Lit Dreams
The other night, I was up watching Hoop Dreams, for like the tenth time.
It's not so amazing that I've seen the basketball doc that many times. It is, that every time I watch it I forget how it ends!
I'm not sure if it's bad memory or that I'm simply mesmerized by the stories of Arthur Agee and William Gates, two young black dudes from Chicago's Cabrini Green projects.
If you've never seen or heard of Hoop Dreams, you need to. It's one of the most sensitive and thorough documentary's I've ever seen. And if you care about this sort of thing - it also was the highest grossing doc until Michael Moore's Farenheit 9/11 came along.
Hoops filmmakers tagged along in the lives of Agee and Gates for four years, documenting their basketball aspirations. This was the late 80's-early 90's, the era of Jordan and Georgetown U was man-handling college ball.
I'll assume that the doc was inspired by the many young black men in the ghetto doe-eyed about "making it" to the NBA, despite the odds. And with Agee and Gates enamored of the sport like any other inner city kid this could have been that story.
Instead, what Hoops showed was (Spoiler alert...if you can call them that for a 13-year-old film):
* How the educational system feeds into the kids' professional Hoop Dreams. I didn't count how many times Gates' coach compared him to Isiah Thomas - a former player of the coach - but if I had, I have no doubt it would have numbered near the hundreds.
* How quickly the system will then discard one player over the other. While Gates received a full scholarship to an elite private Catholic school, Agee only a partial. When his family could not come up with the money he was kicked out (to be fair, his grades also began to fall). Worse, the school wouldn't release his transcript to the public school until the debt was paid, making it a challenge to determine what he needed to graduate until nearly the last minute.
* How the system may sour the love an individual has for something that was once their passion. Gates becomes disillusioned with basketball over the four years. Even when his mouth invokes the love of the sport, his demeanor and the look in his eyes during practices and the coaches' speeches say otherwise.
* How a kid can rise above being left behind. In the end, Agee does not let getting kicked out of St. Joe's "end" his career - academic or basketball. And not only does he go on to college, but while in high school gets his team to the coveted state championships, while Gates -fully expected to do the same - does not.
* How a friendship can thrive within a silent rivalry. The two boys are friends, despite gunning for the same dream - even when Agee is obviously given less "love" from St. Joe's than Gates. They still remain friends to this day.
What really struck me, this, my tenth plus time viewing this story - was how the publishing experience can be very similiar.
We see it all the time where one author is hyped above the rest, is seen as that publisher's "great literay hope" or great commercial hope - whichever - while another should practically be grateful just to be published.
It's biz as usual in publishing when a front list author gets mega promotion (book tour, meet and greets with gatekeepers etc...) while a mid-lister must put sweat equity into each and every promo tool, simply to sell a few books.
It's not unusual at all that within this awkward and odd paradigm, authors will become friends - bonding beyond their respective places in the publishing food chain.
And it's certainly not unheard of that a mid-lister will drag themselves out of the middle of the pack through hard work, a little luck and the right "moment," in the sun unlike Agee ended up doing.
Hoop Dreams could have been based on any sport or profession.
The filmmakers didn't focus on the obvious angle "how insane it is to dream of making it to the NBA against the odds." They concentrated on the essence of pursuing a dream: how that kernel is reaped and sowed, challenges faced during the pursuit, how the dream adjusts as you step in the middle of the pursuit, how the system (gatekeepers)can work for or against you.
More importantly, it showed that "making it" can be more than one final End Story.
While Gates and Agee did not make it to the NBA - they were two kids from the ghetto who went on to college, challenged with making a better life for their own future families.
Writers may initially believe that getting published is the End Story, when in fact it's somewhere in the middle of the story.
Wherever you are in the journey, Hoops can be very inspiring. It's worth the three-hour ride.
I've always wondered what happened beyond college to the bright-eyed optimists featured. Thanks to the internet, now we all can know.
