Editing in the closing scene of The Natural
Background: Roy Hobbes is "the Natural,"
a gifted natural athlete and star baseball player, who has returned mysteriously
to the major leagues in the 1940's after years of obscurity. He has spurred on his team, the Knights, tn
a winning season, and now we see him batting in the game the Knights must
win to win the pennant. He comes to
the plate with the Knights behind 2 - 0 and two men on base. If he hits a home run, the team wins.
Other major characters: A mysterious woman (Glenn Close) from Roy's
past is in the stands with her son. Although
Roy doesn't know the boy's identity, the audience suspects Roy and this woman
are the boy's parents. Pop is Roy's
manager, a feisty but loveable "gramps" type of character; the coach
in the Knights' dugout is another loveable curmudgeon; the sportswriter (Bob
Duvall) is a menacing, unethical hack who has plagued Roy ever since he returned
to the major leagues; the Knights' batboy, a good kid who loves Roy Hobbes
and worships him as a hero.
Roy Hobbes has already struck out twice in the game because he is still
recovering from being poisoned by gamblers who have bet heavily against the
Knights. Then he receives a note from the woman in the
stands. His response to the message
shows that finally he understands her son's true identity. Clearly she hopes that this message will spur
him on to victory.
Part One. CAST OF CHARACTERS. (Shots 1--27)
Roy Hobbes begins his at bat against the starting pitcher, who suddenly becomes
wild and delivers two straight balls. The director reestablishes the major
characters, Pop, the Knights' manager; the Knights' coach; and the mysterious
woman in the stands. After the second
pitch we see REACTION SHOTS of the manager, opposing manager, sportswriter
(who is eager to write a "scoop" on Roy Hobbes's failure in the
big game), and the three evil characters in the owner's box.
Part Two. IOWA
FARM BOY VS. ROY HOBBES. (Shots
28--49) Now the director sets up a mini-conflict between the new relief pitcher,
a young farm boy-type (reminiscent of the young Roy Hobbes) who comes in to
face Roy Hobbes. (This confrontation also is reminiscent of an earlier scene showing
the young Roy Hobbes striking out the great Babe Ruth on three pitches.)
Note in this part of the scene how this mythic conflict between pitcher
and batter is amplified by the reaction shot of the young boy in the stands.
Baseball is shown here as the purest form of mythic conflict--the triumph
of good over evil is the bottom line. And
it isn't nice for a knight to disappoint an "innocent" child (fan).
In these shots the director also includes a climax within the scene
when Roy Hobbes fouls off the first pitch and smashes the glass in front of
the "evil" sportswriter (he is not hurt). This climax resolves one of the plot lines established earlier in
the film. The sportswriter has been
foiled.
Part Three. STRIKE TWO. (Shots 50--61) In 12 shots the director shows Roy Hobbes
missing the ball for strike two. For
just a moment we suspect that Roy Hobbes will fail at his mission (to recover
the golden fleece, to find the Holy Grail after all, he does play for the
"Knights"). Again the tension
of the overall scene is furthered by REACTION SHOTS of the manager, the coach,
and the batboy, all of whom fear the worst and yet hope for the best.
The last reaction shot, of Roy Hobbes, shows that even he seems to
doubt his ability t persevere.
OKAY: So here we are with two strikes on Roy Hobbes, a great pitcher
against him, and what we need is SUPERNATURAL or DIVINE INTERVENTION. . .
.
Part Four. THE GIFT OF LIGHTNING. (Shots 62--72) Divine intervention occurs when we see a streak
of lightning in the sky before the next pitch. Now we know that he can't fail.
Lightning is a mysterious, elemental force, that connects Roy's experience
with that of primeval, mythic peoples seeking to control nature with fire
(Compare the film Quest for Fire). In The Natural Lightning has
played an important part of the plot after Roy's father dies of a heart attack,
the young boy witnesses a tree in their yard smashed in two by lightning.
He fashions a bat out of the wood, and he still uses that bat (a lightning
streak burned onto the wood by the engraving) as his magic weapon, his indestructible
swift sword, etc. (I told you he was a "knight.")
