Why Field of Dreams is a classic and why it still resonates

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]that that Field of Dreams, it it's an unusual film in that men universally all guys when we watch it, we tear up at one point and we're ashamed to admit that we do that, but that is one of the few films that makes all men cry. What is the secret to making men cry in a movie?

[00:00:18]>> [laughter] >> I don't I don't know. That movie is I think our generation's Wonderful Life.

[00:00:22]It's a Wonderful Life and and and it happens and it it doesn't matter how often you watch that movie. When you ask your dad it is it it it seems to get [music] people and There's more reasons why this film is seen today as a timeless classic. It is a great film and it resonates even close to 40 years after its release and it's my job to tell you why that is the case.

[00:00:45]Field of Dreams is a film about second chances or the dream of a second chance.

[00:00:50]Either way, there is a reason why the film is such a great piece of media and held in such high regard. So, let's talk about Field of Dreams.

[00:00:59]So, Field of Dreams is an adaptation of W.P. Kinsella's Shoeless Joe, a book that the premise of which is basically Shoeless Joe Jackson comes to Iowa. But, the underlying plot is of a man who's really just yearning for a second chance with his father. Now, there is a lot to this story, but the story is about Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer who starts hearing voices in his corn field.

[00:01:23]If you build it, he will come.

[00:01:31]>> [music] >> There are more voices to be heard and to be talked about, but I just want to go ahead and tell you now before we talk about the film that this video will not be a full-blown plot explanation. I'm assuming that if you've clicked on this video, then you've seen the film already.

[00:01:46]But, if you haven't, please go watch the film and come back because there will be spoilers and trust me, it's definitely worth the watch. Like I said, there's a reason why this film is still held in such high regard to this day.

[00:01:59]And speaking of the plot, let me go ahead and kind of break down how the video is going to go. I'm going to mention the plot briefly, but like I said, it won't be a full-blown explanation, but I'm going to be for the most part focusing in on the film's four main characters and the second chances that they receive and I'm going to do it one by one and then come back to the underlying message. However, there is also this theory about the character of Terence Mann that he's actually dead or he's a ghost. I'll be talking more about that towards the end. So, trust me, we shall get to that theory.

[00:02:28]With that, however, out of the way, if you guys can, please hit the like button. Please consider subscribing. I'm also going to want to get you guys' thoughts in the comment section about the video essay and the film, [music] too.

[00:02:37]And as always, thank you guys for watching. Let's talk about Field of Dreams.

[00:02:42]So, Ray believes that the voices are telling him to build a baseball field in the middle of his crop, which of course is not a good idea for a farmer to do and Ray is even made fun of by the townsfolk.

[00:02:54]His brother-in-law constantly reminds him of the amount of money that he is losing with the baseball field in the middle of his corn field, but Ray for the most part relents and his resolve even becomes a little bit more, how do I say it? Becomes much, much harder when the spirit of a very, very much maligned Shoeless Joe Jackson appears in his corn field.

[00:03:15]It's this chance encounter with the spirit of Shoeless Joe Jackson, who as said before, is maligned and like I said, we'll get to him a little bit later on the video, but it's this chance encounter with Shoeless Joe showing up in his backyard as a ghost or as a spirit and of course, Ray even plays catches with him, that eventually leads Ray to go on a cross-country trip to find 1960s author Terence Mann, who by the way, in the novel was actually based on J.D. Salinger.

[00:03:47]The same J.D. Salinger who gave us the book Catcher in the Rye. Just figured I'd point that out before we go any farther. Terence Mann, a recluse and as said before, a figure from the 1960s kind of sort of viewed to be persona non grata, he now lives as a recluse in Boston working on software.

[00:04:04]What?

[00:04:05]You're from the '60s.

[00:04:07]Well, yeah, actually.

[00:04:10]Oh, hey.

[00:04:11]Back to the '60s.

[00:04:12]You've changed.

[00:04:14]You know that?

[00:04:15]Yes, I suppose I have. How about this?

[00:04:18]Peace, love, DOPE. NOW, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE.

[00:04:23]AS MANN REASSERTS to Ray that he wants to be left alone, Ray asks there to tell him his father's name.

