America is based around independence, and what is more American than baseball? This small team comes together to have a good time playing amongst themselves and against bitter rivals. They have independence in their country and with their parents to go and play baseball as they please.
Scotty Smalls’s (Tom Guiry) mom wants him out of the house and to “make some friends”. He needs independence from his home life and finds it with the small, sandlot baseball team.
This group of kids is even independent from baseball clubs. “They never kept score. They never chose sides. They never even really stopped playing the game.” But we know, after their game with the organized team, that they can play well. These boys just choose to play with each other, instead of in a league.
And what better movie to look at independence than a movie that shows Independence Day? They play their night game on the 4th of July because under the fireworks they can see enough to play. These boys are dedicated players.
These kids also have the independence to go to a carnival without their parents. Whether their parents knew they were there or not is irrelevant. The kids had money (and “chaw”) and knew they could go out and have a (semi) good time without their parents (minus the vomiting part).
The end of this movie is great because even Hercules (the beast) gets independence from Mr. Mertle’s (James Earl Jones) back yard. He gets to hang out with the kids which is like magic for a dog.
Also, Mr. Mertle is blind and lives by himself. He is independent even though he has a pretty limiting disability.
Maybe this movie shows the audience that kids need a little independence. They may tear down a fence, but they can handle themselves without total supervision.
There is also a psychoanalysis idea floating around the internet. Check it out.
There is a funny article where a guy makes comments about the first 10 minutes of the movie. Very funny.
Happy Independence Day! See you next week!