Field of Dreams

This paper examines the power of emotional appeals in Phil Alden Robinson's film, Field of Dreams. The story of a man's quest for reconciliation with his father, the film tells the larger story of the importance of dreams and the need to follow them. Throughout, the script includes a wide variety of emotional appeals as characters try to influence those around them to help them accomplish their sometimes wildly fanciful goals. Using baseball as the central activity and a metaphor for truth and purity, Robinson creates a compelling argument for the importance of dreams and aspirations within a distinctly American context.

Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer, is walking through his cornfield one afternoon when he hears a whispered voice telling him, "If you build it, he will come" (Field of Dreams). At first, he thinks the voice is a trick of the wind, but, as it repeats itself, he starts to listen and wonder at its meaning. The voice is the first of the film's appeals to the emotions, although Ray cannot understand what it is trying to persuade him to do.

As he continues to think about it, and after he sees a distant vision of a lighted baseball diamond in place of an acre of his corn, he starts to believe that he is being compelled to plow the corn under and actually construct a ball field. As he begins to be persuaded, the next person he must convince is his wife, Annie. He appeals to her sympathy, her sense of the ridiculous, and her own ability to dream. He tells her

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, having deduced the meaning of his latest message, now appeals to Annie's sense of destiny. He tells her he must track down an important writer from the 1960s; he argues that he must go along with "the primal forces of nature" in order to fulfill the demands of the voice (Field of Dreams). He sets out for New York City, 1,500 miles away. En route, he rehearses the persuasive appeals he might try in convincing an alienated recluse to follow him on what appears to be an illogical, imprecise, ill-defined quest. On arrival, his actual appeal lacks the eloquence of his rehearsals, but he is able finally to win his case and persuade Terrence Mann to join him. The next message he receives tells him, "Go the distance" (Field of Dreams) and gives him the name of a professional ballplayer from the 1920s who played only one major league game. By this time, Ray is already fully committed to his journey. The voice appeals to his sense of adventure and intrigues him. He and the writer, who is convinced as much by Ray's passion as by anything else, head west and north. Ray's appeal to the ghost of the country doctor, the man that the ball player became after his brief career ended, is not successful. He tries to convince the doctor

Category: Film - F