[00:04:29]You're a pacifist.

[00:04:31]My name's Ray Kinsella. You used my father's name for a character in one of your stories.

[00:04:36]John Kinsella.

[00:04:38]You're seeing a whole team of psychiatrists, aren't you?

[00:04:41]I don't I don't blame you for thinking that, but no, I'm not.

[00:04:46]You see, Ray's father is a ball player, former ball player, World War I vet, had Ray at a very, very late age. Don't worry, we'll come back to that when we talk about Ray specifically, but the two men eventually get to a ball game that night at Fenway Park and a certain bulletin comes across the scoreboard that is clearly designed for Ray. Yet, somehow or another, [music] Terence also sees the exact same bulletin.

[00:05:15]Moonlight Graham.

[00:05:18]Son.

[00:05:20]The two travel from Boston to Minnesota to find Archie Moonlight Graham and you find out that Moonlight Graham is actually a doctor and of course, in a bit of a sentient [music] dream sequence, Ray ultimately meets with Archie Moonlight Graham and he tells him of the missed opportunity that he had at the big leagues.

[00:05:39]Now, there's a lot more to this and as you guys can obviously see, I've decided to use a lot of clips to kind of help explain things. However, [music] it's the second chances of Ray, Archie Moonlight Graham, Terence Mann to a certain degree and of course, also Shoeless Joe Jackson that I want to discuss. So, with that out of the way, let's talk about these four men starting with Archie Moonlight Graham.

[00:06:01]When Ray meets Moonlight Graham, the older doctor version in what is sort of like a sentient type dream that even takes him back to 1972. Of course, this rare occurrence was when the film The Godfather was released.

[00:06:14]Archie Moonlight Graham tells Ray of his time with the Giants. It only lasted about a month and of course, he was sitting on the bench.

[00:06:24]At the end of the season, uh back in those days, the roster would expand because they would call kids up from the minor leagues and this is basically what happened in the case of Moonlight Graham. He didn't really get any actual meaningful play. He did get to go into the game and play defense, but he didn't and I'll let him describe it much with more detail here in a second, but he wasn't actually able to get in a bat, but let me let Archie Moonlight Graham kind of explain what really happened.

[00:06:51]>> I'd been up with the club about oh, about 3 weeks, but I hadn't seen any action.

[00:06:55]Suddenly, old John McGraw points a bony [music] finger in my direction and he says, "Right field."

[00:07:01]Yes, sir.

[00:07:02]I jumped up like I was sitting on a spring, grabbed my glove and ran out on the field.

[00:07:11]Did you get to make a play?

[00:07:14]They never hit the ball out of the infield.

[00:07:18]Game ended, the season was over.

[00:07:21]Now, for purposes of time, I can't play every single scene. Like I said, I know this video is a little bit more clip heavy than normal, but still, when they get back to Ray's home, uh this version of Graham finally gets his chance to actually do what it is that he wanted to do in the big leagues, which for the most part was get in a bat. No, I'm just asking.

[00:07:47]And you know, I I never got to bat in the major leagues.

[00:07:51]I'd have liked to have that chance, just once.

[00:07:54]To stare down a big [music] league pitcher.

[00:07:57]To stare him down just as he goes into his windup.

[00:08:00]Like like you can think you know something he doesn't.

[00:08:04]That's what I wish for.

[00:08:06]Chance to squint at a sky so blue that it hurts your eyes just to look at it.

[00:08:10]To feel the tingling in your arms as you connect with the ball.

[00:08:13]To run the bases, stretch a double into a triple and flop face first into third.

[00:08:19]Wrap your arms around the bag.

[00:08:21]That's my wish, Ray Kinsella.

[00:08:24]It was his dream. It was a second chance for him to play in the big leagues. Now, granted, there's a little bit more about this that we're going to go ahead and get into here shortly that sort of kind of shows that him being in the big leagues or let's just say his cup of coffee with the big leagues wasn't exactly the dream that he would end up being satisfied with.

