Fans of the original are always going to have strong feelings when a beloved movie or TV show is remade or reimagined, but when it comes to one new adaptation, those feelings are shaped by something other than a classic getting an update. The 1992 period sports movie A League of Their Own tells the story of a women’s professional baseball team in the 1940s. Amazon Prime Video’s new TV adaptation, which premiered Aug. 12, is also about the Rockford Peaches and set at the same time, but it revolves around new characters, including several Black and queer women.
Unfortunately for some viewers, the steps the TV version of A League of Their Own took to be historically accurate and inclusive make the series “too woke.” And if you look at the listing on Amazon, you’ll see hundreds of one-star reviews accusing the series of being “woke garbage.” Read on to find out more.
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Being a series rather than a movie, the League of Their Own show takes more time to focus on the women baseball players’ personal lives, as well as their careers as athletes. And in addition to featuring players on the Rockford Peaches, it also focuses on a Black woman player, who isn’t allowed to play in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League because of her race. Additionally, the show explores the life of a Black transgender man and many lesbian characters, with one of the main relationships in the show being a romance between two players on the Peaches.
Overall, A League of Their Own has been receiving good reviews. It has a 95% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a 79% from audiences. On Amazon Prime, it has received an average of 4.2 out of five stars; 74% of the ratings are five stars, but 17% of them are only one star.
One of the positive reviews on Amazon reads, “This is a beautifully scripted LGBTQ+ show that deals with current and past issues in the community as well as the created and stigmatized stereotypes of it and BIPOC individuals.” Another fan writes, “The casting is great and I appreciate their showing the Black storylines as well, which are much needed additions to the actual history of America and the Leagues.”
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Most of the one-star reviews point to the show’s LGBTQ+ representation as its main downfall. One review reads, “This is ridiculous. I had to turn it off. Everyone in the show is a lesbian. I thought I was going to be watching something good. I was wrong.” Another reviewer writes, “I was hoping that this would be a wholesome spin of the movie. It focuses too much on homosexuality.” Someone else says, “A league of inspirational women breaking barriers or a league of sexually confused/ lesbian women?”
A review titled “LGBTQ Agenda, In Your Face America!” reads, “They are 100% committed to their agenda, it’s impossible to create something sweet or historically accurate.” Another, titled “Woke Garbage”, says, “For no reason at all other to to appease the PC Woke Mob they added some black roles where all they do is face racism … This is PC woke garbage. I couldn’t make it through the 2nd episode, I fully expect a trans character to show up by the end of the season.”
During a Twitter Q&A, series creator and star Abbi Jacobson was asked how she feels “about people’s responses to the show? their stories and how they resonate and see themselves in the characters.”
“I’ve been pretty blown away by the response this weekend,” Jacobson responded on the show’s Twitter account. “I was really changed learning about this generation of women. I feel really proud of this show + to know its resonating with people really means a lot.”
But, she added, “On the flip side I have seen a lot of people angry and mad at our inclusion of more experiences (POC, QWOC, queer) and that anger (aka fear) has only made me more sure about why this reimagining needed to be made. Why representation matters so much.”
Maybelle Blair played for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League and served as a consultant on the show. At 95 years old, she decided to come out publicly as a lesbian during a panel for the series at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year
“If it hadn’t been for [co-creators] Will [Graham] and Abbi and all of them making the new series of A League of Their Own, I would have never come out in my life,” Blair told Entertainment Tonight.
Jacobson told Today of Blair, “She had not been publicly ‘out’ and talked about how [in] that league, a lot of the women were queer and it was a very sort of hidden part of that experience.” She added, “For someone who’s 95 to finally come out is simultaneously incredible for her to finally be who she is. But also, I think it’s pretty heartbreaking that it took 95 years for her to be who she is.”