their livelihood in half for something that seems like such a liability.
- In the end, Mark knocks Karin off the bleachers which causes Dr. Graham to run over to help her. She is choking on a hot dog and he is able to save her life. From there, Dr. Graham cannot go back on the field as he previously was in his youth. He realizes though that his call was to be a doctor and definitely not baseball even though it is a great past time. Mark is finally able to see this amazing baseball game, which shows how even the most doubting of people are able to open their imagination to magic.
- The setting is still in rural Iowa on a family's farm. It is a small town that is very concerned with how much their children should be exposed to certain "evils" such as books that some of the PTA deem inappropriate.
- The baseball field that Ray Kinsella constructs is completely finished whereas in the story he only finishes the left field. He looks after the field for quite a long time and takes a long time to build it. In the story he was only concerned with making the left field look nice so that Shoeless Joe would be comfortable and happy playing there. In the movie he looks to finish the entire field which would take even more money.
- The movie is also set in places such as Boston, Fenway Park, and Minnesota as Kinsella journeys to figure out what "The Voice" is saying to him. In Boston he finds Terrence Mann and then he takes him to a baseball game at Fenway Park. In Minnesota he finds Dr. Graham and speaks to his ghost form. Then on their way back to Iowa, Mann and Kinsella pick up Archie Graham, Dr. Graham's youth that played baseball for less than a season.
Theme
- The themes from the story still carry over into the movie. Hardwork, passion, and love all are shown in the same ways in both the story and the movie. The more prominent theme in the movie though focuses on the relationship between parent and child.
- "The Voice" says three things in the movie:
"Build it and he will come."
"Ease his pain."
"Go the distance."
-All three are advice on mending a relationship with a parent and/or child. All along, Ray doesn't really know why he is building this field until he believes that it is so he can meet Shoeless Joe Jackson. He builds this field as a shrine to Jackson when in reality it turns out to be for his father. In order for him to see his father again, he must build the field. In the end, he comes.
-Ray believes he must ease Terrence Mann's pain in order to see Shoeless Joe on his field. While he travels to see Terrrence, he ends up easing his pain and giving him the greatest joy of his life to see the infamous baseball players. In the end, he was supposed to ease his father's pain who was connected to this author in a way because the author happened to use John Kinsella as a name of a character in a book. Ray's father was in much pain because of his unfinished dream with baseball and his unhappiness in his life. Ray was able to ease his pain by playing catch with him at the end of the movie.
-Ray literally goes the distance to find Dr. Graham and in the end his father. He travels across the country and constructs this baseball field in hopes to have "him" come to the field. He figures out in the end that he had to go the distance to reach his father because his father was at a distant place and he struggled with their relationship. - These three statements by the voice say how a relationship can be mended. They can easily carry over into the real world where a person doesn't have to build a baseball field because they are hearing voices. In the real world, that would be considered insane. The details might be different from story to movie, but the moral or idea remains: relationships are not around forever, and most difficult are sometimes worth the extra effort. Build it and he will come. Ease his pain. Go the distance.
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