[00:08:43]During the conversation between Ray and the older Graham, Graham reveals something that is quite revealing. Now, we'll get to that on the other side here, but just to kind of get back to the actual story itself, Ray and his brother-in-law, Ray's brother-in-law, by the way, can't see the players, which is kind of the beauty of the entire thing that it's for the most part a field of dreams, but still, Ray's brother and Ray, they get into an argument about the farm, the fact that there's a baseball diamond in the middle of the farm, they don't have any money and sort of a running theme throughout the entire film as you guys are seeing right here in the B-roll footage. Still, the thing is this right here. This argument eventually turns and Ray's young daughter, after she tells Ray the famous people will come scene, she gets knocked off the bleachers.

[00:09:32]While choking on a hot dog, I know what you're probably thinking, especially if you have kids. All Ray has got to do here is just kind of pop her back and the hot dog will come up, even though obviously, Heimlich maneuver on kids is a little bit more difficult than I'm I'm kind of leading on to here. But, the young Graham just chooses to make a decision. He sees what's going on and he chooses to walk across the grass and he turns back into the older doctor version of Moonlight Graham.

[00:10:01]Just wait.

[00:10:21]What do we got here?

[00:10:23]He saves the child from choking. Insert all Ray had to do was this if you guys want to, but still this very kind of hearkens back to something that he had been saying in the earlier conversation that he had with Ray. And that of course [music] was the fact that if he had not become a doctor, that would have actually been the tragedy. 50 years ago, for 5 minutes you came what you you came this close.

[00:10:46]I mean it would kill some men to get that close to their dream and not touch it.

[00:10:51]They they'd consider it a tragedy. Son, if I'd only gotten to be a doctor [music] for 5 minutes, now that would have been a tragedy.

[00:11:01]Exactly. All Archie Moonlight Graham wanted to do was just get a chance to play.

[00:11:07]That's all he ever wanted was just an opportunity to to lean in as he describes in his initial meeting with Ray, his initial [music] conversation.

[00:11:17]And it's this type of stuff that gives baseball fans goosebumps when we think about going to the play, actually connecting with the ball. It's that type of stuff that makes the game so romantic.

[00:11:28]Still, it would have been a tragedy if he had not become a doctor, what's the point?

[00:11:33]Like I said, the only thing Archie Moonlight Graham wanted was a chance to step in the box and do what he said, wink at the pitcher as if to say that he knew something the pitcher did not and get an opportunity to swing the bat.

[00:11:43]That's really all Archie Moonlight Graham wanted. And there's something else too that just kind of further compounds this.

[00:11:48]>> [music] >> And this here is going to come up a little bit more when we talk about Shoeless Joe in an indirect way, but the thing is here there's this little thing that Archie Moonlight Graham does. He keeps on saying, "I better get back or else Alicia will think I got a girlfriend." That's basically him saying, "I enjoy my life with my wife.

[00:12:08]I'm more than satisfied with my life as it is."

[00:12:11]The only thing Archie Moonlight Graham wanted was just an opportunity to step in the batter's box. And he got that chance. But that leads us to Shoeless Joe Jackson, so [music] let's talk about Shoeless Joe.

[00:12:24]There are others, you know.

[00:12:28]The eight of us.

[00:12:30]It would really mean a lot to them.

[00:12:32]Yeah.

[00:12:33]Anytime.

[00:12:35]They're all welcome here.

[00:12:42]In the case of Shoeless Joe Jackson, it was a second chance not to play baseball again, but a second chance to play with his buddies, the eight men that would ultimately be banned from baseball.

[00:12:54]Thing about Shoeless Joe is that Shoeless Joe Jackson along with Buck Weaver on that 1919 Black Sox team, which I advise you guys go check out the Black Sox scandal, they were the two players that lumped in with the rest of the crowd that was actually throwing the series. Now, this video is not going to explore that entire thing, but I would advise you guys look into the 1919 Black Sox [music] scandal. Now, not to go on too much of a tangent, but I want to kind of come back to Archie Moonlight Graham for a second. I talked a minute ago about how it is that Moonlight Graham would say something along the lines of uh Alicia might have thought I got a girlfriend, so let me get back to her.

[00:13:33]He was satisfied living a normal life.

