Fandom: A League of Their Own

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I just love the different ways that aloto approaches queerness and parenthood.

Toni recognizes Max’s queerness and fears it, but mostly she fears her daughter being hurt in the way that she’s undoubtedly seen happen to Bertie.  The core of their conflict being that she wants to provide for Max, since she’s a pillar in her community and she provides for everyone, at the salon, ushering at church, being motherly towards people like Clance who need it.  She does like Max as well as love her, but she can’t see Max living a future with the way she is, so she wants her to change all the same.  It’s such a realistic conflict with so much urgency in the time (and now too).  Edgar is much more accepting of Max’s reality because he didn’t experience losing Bertie the way that Toni did, and his family has been settled in Rockford for much longer, so he’s farther removed from the immediate need to establish himself in the community the way that Toni has.  Toni, on the other hand, knows how hard it is for Black women, and she knows how much more dangerous it is for people who are gender non-conforming and queer.  On the flip side of the coin, there’s Bertie and Gracie, who are pillars in their own community, who bring Max in and encourage her to learn of the world beyond Toni’s sphere.  All of them love Max, but none of them can tell her who she is.

For Lupe, motherhood is a complicated obligation.  We see her sending money home, so there’s someone she’s providing for, but we never find out who exactly that is to her.  From what she tells Esti, her family intervened and took her daughter from her because they thought she would be a bad influence in some way.  Bad influence in that she was a young, single mother?  That she was queer?  Something else entirely?  It’s not clear.  But whatever it was, Lupe recognizes, and regrets to an extent, that she has benefitted from being relieved of the responsibility of motherhood.  So when she’s forced back into a caretaker position, expected to meet all of Esti’s needs because she is the only one who can communicate with her, she resists.  It’s cruel, yes, to contribute more directly in Esti’s exclusion, while the others do it carelessly, out of ignorance and lack of effort.  But it’s an understandable response to the unfair expectations placed on her, especially given that she’s harshly scrutinized by her teammates and subjected to casual racism on a daily basis.  That’s not even getting into the ways that Esti reminds her of her daughter, and of the youth that she herself was denied, having a child at that age.  It’s all been denied to her, because, in letting go of her daughter, she lost all claim to those feelings.  In deciding to go find Esti, deciding to open up to her about it, she gets just a little bit of that back.  Her motherhood is inextricable to who she is, and so is her queerness, and so is baseball.  She’s never been allowed to have all three.  And opening up about it doesn’t fix that, but it’s something.  Esti’s forgiveness is something that Lupe rarely receives, but constantly gives.  And forgiveness is something we constantly deny mothers who give up their children.

Carson’s sister immediately mentions the absence of their mother on the phone and half-accuses her of leaving Charlie.  It’s not until later that we find out that Carson’s mother left when she was young, probably forcing her sister into that motherly role.  Carson clearly misses her mom, maybe idealizes her more than you’d expect from a kid who was abandoned.  I don’t know if Carson ever realizes it fully, but I think she takes comfort in knowing that, even if her sister and husband are disappointed about her running off to play pro ball, putting off having children for it, her mother would probably be proud of her decision.  Charlie’s accusation that “whatever made your mother leave is in you,” is heavy with the implication that her mother was queer.  That it was selfish to choose that over her family.  And it was.  But Carson decides to do it, too, because the newfound sense of self she has is more than any of the stability or love that her husband could give her.  In a way, it’s just the same as Greta confiding that she’d like to have children but could never put herself through commitment to a man.  I think a part of Carson knew that about her mother all along, which is why she shows such an unexpected amount of grace about being left behind.

It’s just so intense to see these different ways that queerness intersects with and complicates parenthood, especially in this time period, when the expectation of women to become mothers was even more prevalent than it is now.  The strangeness of having so many men off at war is enough to shift the perception just slightly enough for something like the League to exist, but it’s all about to snap back like a rubber band during the baby boom to come.