It's not so amazing that I've seen the basketball doc that many times. It is, that every time I watch it I forget how it ends!
I'm not sure if it's bad memory or that I'm simply mesmerized by the stories of Arthur Agee and William Gates, two young black dudes from Chicago's Cabrini Green projects.
If you've never seen or heard of Hoop Dreams, you need to. It's one of the most sensitive and thorough documentary's I've ever seen. And if you care about this sort of thing - it also was the highest grossing doc until Michael Moore's Farenheit 9/11 came along.
Hoops filmmakers tagged along in the lives of Agee and Gates for four years, documenting their basketball aspirations. This was the late 80's-early 90's, the era of Jordan and Georgetown U was man-handling college ball.
I'll assume that the doc was inspired by the many young black men in the ghetto doe-eyed about "making it" to the NBA, despite the odds. And with Agee and Gates enamored of the sport like any other inner city kid this could have been that story.
Instead, what Hoops showed was (Spoiler alert...if you can call them that for a 13-year-old film):
* How the educational system feeds into the kids' professional Hoop Dreams. I didn't count how many times Gates' coach compared him to Isiah Thomas - a former player of the coach - but if I had, I have no doubt it would have numbered near the hundreds.
* How quickly the system will then discard one player over the other. While Gates received a full scholarship to an elite private Catholic school, Agee only a partial. When his family could not come up with the money he was kicked out (to be fair, his grades also began to fall). Worse, the school wouldn't release his transcript to the public school until the debt was paid, making it a challenge to determine what he needed to graduate until nearly the last minute.
* How the system may sour the love an individual has for something that was once their passion. Gates becomes disillusioned with basketball over the four years. Even when his mouth invokes the love of the sport, his demeanor and the look in his eyes during practices and the coaches' speeches say otherwise.
* How a kid can rise above being left behind. In the end, Agee does not let getting kicked out of St. Joe's "end" his career - academic or basketball. And not only does he go on to college, but while in high school gets his team to the coveted state championships, while Gates -fully expected to do the same - does not.
* How a friendship can thrive within a silent rivalry. The two boys are friends, despite gunning for the same dream - even when Agee is obviously given less "love" from St. Joe's than Gates. They still remain friends to this day.
What really struck me, this, my tenth plus time viewing this story - was how the publishing experience can be very similiar.
We see it all the time where one author is hyped above the rest, is seen as that publisher's "great literay hope" or great commercial hope - whichever - while another should practically be grateful just to be published.
It's biz as usual in publishing when a front list author gets mega promotion (book tour, meet and greets with gatekeepers etc...) while a mid-lister must put sweat equity into each and every promo tool, simply to sell a few books.
It's not unusual at all that within this awkward and odd paradigm, authors will become friends - bonding beyond their respective places in the publishing food chain.
And it's certainly not unheard of that a mid-lister will drag themselves out of the middle of the pack through hard work, a little luck and the right "moment," in the sun unlike Agee ended up doing.
Hoop Dreams could have been based on any sport or profession.
The filmmakers didn't focus on the obvious angle "how insane it is to dream of making it to the NBA against the odds." They concentrated on the essence of pursuing a dream: how that kernel is reaped and sowed, challenges faced during the pursuit, how the dream adjusts as you step in the middle of the pursuit, how the system (gatekeepers)can work for or against you.
More importantly, it showed that "making it" can be more than one final End Story.
While Gates and Agee did not make it to the NBA - they were two kids from the ghetto who went on to college, challenged with making a better life for their own future families.
Writers may initially believe that getting published is the End Story, when in fact it's somewhere in the middle of the story.
Wherever you are in the journey, Hoops can be very inspiring. It's worth the three-hour ride.
I've always wondered what happened beyond college to the bright-eyed optimists featured. Thanks to the internet, now we all can know.
posted by Paula at 6:44 AM
1 Comments:
Paula, you've been TAGGED! I hope you'll play. See my blog for instructions:
http://ellenmeister.blogspot.com/
xxEllen
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