[00:13:36]That's the point about Archie Moonlight Graham. However, in the case of [music] Shoeless Joe Jackson, baseball in reality, when you actually study the man, you find out that it was in his entire life. He actually wasn't even educated. Uh I don't even think he went to school uh even at an early age. He'd been playing baseball from the time he was about 6 or 7 years old all the way until his death.

[00:13:58]Well, maybe not exactly his death. There are stories about him working in a grocery store, bagging groceries right before the end of his life, but the point is this. Shoeless Joe, what he missed was the camaraderie, the ability to play baseball with his buddies. And you sort of see that coming back to Archie Moonlight Graham when they're on the field for the night game.

[00:14:19]Yeah, I've always found this little bit to be very intriguing. Ray, I hope you don't mind. Well, we got tired of just having practices, so we brought another team out with us so we could have some real games.

[00:14:30]I don't mind.

[00:14:32]Where'd they come from? Where'd we come from?

[00:14:35]You wouldn't believe how many guys wanted to play here.

[00:14:38]We had to beat them off with a stick.

[00:14:40]Hey, that's Smoky Joe Wood.

[00:14:42]And Mel Ott.

[00:14:45]Mel Ott, Smoky Joe Wood. Moonlight Graham is looking at the stars of his generation when he was young. He's looking at the stars of the teens and the '20s. And the thing is this here, it is further compounded when Shoeless Joe says this.

[00:15:00]>> Ty Cobb wanted to play.

[00:15:02]None of us could stand the son of a when we were alive, so we told him to stick it.

[00:15:06]>> [laughter] >> I don't want to get too much into Ty Cobb or anything like that and get too far off topic, but the point is Shoeless Joe Jackson, what he missed most of [music] all was playing baseball, big league ball With what?

[00:15:19]>> one of his friends. Even those on the opposing side are still friends.

[00:15:24]Which brings [music] me to What are you grinning at, you ghost?

[00:15:29]If you build it, he will come.

[00:15:36]>> [music] >> Oh my god.

[00:15:38]What? What is it?

[00:15:43]It's my father.

[00:15:45]>> [music] >> It was you.

[00:15:53]No, Ray.

[00:15:54]>> [music] >> It was you.

[00:15:59]He was thanking Ray for building the field. Now, originally this video I wanted to split off here and talk about Ray, but I'm going to save him for the last part.

[00:16:09]Instead, I'm going to go straight to Terence Mann, so let's talk about Terence Mann. We're almost past you. You have a family.

[00:16:15]>> I know, but I want to know what's out there. I want to see it.

[00:16:19]But you're not invited.

[00:16:23]Not invited?

[00:16:24]What do you mean I'm not invited? That's my corn out there. You guys are guests in my corn.

[00:16:29]>> Ray. No, wait. I have done everything I've been asked to do. I didn't understand it, but I've done it. And I haven't once asked what's in it for me.

[00:16:36]What are you saying, Ray? I'm saying, "What's in it for me?" You know, with that little bit about what's in it for me and how it is that they're allowing Terence Mann to go back there, but not Ray, I want to go ahead and kind of you know pull the cat out of the bag before we talk about Mann in in further detail.

[00:16:52]A lot of people have wondered exactly what it is that's behind like like what's out there, like what's in the cornfield. And I think it's pretty obvious.

[00:17:01]Fans are not allowed to go into the locker room, which is exactly what the cornfield is. It's a spiritual locker room. That's why Ray is not allowed, but Terence Mann is. Of course, many people have wondered about Terence Mann and they've said to themselves, "Well, maybe he's actually dead." Even actor uh James Earl Jones, the beloved James Earl Jones had even made this quip. I'll link this video in the description box in full, but the thing is this here. A lot of people have theorized that Terence Mann is a spirit on his own. I wouldn't say he's dead, but definitely a sentient being. And the reason why I say sentient being is because he's able to actually go into the cornfield. He kind of disappears. I didn't provide all of it for you here, the real footage, but the thing that tells me for the most part he's actually real is the fact that he's actually able to order a dog and a beer and at the same time Ray's brother-in-law who can't see the players is able to see Terence Mann shake his hand and talk to him. Still, we're supposed to be talking about Terence Mann in detail, so what's his second chance? Well, when Ray meets up with Terence Mann, Terence Mann being a figure from the '60s, the thing is this here. Terence Mann is a recluse.