That bolt of lightning occurred again in an earlier game and enabled
Roy Hobbes to hit a monster home run. That's
why everyone on the team now wears a "lightning patch" on their
sleeves. So: lightning is a power beyond the powers
of human beings, and a mythic hero needs to have a similar power in order
to help good triumph over evil. Roy
has that in his bat and in his innate (natural) goodness.
Thanks to the gift of lightning Roy Hobbes hits the next pitch into
the right field stands, but the ball is barely foul.
Note how the release of emotion is ACCELERATED by the use of REACTION
SHOTS of the fans, the manager, and the coach.
This magnifies our own response to the "close call."
This editing technique helps us identify with Roy's struggle.
Part Five. THE SAVOY SPECIAL. (Shots 73--83). Crisis: Roy returns
from running down the first base line to find his special bat has been broken
by contact with the ball. His spirit
is crushed. Note that the first reaction shot is that of the mysterious woman
in the stands. We are always being
reminded of the closest EMOTIONAL bond (the one that exists between Roy Hobbes
and her. That's why her reaction shots are so important in this scene.)
It looks like his cause is now hopeless.
But the batboy to the rescue. He
runs up to Roy Hobbes, who looks down at him and says, "Go pick me out
a winner, Bobby." The batboy runs to the dugout and we see a
great extreme close-up (CU) of Bobby's special bat the Savoy Special.
He has burned this phrase onto one of the bats with an engraver.
Part Six. THE ACOLYTE. (Shots 84--92).. Now I admit that I am mixing my metaphors here.
First I called Roy Hobbes a knight; but now let me call him a priest
because he is in touch with and in tune with MYSTICAL, DIVINE energies. So a priest needs an acolyte, just as a knight needs a squire.
The batboy is the acolyte, someone who serves the priest, and yet is
also serving an apprenticeship to the priest.
The total INNOCENCE of the batboy reminds us of the innocent, naive
Roy Hobbes. So: the batboy brings the "Savoy Special" to Roy as if
he were an acolyte holding out a sacred vessel to a priest. Note how often in the last part of this scene
that Roy Hobbes and the batboy are together in the frame through REVERSE ANGLE
SHOTS. The director is fusing the
hopes and dreams of innocent youth with the deliverer, the experienced master,
who has the power to change the world's destiny. We truly are in the midst of a religious environment at this point
in the overall scene. Miraculous,
mystical things are about to happen. The
table is prepared, and the actors are ready.
Part Seven. WILL THE KNIGHT FALTER? (Shots 93--104). Just as the tension
begins to build for the final pitch, suddenly Roy Hobbes grimaces in pain.
Notice that Roy Hobbes's manager and the mysterious woman in the stands
notice this grimace. Now I can understand the manager noticing it,
but what kind of vision did that woman have in order to see that grimace of
pain? Of course, the point isn't that
the woman possesses literal supernatural vision; the point is that her EMOTIONAL
bond to Roy Hobbes is so strong that she is able to empathize at a hundred
yards. Then we see the catcher notice
that Roy Hobbes is bleeding from a perforation in his stomach (caused by being
poisoned by the evil woman in the owner's box). Note that the catcher signals (fast ball) to the pitcher because
he believes he has spotted a vulnerable point in his foe, the batter, and
he hopes the pitcher will take advantage of that weakness by throwing the
ball past Roy Hobbes. What he doesn't
realize is that the batter is one of the knights of the round table who will
sacrifice his very life if necessary to do good and obtain the holy grail. He isn't about to let that fast ball get by
him.
Part Eight. LAST BUILDING OF TENSION FOR
THE FINAL PITCH.(Shots
105--23). Roy Hobbes and the pitcher
are ready for their magic moment, where their destinies will be intertwined.
The director postpones the actual delivery of the pitch as long as
possible in order to establish maximum tension and excitement.
Of course, the director could have communicated the same material in
a few shots one of the pitcher, then one of Roy Hobbes, and then the pitcher
throwing the ball to Roy Hobbes. But
look what he would have missed: first the reaction shots, showing the fans
in the stands, the mysterious woman in the stands, the Knights' manager and coach.