Bonus:

A League of Their Own

1x03 - The Cut Off

🥵

ALOTO is so funny when you think about it from Charlie’s perspective. Imagine being away at war for two years and then you come home and find out that your wife (who is also your childhood best friend) now not only plays for a professional baseball team but is the coach of said baseball team and instead of being overjoyed that you’re home just in time to see her kick ass in the championships she tells you to leave

I know I’ve made posts about the egg line before, but I’m really not over it and the implication that something that simple holds. Because it’s just eggs, right? It shouldn’t matter. But it’s a startling line because it’s heavy—

“I’ve changed. You don’t know me anymore.”

Because this entire series Carson has been pinched back by Charlie: the way she’s constantly scrambling for his calls, worrying about him, the “you thinking about Charlie?” when she gets in her head about having sex with Greta. The way she is always still somehow surrounded by him, even when she isn’t, because she technically is married and that’s her only point of safety in her journey of self-discovery. It’s her protection. And then the moment she actually discovers the gay bar and realizes that her wants and needs and desires aren’t unrealistic, aren’t weird— the moment after she takes her girlfriend out on a date and takes off her ring and lets herself feel free and be her own person, Charlie comes crashing back into her life.

And there’s a relief there, of course there is. Because she still cares about him and he’s safe and he’s alive and he’s home. But that moment— that tiny moment where Greta comes down the stairs and is watching them and Carson sees her watching them and stutters enough that Charlie looks at Greta, too?? That’s something huge. And then Carson protects herself from every giant, huge, swirling feeling that’s connected to Greta by running just like Greta does until she gets to the hotel and her husband orders for her and she (seemingly without thinking) corrects him and asks for what she actually wants. And that in and of itself is such a huge moment because it all comes full circle to the “it’s okay to want things, Carson” and I think, I think she scares herself a little bit because she stood up for herself and she was her own person and in that moment, she didn’t want what Charlie wanted for her. And after everything— after the haircut and kissing Greta and becoming the coach and having to put her foot down, she still wobbles. She buries herself back under Charlie’s shadow and tries to go back to how things were. She asks him if they can just pretend like they’re back home and everything is normal. But the moment is still there, glaring her right in the face: she has changed. He doesn’t know her anymore.

This isn’t what she wants her “normal” to be.

And I think that really, truly, it’s after the egg line that Carson realizes herself just how much she has changed (well, the egg line and Greta chewing her out about her pep talk). And it’s such an informing moment for the viewer, because it’s small but it’s striking. And it’s effective. And it’s so, so beautiful and weighted and real.

I was wandering, when they renew A League of Their Own, what will the plot be like? It could be Carson getting a divorce and travelling with Jess and Lupe, or Greta wondering around New York working for Vivienne, trying to live by herself. Could be they back for the new season and all the Peaches, old and new, making a bet about how long will it take for them to make out. I want Greta getting a little jealous when one of the new Peaches start flirting with Carson ( the Peach only did it to see with she could get a reaction from Greta and win the bet).

Weirdly, I also want Charlie back, I want to see with he would get mad at Carson and make the show more angst, or with he will understand and not stand in the of Carsons relationship with the red skyscraper.

I want Jo back. I want phone calls between her and Greta, I want her teasing Greta about how much of a simp she is, I want her getting back as a Peach (and starting the bet with Jess and Lupe)

I want more Ana, Terri and Esti screen time

And need a renew announcement, please for the love of the porch scene and Max x Clance friendship.

Just renew already, Amazon.

They’ve been friends since they were kids and they’ve been married for seven years or whatever and he doesn’t even know how she likes her eggs.

And she never corrected him.

Credit: @moon-axolotl

seeing charlie walk onto the porch after greta and carson kissed

as far as we can see, it does seem like Charlie truly cares for Carson and supports her, like they get along well and have a lot of tenderness and trust for one another, although it’s hard to say how much of that is Charlie acting out of desperate fear that Carson will leave him if he’s not putting on his best self, however one line that totally rubs me the wrong way is when Carson is like

"Here’s most of my earnings this season. I couldn’t open a bank account because you weren’t in town."

and Charlie is like pissed, "Woah, you really don’t need me at all, do you?"

like sir could you not make it about yourself when your wife, even after achieving incredible goals in professional sports, still is kept by law under your leash just because she’s a woman, like, time and place sir she’s literally told you she can’t even legally be in charge of her own finances and you’re pissed she’s earning you a fortune she puts in your hands? fuck off lol

not villainizing him as a whole tho he does seem like he's a good guy

Random details I noticed rewatching 'A League of their Own': Pointless, funny and an annoying error.

