*The schedule for the Character Review posts will be changing to Friday (or Saturday at the latest from now on).
*Warning: This post contains spoilers about the characters from the movie A League of Their Own. Read at your own risk if you have not watched the movie. There is something to be said about a well-written, human character. They leap off the page and speak to us as if they were right in front of us, as flesh and blood human beings, instead of fictional creations.
When we have a certain skill, many would assume that we would build our lives and career around the skill. But not everyone is interested in that life. In A League of Their Own, Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis) is discovered playing on a local baseball team during World War II. While waiting for her husband, Bob (Bill Pullman) to come home, she works in the family dairy with her parents and younger sister Kit Keller (Lori Petty). Convinced to try out for the AAGPBL, Dottie not only makes the team and joins the Rockford Peaches, she becomes its initial de facto leader and star. Coach Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) is at first more into drinking his days away than supporting his players. But as good as she is, this is not something she has dreamed of. It is just a way to pass the time until Bob comes home.
As the seasons wear on and Dottie becomes one of the faces of the league, the tension between her and Kit grows. Believing that she is forever in her elder sister’s shadow, Kit starts to resent Dottie. This soon spreads to the rest of the team, nearly sending Dottie home with her newly returned husband and Kit changing teams. It finally comes to a head during the World Series, when their respective teams play opposite one another.
By the time the last pitch is thrown and the game ends, the Peaches have lost. Dottie and Kit have both moved on emotionally and resumed the relationship they had before all of this started.
To sum it up: We all have talents and we all have choices. Depending on our perspective, we can either draw on those talents or choose to go down another path. Dottie obviously has the skill, but this is not her life’s goal. I admire that. She knows what she wants and goes for it, even if someone else disagrees with that decision.
Which is why she is a memorable character.
Writergurlny 