Note that three times within these shots we see PARALLEL EDITING (shots
of Roy Hobbes vs. shots of the pitcher) in
order to EXPAND TIME and build to the final pitch. Note how the reaction shots of fans in the stands emphasize young
boys, who idolize sports figures and whose hero worship is related to their
moral development.
Also note that just when the pitcher winds up, as if ready to throw
the ball, the director cuts away to nine shots of reactions on the part of
the players on base, fans in the stands, the opposing pitcher, and Roy Hobbes. This expansion of time underscores how "everything
is on the line" in this special moment of competition in sports.
We see in a nutshell here why people are such rabid fans.
We place all of our hopes and dreams in the outcome of the sporting
"moment."
Part Nine. LIGHTNING STRIKES THROUGH THE
HERO. (Shots 124--72). In the first seven shots we experience the
magic moment of contact the director does all he can to make that moment special,
even mythic: the pitcher rears back, we see in an ECU his hand holding the
ball as he follows through his windup, then Roy Hobbes begins to swing, then
a reverse angle shot as he strides into the swing, and then a MAGICAL SHOT,
an EXTREME CLOSEUP of the baseball coming right at us we can see "Official
National League" on the ball. For just a moment we experience FIRST PERSON
POINT OF VIEW we see the ball as Roy Hobbes sees the ball. Then Roy Hobbes completes the swing. The SOUND of the ball hitting the bat is magnified
for this special moment.
NOTE: In the next 16 shots we see reaction shots of the major characters
and experience some of the immediate joy felt when a hero comes through for
us. We are reminded of all the GOOD
characters as we see Pops, the manager, then the coach, then the batboy and
the other players and of course the fans in the stands all celebrating this
moment. Note especially the shot of
Glenn Close (the mysterious woman) at the end of this run of shots. She knows now that she was right to tell Roy
about his son.
PART Ten. CELEBRATION. NOTE:
It shouldn't take long to show someone rounding the bases after hitting a
home run. But the director extends
Roy Hobbes's run as long as possible, IN ORDER TO EXPAND TIME through slow
motion. We want the good feelings
to last as long as possible. So the
director intercuts several shots of the exploding lights (Roy Hobbes has created
his own fireworks you see, he is supernatural!) In these shots the bad guys are dispatched
once and for all (shots of gamblers and woman in the owner's box), and their
attempts to destroy morality are contrasted nicely with shots of average people,
the fans in the stands.
As the celebration continues, the fireworks begin to fall as sparks
on the field, and there is a sense of the purity, the strength, the hardening
(as in forged steel), the supernatural power of FIRE as a metaphor. There is also the clear metaphor of PATRIOTISM in the Fourth of
July fireworks that abound in these shots.
One beautiful example of MISE EN SCENE is the shot of Pops, the manager,
as he sits in the dugout. Notice that
fireworks are reflected in his glasses; that effect suggests that the old
man has a fire that burns within him, too.
We know, from earlier scenes, that now Pops will be able to buy out
the evil owner and continue to manage the team.
At the end of the scene, Roy
Hobbes approaches home plate, the Mysterious woman in the stands is in tears,
and the team members on the field are celebrating in darkness.
Part Eleven. REUNION. (Shots 173 -- 76). Note the transition
to the ending. The director connects
the game to the mythic (perfect, round, natural) shape of the baseball, to
the reunion of the family Roy Hobbes was a part of and didn't even know it.
We end with a statement of values the good has overcome the bad,
and now we can leave the theater and go out and do good for our own families
and communities.
173. Against black background sparks descend slowly
a baseball arcs through the darkness from right to left.
174 Screen lightens. Baseball drops into the glove of Roy's son, who is
standing in a hayfield. He
throws the ball.
175. Mysterious woman stands in the field, watching
the two men play.
176.
Roy
Hobbes catches the ball. He throws
it back. He looks content, at peace
with himself. Fade to black.
Notes written by Robert Yahnke
Copyright, Robert E. Yahnke, © 2001
Professor, General College, Univ. of Minnesota,
Reprinted by permission of the author for educational use only