Tom Selleck and Japanese Culture

Door's Howl Review: Mr Baseball

Synopsis

It's an old movie (1992) intended to be a comedy that plays off cultural and racial stereotypes of both Japanese and Americans. It probably would be viewed as offensive today. But it has something to offer. It certainly helped me.

Jack Elliot (Tom Selleck) is an aging baseball player in a slump. He is traded from the Yankees to the Dragons (a Japanese baseball team). What follows is a period of expected humorous interactions related to cultural arrogance, misunderstanding and conflict. It is a comedy, romantic at times and sporty at times.

But for me personally, when I first watched it, and then rewatched again and again, it taught me about the complexity, sophistication, and stunning beauty of Japanese culture. It taught me about learning my own cultural blindspots and how to learn from another culture. It showed me what could be possible when we attempt to get along. Perhaps this 1992 movie has some 2020 relevance.

As the movie progresses Jack Elliot learns about his own deficiencies, incorporates his learning of Japanese culture into his worldview while at the same time his coach learns to adopt some American culture. It's a synthesis of cultural learning and worth watching.

As a side note, there is a lot of push back today about cultural appropriation (or misappropriation). I don't believe Mr Baseball does that. Instead, what I see is cultural assimilation where both sides learn from each other and emerge stronger and better because of it. Today it would be filmed and edited differently of course, but it was a great help to me learning how to approach other cultures.

Score

Mr Baseball scores a Crescent Moon.

Scoring System

Wolves are thought to commonly howl at the moon. So, the better the moon, the greater the howl. Description of scoring system below.

Full Moon - best you can get, must watch and must own
New Moon - great movie, worth seeing and buying
Crescent Moon - average to above average, good to watch, but may want to wait for DVD
Sliver Moon - below average, not worth seeing and only get it on DVD when you have nothing better to do, like having a root canal
Moonless Night -not even worth mentioning - avoid at all costs!