I feel like a Mad Man...
Please help me understand this new Jennifer Garner commercial for Capital One...
Am I missing something? I earnestly asked my empty bedroom the first time I came across a new commercial for Capital One. The 30-second ad mimics the iconic “there’s no crying in baseball” scene from Penny Marshall’s 1992 film A League of Their Own, in which Tom Hanks’ Jimmy Dugan, the drunk, begrudging coach of the Rockford Peaches, berates a player to the point of tears, and then humiliates her even further for crying. The scene, while humorous and quotable, captures the tensions at the heart of the WWII era All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, later resolved when Dugan finds “a better way” to coach.
The commercial recreates the scene almost uncannily. It opens with a woman in a Rockford Peaches uniform weeping while holding up a credit card, because her “travel rewards card didn't earn enough miles for her vacation”. Then, Jennifer Garner emerges from the dugout, dressed like Jimmy Dugan, and tweaks his famous line: “are you crying? Are you crying because of that other card? There’s no crying in baseball, or with the Capital One Venture Card, because…” she goes on with a few more gibberish details about the card and its rewards and closes with. “There’s no crying with the Venture Card…what’s in your wallet?” End of ad.
I racked my brain, and eventually Google, for connective tissue between A League of Their Own, actress Jennifer Garner, and a travel rewards-focused credit card. I could find none. Garner wasn’t in the 1992 film, nor even the 2022 Abbi Jacobson-helmed series of the same name. Credit cards were not invented until 1946, three years after the bulk of the film, and the referenced scene, take place. It seemed like they just spun a wheel to combine things people recognize (à la the Phoebe Bridgers tweet generator meme), and trusted that it would be enough. “I know that scene, I know that lady, and I haaaaate crying. Let’s check this card out.”
I’m not saying commercials need to be auteurist masterpieces. I’m not sure they should even exist at all. But is this nostalgia-milking collage of familiar but unrelated references really the best way to capture attention these days?
There’s an urge to say the ad feels AI-generated, but it’s not even true. It lacks the nonsensical whimsy that often emerges from “artificial intelligence,” as we’re calling it. No, this feels very human in its shameless pandering and focus group precision.
I’d also be remiss not to point out that despite the racial segregation of the All American League, a small plot point in the film which is explored much further in the series, a majority of the non speaking women in the dugout behind Garner are Black. It’s almost as if the ad is saying “we know we’re hearkening to America’s shameful racial history to get more people to go into credit card debt, but look, we’re doing it the right way!”
It’s sludge. The whole thing is sludge. Penny Marshall deserves better than this.
Am I crazy? Will you please let me know if you’re seeing something that I’m not?
four more quick things…
here’s what I’m into rn…
“Charm” by Clairo
As someone who has listened to Sling approximately 10,000 in this calendar year, Clairo’s third album has been one of my most anticipated for a while, especially following gorgeous lead singles ‘Sexy to Someone” and “Nomad” (which instantly enters the canon). I’m loving it booooots…other favorites right now are “Pier 4” and “Juna.” So boom.
Conner O’Malley put out this short film as I was writing this newsletter, and I of course dropped everything. I’ve been excited to see what the comedian would do next following The Mask, which he released last December, and this is just as chaotic and poignant. It’s basically Persona or May December for the angry, bored, unfamiliar American everyman, as O’Malley’s Corey discovers a YouTube video of a man, also named Corey, who looks just like him, partying in Vegas, driving them both to madness as they seek each other out.
Game of Thrones Season 1
Rewatched it this week and let me be the first to say this show was really good at the beginning…I don’t care if it’s an unpopular opinion…I’m uncancellable..
Political Violence
JK I’m not actually into this but it feels like it has to be acknowledged this week…I was on stage hosting an improv show when it happened and halted it to announce the news…Much like when I took the mic at a frat party to announce the death of George H.W. Bush…which didn’t go over quite as well…
Omg I felt this so hard. I was like Jennifer what’s going on bb you were not in this movie
Pier 4 hive let’s fucking go