[00:18:05]Not only is he a recluse, but he wants to be left the hell alone. I think that Terence Mann's real pain [music] is actually this bit here.

[00:18:14]>> do you want?

[00:18:16]I wanted them to stop looking to me for answers, begging me to speak again, write again, be a leader. I want them to start thinking for themselves. And I want my privacy.

[00:18:26]He doesn't feel like he was able to connect to the readers of his work at that time. Which brings me to that speech that he gives at the end where he talks about baseball and how like America it's a constant.

[00:18:41]The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball.

[00:18:46]America [music] is ruled by like an army of steamrollers.

[00:18:49]It's an erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and [music] erased again.

[00:18:55]But baseball has marked the time.

[00:19:00]This field, this game, it's a part of our [music] past, Ray.

[00:19:06]It reminds us of all that once was good and that could be again.

[00:19:14]Earlier in the film, the first mentions of Terence Mann pop up when Terence Mann is talked about at a town hall, his books, his works, and how well how you could say that it's probably not suitable for work. That's what we would use today, but the thing is this.

[00:19:30]What Terence Mann was trying to say about baseball being a constant and America being a constant was he wasn't just talking about America itself, wasn't just talking about the economy, the military, the might. Uh he was using baseball as an allegory for the fact that dreams will always exist in America. We really live in a very special place while at the exact same time uh one of the biggest reasons why we live in a special place is because here in America we are allowed to have the conversation. And the conversation always changes. Politics always find a way to differ. People have disagreements. It's one of the only places in the world where you can actually have disagreement and continue to move forward.

[00:20:10]There are others out there who try to say it's an allegory for immigration, it's an allegory for America's founding.

[00:20:16]I I I don't buy that. If anything, I think it's an allegory for the conversation. The conversation is constantly had. People have disagreements all the time and they normally work through it.

[00:20:26]Baseball itself has always been sort of a unifying sport, sort of a unifying thing here in the United States. It's America's pastime. And I think that that's what Terence Mann is being given a second chance to do.

[00:20:37]Go into the cornfield, see what's actually there, experience what the players are experiencing, and it gives him a second chance at becoming a writer. Which is, by the way, what he wanted to do and he felt like he failed at doing in '60s. Hence the whole I want people to think for themselves bit.

[00:20:54]The encounter with Ray, the cornfield itself, what Terence Mann is seeing, what he's experiencing, this right here is an opportunity for him to go back to doing what he probably should have always been doing, which was being a writer. Of course, he would be much much more mature in his age and he would have a better way of conveying his message, but that's what his second chance is. The ability to be what he always felt he should have been.

[00:21:22]Which brings us to Ray. So, let's talk about Ray Kinsella and the second chance that he gets and also the penance going through to get that second chance.

[00:21:33]>> I didn't understand what He says his pain.

[00:21:38]He says pain, what?

[00:21:41]What the hell What the hell does that mean? He says pain.

[00:21:44]What pain?

[00:21:45]All right.

[00:21:46]Whose pain?

[00:21:48]Ray's pain is the fact that he and his father were never able to end things on good terms. The conversation that he has with Terence Mann on the way from Minnesota back to his farm in Iowa is very eye-opening. I'll link [music] the full bit in the description box, but I'm not going to play much of it for you.

[00:22:05]But basically, with Ray, it had gotten to the point to where he felt that his old man, John Kinsella, was trying to uh basically live his dreams through Ray. Ray was designed to be the ball player, the guy that actually goes to the big league.

[00:22:20]What happened to your father?

[00:22:22]He never made it as a ball player, so he tried to get his son to make it for him.

[00:22:27]By the time I was 10 [music] playing baseball, it got to be like eating vegetables or taking out the garbage.

[00:22:34]So, when I was 14, I started to refuse.

[00:22:38]Can you believe that?

[00:22:40]American boy refusing to have a catch with his father.

[00:22:43]I packed my things, said something awful, and left.

[00:22:48]After a while, I wanted to come home, but I didn't know how.

[00:22:52]Made it back to the funeral, though.

[00:22:56]What was the awful thing you said?

