Richard Linklater and the Field of American Dreams 1

This chapter considers the use of baseball in the oeuvre of Linklater. It is concerned specifically with the function of the game, its players and its culture in the director’s two sports genre movies Bad News Bears (2005) and Everybody Wants Some!! (2016); but takes into account its presentation in other films as well. Drawing on close textual analysis and social theory, the chapter argues that baseball—which Linklater himself played at college level before a heart problem ended his chances of going pro—is used to contemplate both the joys and the traumas of youthful, male and mostly white comradery in US Culture; and, conversely, to reflect on an American culture historically dominated by white old ‘boys’. Indeed, if baseball is frequently said to be a symbol of the American Dream (Grello, 1974), Linklater suggests it is a rather distinct and exclusive one.