42 is a 2013 biographical movie directed by an award-winning American director Brian Helgeland. The motion picture dwells on the events of 1945 when Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman), an African American baseball player, became the first Black player to be signed for Major League Baseball. This film, although allowing for some fictional alteration, tells the story of how Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford), a sports executive for the Brooklyn Dodgers, makes a bold decision to sign the first Black ballplayer in the history of high-rank baseball. The story behind the movie pursues the idea of how the image of a Black man in popular culture redefines the perception of race in the overall social context. Such a thesis is displayed successfully in the motion picture, as it has initiated the discussion of race in the modern social context.
The modern social paradigm of race resonates significantly with the complexity of embracing race portrayed in 42. Indeed, since one of the movie’s central messages is coming to terms with equality and support regardless of race and social class, it sheds light on how modern perceptions of race and discrimination are portrayed. Currently, cultural studies and African American history, in particular, are presented through the lens of historical and popular culture figures who redefine the perception of culture by the majority of the American population. American history is primarily taught by promoting images of major milestones and public figures, including Martin Luther King, Jr., or, more recently, George Floyd. As a result, the cinematographic depiction of Robinson’s history provides the general public with insights into the formation of the public acceptance of Black publicity and race acknowledgment.
One of the movie’s most prominent scenes is when one of the Dodgers players, Pee Wee Reese (Lucas Black), publicly embraces Robinson. Given the cultural context of racial segregation and discrimination at the time, this scene resonates strongly with the recipient’s pathos. Pathos is described as the emotional appeal of the audience, and such a plain moment as hugging a Black person now remains a strong image of promoting racial equality (Stucki and Sager). Hence, the primary takeaway of 42 is the fact that a cinematographic depiction of racial equality plays a crucial role in promoting equality and acceptance in society.
Works Cited
42. Directed by Brian Helgeland, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2013.
Stucki, Iris, and Fritz Sager. “Aristotelian Framing: Logos, Ethos, Pathos and the Use of Evidence in Policy Frames.” Policy Sciences, vol.51, no. 3, 2018, pp. 373-385.