New A League of Their Own series declared one of the greatest queer shows of all time
A League of Their Own. (Amazon/Columbia)
The Amazon Prime remake of A League of Their Own has been hailed a roaring success and one of the “gayest shows ever”.
The series, created by Abbi Jacobson and Will Graham, takes the premise of the 1992 film starring Madonna – which followed a 1940s all-female baseball league – but goes further into the lives of the women that were “overlooked” by the original.
As Jacobson told Glamour: “Our series is telling the stories that were overlooked in the film — and not just in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, where that door opened for white women and white-passing women but closed on everyone else.
“So what do they do to live out their dreams? We were trying to tell the stories that the film didn’t focus on.”
In the show there are several plotlines encompassing queerness, gender identity and found family, including a romance between Jacobson’s character Carson and The Good Place star D’Arcy Carden’s character, Greta.
Jacobson continued: “It’s also that queer stories are often, like, so tragic. I mean, the queer stories told so far. And in our show, there are those devastating and dangerous aspects of being queer at that time, but we are also really trying to show the joy within that, and the sacrifice, and all those things.”
In response to the often-touted complaint of queer media being too queer, she shot back: “First of all, everyone’s not queer in the show, right? But I’m also like, why can’t they be? We’ve grown up watching every single show with all straight people.”
Response to the remake’s new, inclusive viewpoint has been overwhelmingly positive.
“A League of Their Own isn’t just gay, it captures multiple facets of queer life, even hidden queer life that existed back then. And it’s fantastic. I’ve rewatched the show twice already just to revel in it,” one fan tweeted.
Another added: “Seeing the queer culture exploration in A League of Their Own really made me feel SO much and also the butch/femme rep? Sapphics? Lesbians!!!! Incredible, groundbreaking this show is so healing, I can’t believe it’s real.”
There has been specific praise for the Black lesbian representation in the show.
The show explores not only the character of Max Chapman (Chanté Adams) in all her lesbian glory, but also the beautiful platonic friendship between Max and Clance (Gbemisola Ikumelo).
“I just finished a League of Their Own and wow that was gay af but also Max and Clance’s friendship is everything, they were the stars of the show. The other star of the show was how absolutely f**king gay it was I loved every minute of it,” one viewer wrote.
Another said: “It made me so happy as a Black lesbian to see a Black friendship so close and so real and so developed on the screen that shows set in the modern day fail to do over and over. The love Max and Clance have for each other, the COMPLETELY platonic love…”
There was also a lot of love for trans masc character Bertie, played by non-binary trans actor Lea Robinson.
In an interview with LGBTQNation about the show, Robinson said: “Someone who is a person of colour and non-binary, we don’t see those stories in history often. History has been whitewashed and straight-washed but these characters existed.
“These people existed. I felt so honoured to be a part of telling these stories and telling a story similar to mine for a person like Bertie.”
In conclusion, as put eloquently by one fan: “No one is ever prepared for how gay A League of Their Own is going to be, you can start it thinking it’s going to be the gayest show ever and it will STILL surprise you how gay it actually is.”
A League of their Own is available to stream on Amazon Prime.
