The Oakland Athletics were eliminated by the wealthy Yankees, after which several star players were poached. In the case of unable to increase the budget, General Manager Beane wanted to find a way to deal with rich teams. He ran into Brand who graduated from Yale's Economics Department by chance and discovered that Brand has a theory of using data to mine players. Beane hired Brand and started to build a winning team at the lowest price. This method clashed fiercely with traditional baseball scouts, and Beane fired the chief scout for this. The team coach did not want to use Beane's starting lineup, and Beane simply traded out the coach's starting players. In the 2002 season, the athletes had a bad start, and everyone blamed Beane's new experiment. But the team's performance gradually increased, and finally played a miraculous 20-game winning streak.
Movies adapted from real events often have the problem of insufficient drama. In particular, the theme of this play is baseball, unlike the "Social Network" that has a "national enemy". In the final analysis, sports is entertainment. There are no big villains, and all the characters are still alive. It is too bad to be adapted too much.
The play cleverly uses personal psychological contradictions as the main contradiction, avoiding fierce character conflicts. General Manager Beane is described as the loser of a life delayed by scouts, and the shadow of reforming the scout system is always buried in his heart. In the plot, he is found by scouts after graduating from high school and must choose to become a professional baseball player or go to college with a full prize. He chose to play baseball. As a result, his career as an athlete was so unsuccessful that he no longer wanted to watch baseball games after he retired. The plot attributed this misfortune to scouts who had missed the eye. If big data analysis was used early, Beane would not be attracted to scouts at all, and he would embark on another more successful path.
However, in real life, Beane's life is very successful...Even if he goes to college, he still gets a football and baseball scholarship, so it's better to be a baseball player early. His career was unsuccessful, and he became a team manager. The dream of all sports enthusiasts is to take a lot of money. He is clearly a winner in life. It was unfortunate to divorce his wife, but he also remarried and had other children. ——None of these are reflected in the movie. Of course, no one wants to see a hero who is not alone and not disappointed.
Movies have always revolved around the contradiction between "subversion" and "conservation". Beane's method is subversive and cannot be recognized in the sportsman team he is dedicated to serving. At the same time, he has been teaching new assistants how to trade players. After all, this is the sport. You can't remember the old, you have to be selfless, everything is to win. But in the end, the Boston Red Sox recognized Beane's value, offered him sky-high commissions, and showed enough respect. At this time, Beane chose not to leave the poor sportsman team, because he was nostalgic deep down and respected the tradition of baseball. The protagonist's choice in this pair of contradictions is also what fans are willing to see in reality.
The movie also hints that Beane has been playing on the sports team. But in reality, Beane only played for the athletes in the last few years of his career. Of course, if the scout who digs into him is the one who hinders his reform later, the story is more dramatic. It's just that such a dramatic plot can only happen in drama.
There is also an interesting intertext in the plot, which is the relationship between Beane and his daughter, which contrasts with the role played by Chris Pratt (Star Lord). In recent years, Hollywood movies like to portray such a role, that is, the protagonist’s ex-wife (usually with a daughter) remarries with a man who is richer than the protagonist, and is gentle and reasonable. The protagonist of the movie is generally a rough man, and the remarriage of the ex-wife is generally portrayed as the opposite family man, the kind most suitable for marriage. This man is very kind to his stepdaughter, does not prevent the protagonist from meeting with his wife and daughter, and actively makes friends with him and even helps him find a job. ——In the United States, where the divorce rate is so high, this kind of love rivals that people can’t hate really poke men in their hearts.
The movie also arranges such a background for Beane, and his ex-wife is Robin Wright ("House of Cards", "Forrest Gump"), the "house of cards" and "Forrest Gump"). The couple cares about Beane's team very much and are really anxious for him. , This is embarrassing. And Beane, like all ex-husbands in similar situations, wanted to prove himself to his daughter after a failed career and marriage. At this time, he bought the injured player Hatteberg (Pratt), who also happened to have a daughter, and because of the injury, the family was in financial trouble.
Then there is the real thing that happened in full view. In 2002, the 19-game winning streak was against the Kansas Royals. First played a good result of 11-0 (At this time, Brane was called to the stadium by her daughter to "witness history"), and was chased to 11-11, which was very critical. Hatteberg came on the court and scored a key goal in a position he was not good at, achieving a historic 20-game winning streak. Both of them proved the divinity of the father in front of their daughter. The clip here also makes people feel that Beane is relieved of his failed career as a player.
If the movie shows the truth: Beane does not live alone, but remarries and has two children-then the drama is completely gone.
As an adaptation of the film, the screenwriter of this work is really very smart. The directors and actors portrayed the process of "trading players" very well, which turned out to be the most intense part of the show. Brad Pitt made several long shots of trading players in one go and his performance was amazing.
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