Monday, December 21, 2015

December 21, 2015: Wishes for the AmericanStudies Elves: The CEM Baseball Team



[For each of the last few holiday seasons, I’ve made some requests to the AmericanStudies Elves. This year, I thought I’d highlight some amazing American stories that are ripe for telling in historical fiction films, novels, TV shows, you name it. Share the stories you’d like to see told, or any other wishes for the AS Elves, ahead of a wish-full crowd-sourced weekend post!]
The inspiring American story that hits so many of our sweet spots.
There’s a reason why I featured the Chinese Educational Mission baseball team in one of my very first blog posts, as well as giving them a prominent role in my third book and the book talk that I developed based on that project. Or rather, there are so many reasons that make this story a pitch-perfect AmericanStudies one: baseball as national metaphor of course, but also immigration, cross-cultural transformation, exclusionary xenophobic fears and an inspiring response from an immigrant American community, and all of it coming together in one final baseball game that represented both the worst and the best of these American histories. I’ve always said that if I ever write a screenplay, it’d be about that game and the CEM baseball team—but I’m open to working with other filmmakers or artists, so c’mon AmericanStudies Elves, let’s make this happen!
Next wishing tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What do you think? Other wishes you’d share?

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