[00:23:00]To your father.

[00:23:05]Said I could never [music] respect a man whose hero was a criminal.

[00:23:10]Who was his hero?

[00:23:13]Shoeless Joe [music] Jackson.

[00:23:17]You knew he wasn't a criminal.

[00:23:20]Then why did you say it?

[00:23:23]I was 17.

[00:23:25]Baseball for him, it got to the point to where it's like he said, it's like eating green vegetables. But the truth about Ray and John is that there's a massive generational gap that he explains at the very beginning of the of the movie.

[00:23:38]John Kinsella, his father, served in World War I. He was roughly 18 years old. He [music] came home, played baseball, beat around for a while playing mostly minor league, coastal league type teams, working odd jobs, and by the time he met his wife and had his son, which of course is Ray, John was already, for the most part, an old man. He was roughly like 50 years old. And that really obviously was a big-time generational gap, but he was even still working a lot. And he used to tell [music] Ray stories, put him to bed, like he said at the beginning of the film, stories about Babe Ruth, Shoeless Joe Jackson, baseball players.

[00:24:14]But as Ray explained in the rest of that little bit, he would eventually become a product of the '60s. He would get overly indulged in it and therefore he would eventually become somewhat idealistic.

[00:24:25]To a point to where Ray kind of looks back on the relationship and says, "My God, you know, I kind of turned down the opportunity to play catch with my old man."

[00:24:35]I mean, that entire conversation that he has with Terence Mann about his father, there's a lot of regret [music] in that conversation.

[00:24:43]To the point to where Terence Mann tells him that this right here is your penance.

[00:24:48]And that's really what this entire thing is about is that Ray is going through a penance. I mean, going back to him at the beginning of the film where I talked about it.

[00:24:56]He's 36 years old. He became a farmer late. He decided to, because he was hearing voices in [music] his cornfield, he decided to plow over a section of the cornfield to turn it into a baseball diamond. And he gets made fun of by the town. Townsfolk, they make fun of him, they think he's crazy, they think he's a joke, and of course he's losing money.

[00:25:15]He looks like he's may even lose his farm. And then out of the middle of nowhere, he starts having this bit where Shoeless Joe Jackson, the spirit of Shoeless Joe, shows up in his backyard.

[00:25:25]And the next thing you know, you've got all these ball players and you've got this quest that you're going on, this journey to find answers. And those answers, of course, lead him to a second chance. And that second chance is that bit at the very end of the film where he sees his father as a young man. Better when he was worn down by life.

[00:25:45]Look at him.

[00:25:48]He's got his whole life in front of him and I'm not even a glint in his eye.

[00:25:54]>> [music] >> What do I say to him?

[00:26:00]Now, this entire scene is roughly 6-7 minutes. So, of course, it leads to one of the greatest scenes in film history towards the end. But basically, Ray got that chance. He got that chance to finally have that game of catch with his old man.

[00:26:16]Hey.

[00:26:17]Dad?

[00:26:19]>> [music] >> You want to have a catch?

[00:26:26]>> [music] >> I'd like that.

[00:26:30]Emotional, heartwarming, [music] it's one of the biggest reasons why the words that we started this video out with with Kevin Costner [music] in the background on "Field of Dreams" uh the biggest reason why it's such a big deal, why it hits [music] especially men a certain way is because if you've ever lost your father or if you've ever lost a relative and there [music] were words that were said, if things ended on bad terms, you always sort of look back at that [music] thing to yourself, "My God, what could have been?" God, I would love to have that opportunity back. That's basically what this film is about. It's one of the reasons why it's is so relatable >> [music] >> and why it resonates so well.

[00:27:08]But you guys tell me what you think in the comments section. I think this right here pretty well wraps it up. You guys tell me what you think about the film, what you guys [music] think about the video essay. If you can, on the way out the door, please hit the like button.

[00:27:19]Please consider subscribing. Let's make the channel much much larger. Also, if you guys can, [music] like I said before, please leave a comment. I really want to get you guys' thoughts on the video essay and the film as well. So, please hit the like button. And as always, thank you guys [music] for watching and I'll see you guys later.

[00:27:40]>> [music] [music]