Two things, The pen ink on Carson's finger, and Charlie's address. Means nothing except Carson can't work a flexible nib fountain pen.

Who tf is tall enough to do that spinny thing to D'Arcy Carden? Girl is like 15 feet tall.

Carson and Max are wearing VERY complementary outfits (Red/blue) in this. I don't know if it means anything apart from the fact that in a better world, Max would be playing AAGPBL and even could have been a Peach... but she isn't. Or it's setting them up as two equal and comparable characters. I dunno. But it's a cool parallel.

I like that Carson's mask ages from episode 1 (left) to episode 8 (right). I mean they played 108 games and the thing is faded, seams splitting, paint coming off, rusty. Good attention to detail.

You can't see it (cos of trash quality, very sorry) but there is a red lipstick kiss on Jo's cheek.

Contrary to common belief, Greta doesn't kiss her own card. It a Racine Belles player.

Jess's face. That's it.

Sorry this is a long one and deserves it's own post. I think this may be a continuity/costuming error, but when Carson sent her letter to Charlie in 1x01 (see above) she addressed it to PTE Charlie Shaw. PTE stands for Private, the lowest US Army rank and pretty standard for infantry. Home boy above (this is from 1x02) is wearing Staff Sergeant 1st Class insignia. Which given how long he was gone for, is IMHO, unlikely. Even though this is a dream sequence, he's wearing it in 1x07 and 08 too. So I'm assuming Carson's letter is the error. The show did at least keep it consistent for his other uniform in 1x03 (we're not even gonna discuss the Third Army patch he had on that uniform, that's definitely a post) [ALOTO TEAM PLEASE HIRE ME].

Mental notes: - Carson has had to cover for herself and Greta 'I-have-rules' Gill THREE times. Once with Max, once with Shirley and (I assume we'll see in season 2) once with Charlie. Greta never had to talk her way out of being busted. - The ongoing joke about Carson being from a farm is reference to Dottie and Kit in the film, who actually were from a farm.

I have so many more of these but I have uni work to do and its very early in the morning.

If anyone needed more proof that comphet had Carson in a chokehold and she truly sees Charlie as her best friend and that's it... I'd like to introduce you to this direct parallel

What is more affirming of this than a direct parallel with the most beautiful example of platonic soulmates in the show?

On this rewatch, we’ve been looking for evidence to prove our theory that Charlie is gay.

The scene in the hotel room seems to solidify it. We know later that he had read Carson’s letter about something being wrong with her. Charlie throws Carson’s mom in her face. She says “at least she wasn’t pretending” (which really, also implies that her mother was queer) and then she tells Charlie that he doesn’t care.

He says “of course I care. They threw me in a hospital.” We get allusions to his PTSD later, but according to the National WW2 Museum website about section 8 blue discharges (for gay service members), “Service members who were persecuted by a section 8 blue discharge were purged from bases and units and sent to mental institutions and make-shift quarantined brigs where they suffered from isolation, depression, and humiliation, and were stripped of their rights and dignity.”

Charlie comes back to Carson because she’s his best friend. He’s gay, he knows she’s queer, he figures the best thing they can do is stay married and act “normal” to keep them safe.

Edie Vs. Charlie Shaw

Charlie Shaw: From Lake Valley, Idaho. Charlie is Carson’s husband, he was drafted into the army and is away at war during most of the League’s first season. After a harsh time in the battlefield and being diagnosed with effort syndrome Charlie returns to help and support his wife during the AAGPBL Championship. But things are no longer the same as before. For better or for worse.

Edie: An enthusiastic fan of the Peaches, Edie helps her spouse, Vi, managing an underground queer bar in Rockford, Illinois and providing a safe space for the community. Edie and Vi are the first glimpse into a brighter future.