How BULL DURHAM Messed with the Minds of Men and Women – ’80s Movies: A Guide to What’s Wrong with Your Parents Podcast

A man and woman holding a baseball bat.


A pink and black button with a picture of a car

Podcaster Riley Roberts gives the Gen Z take on BULL DURHAM. (photo by Victoria Igloi)

Bull Durham is the ultimate rom-com for men. The tagline says it all: “It’s about sex and sport. What else is there?” But the film provides plenty of fantasy for women (and not just Kevin Costner, who was at max dreaminess in 1988). Additionally, as much as it’s sexually progressive, it’s also detrimental.

On the ’80s MOVIES: A GUIDE TO WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOUR PARENTS podcast, ’80s Movie Guide co-founders Tara McNamara (’80s kid) and Riley Roberts (pictured right…age 17, so, still a kid) explore how Bull Durham is to men like Disney Princess movies are to women, creating an unattainable idea of the perfect woman. At the same time, for two hours women could live in an idyllic world where slut-shaming isn’t a thing. However, there’s a tragedy in Annie and Millie: they found a way to be an accepted part of the ballclub, but only by opening their legs.

Listen to the podcast to get historical perspective and to rethink Bull Durham in a whole different way:

Find out why Bull Durham was rad, behind the scenes info, and fun trivia on our Bull Durham page!