Hoop Dreams Analysis

The Movie I chose to review was a documentary named Hoop Dreams. It follows the lives of two star basketball players, Arthur Agee and William Gates, raised in two very different environments. In the documentary director Steve James and co-film makers Frederick Marx and Peter Gilbert follow Arthur and William for five years filming their aspirations to make it to the pros. This movie is relevant to the course because of the popular culture items that are included in the movie. I think the majority of black kids grew up wanting to play basketball or be a professional athlete in some aspect. We’d always been taught to idolize basketball players. I wish I would’ve known a little more growing up such as idolizing doctors and lawyers. The film was

As I stated earlier the school did everything in their power to help William stay on at the school. William was pretty much the obvious and safer choice between the two. Arthur got zero accommodations due to his situation. I think had it been a affluent family that ran into money problems there’s no way Arthur would have been given just two options. Its pretty sad to say that if you’re not born with it you probably won’t have. I was always taught to get out and get it on my own if I wanted it. Arthur didn’t have those options. His parents couldn’t afford it so he was limited. I’m left wondering what would the outcome be like had Arthur been hands down the better athlete of the two? The coach made it seem like the choice was made because Arthur wasn’t excelling on the court like they expected him to. I don’t understand how its legal to lie to these kids like this. There should be some kid of legal binding contract to make sure these kids are taken care of no matter what. You drag them out of their comfort zone, change up everything they’ve know only to kick them back out on the streets when things don’t go in a positive direction. With today’s culture, it seems like a what can you do for me now type of setting. If you’re not of value then be gone. People aren’t genuine anymore and its sad. This documentary was filmed in the early 90s and still to this day nothing has changed. I kind of felt like the director

They rolled out the red carpet for William. He never struggled because if he needed anything they were there for him. William had tutors that enabled him to become a straight A student. Anytime William needed help inside or outside of the classroom the school was there for him. It was a stark contrast in what they did for Arthur which was pretty much nothing. If you can’t tell by my tone I was rooting for the underdog but I was also hoping of William to make it all the way. Unfortunately, injuries slowed him down and eventually derailed his career. Because of the accommodations from the school William went on to become a success story in my opinion. He never made it to the league but he graduated high then went on to college to have a mediocre career. Looking at it from that view point he’s very successful considering where he came from. Kids from the inner city in Chicago are not known for making it out of that environment and better graduating from