The Natural's Arthurian Charm

Because this is the blog’s inaugural post, I will try to enlighten all you readers with a brief explanation of what to expect.

We are a generation that seeks to be constantly entertained (forgive me for that gross generality), and more than that, we desire instant gratification (also a gross generalization).  Our grandparents tell us of the days where they used to sit on the roof and look at the clouds, or paint the house, or watch the grass grow or whatever.  Good for them.  Today, we do not have time for that.  We do not want to hear a story.  We want everything in a little vacuum package in our 2-3 hour time block.  That is why we love movies and sports.  And every once in a while, those two things are morphed into one.  Well, often they are morphed into one, but once in a while it is actually worth watching.

What we do not realize is that these movies truly are, at their base, stories.  Many of these stories are adaptations from some of the better books we may never have heard of if not for the movies.  Actually, I would bet most of the people who enjoy these movies have no idea that they are the derivatives of books.  A lot of space on the blogosphere is dedicated to sports and movies, and in some cases for sports movies, but everyone should remember, that whether they are better or worse, these movies came from books.

Now that I have bored everyone, every week here one great sports movie will be discussed in terms of the book that inspired it, starting now, with “The Natural”.

Often referred to as the greatest sports movie of all-time, a title that is limited to this, Hoosiers, and Raging Bull, and not much else, “The Natural” is one of the most popular baseball stories ever told.  Starring Robert Redford and directed by Barry Levinson, it chronicles the life of fictitious baseball player Roy Hobbs.

Of course, this fictitious character is the brainchild of Bernard Malamud.  Malamud wrote the novel in the most traditional King Arthurian sense.  For those confused by that, our tragic hero (Hobbs) chases the holy grail (the National League pennant), and in the process, his flaws lead to the destruction of his Excalibur (the Wonderboy, his bat).  For those still confused, maybe books aren’t for you to begin with.

Ultimately, the movie sticks pretty close to the major themes of the novel, and does it justice, of course, aside from the ending.  Spoiler alert (by the way, you won’t here those words again from me on this blog) but in the movie we all know Hobbs hits the home run to win the game to be a hero and gets the girl.  Hip hip hooray for him. 

That is not how Malamud meant the Hobbs saga to end.  The novel ends with Hobbs striking out, losing everything, from the girl to his dignity.  It breaks him as a man, and is the tragic end to a flawed protagonist.  I do not know why they changed it for the movie, maybe because nobody believe Robert Redford could possibly lose out on a girl, which is quite plausible actually.

Is the book better than the movie?  I’d like to say yes for sure.  What I can say without a doubt, if you loved the movie, it might be worthwhile to take a look at the book, and see the story as it was originally meant to be told.