Cultural Differences In Mr. Baseball

The movie Mr. Baseball, depicts the cultural differences between the US and Japanese. The movie uses professional baseball as the as the backdrop to enlighten us of a few of the cultural difference. These cultural differences span from business practices to sports for entertainment. Mr. Selleck as “Jack Elliot” cultural programming portrays him in the movie as an immature, arrogant, bad attitude major league baseball player who is past his prime. He brags, gloats, shows off, and makes a scene to bring attention to himself like a teenager. He is salty because of a rookie on the New York Yankees team. He is hitting better than Jack and bumped Jack from his spot. Jack is out of a job until he is signed to play baseball in Japan and hopefully …show more content…
Jack starts training hard and his teammates acknowledge his efforts and train with him. During games Uchiyama, still is up tight and stiff in the dugout and Jack encourages him to allow the team to have more fun and let the pitchers pitch their way out of trouble. Uchiyama allows for more dugout fun but does not participate. At the end of the season Jack is up to bat and the team is down by one. With bases loaded Jack is looking for a grand slam. The corporate sponsors up in the booth are thinking Uchiyama will signal Jack to bunt playing for the team saying, “he knows who pays his salary.” He is one home run away from beating Uchiyama’s record and Uchiyama signals to swing away. This shows a shift in Uchiyama’s culture allowing a younger player to beat his record and going against what his culture expects him to signal, the bunt. Jack is at the mound with two strikes and two outs. Jack notices all the players are playing deep and in analyzing the situation has become more of a team player decides to bunt. The runner on third scores tying the game and as Jack runs to first base gives the other teams player a little nudge making him miss the ball allowing for the winning run to …show more content…
Both countries are competitive and loosing puts anxiety on both. They both believe winning is important and they are upset, frustrated, saddened by a loss. Jack openly displays his disappointment with foul language, harsh rash movements, storming off the field even when the game ends in a tie. Uchiyama and the rest of the team will quietly walk out of the dugout, yes disappointed but not verbally or outwardly physical. Jack is used to the game being fun and playful. The Japanese team is very defined and set in their monochromatic ways. They are passionate players, but view baseball as a serious job rather than a fun game. The field is sacred so no spitting on the field, dugout is very quiet. The pitcher follows every signal from the coach. Jack slowly shows the team how to have more fun. In a scene Jack tells Uchiyama to let the pitcher pitch his way out of trouble. They are grown men and can think on their own. Uchiyama allows this and the team start eating sunflower seeds, spitting in the dugout, and in general the atmosphere is more fun. Uchiyama shows his emotion in the locker room when he tells the team to kick some ass and smiles as he sees the team having fun in the dugout. The team even gets Jack back for his hot foot prank earlier on in the movie. Jack changes also and tones his mannerisms after upsets. He still is competitive and wants to win. The bunt displays the urge to win more than failing if he