Hoop dreams essay

   We just finished a Film called "hoops dreams". It follows two boys as they start high school with hopes of getting in the NBA. This film is three hours long but i enjoyed it a lot. There were several ideas that were provoked by this film . In the beginning we see the situation of the two boys ti isn't very good. they live in an area of Chicago that at the time was known for its crime. Now it doest take a rocket scientist to figure out that this is a bad situation. But these to boys believe that with their hoop dreams they can get out of the hood.

Race is a prevailing theme that is present through out this whole film the boys both black get recruited to go to a school St. Johns to play basket ball but as far as I saw the only other black kids that were present in the school were on the basketball team. One of the boys: Arthur's family cant make enough money to keep him at St. Johns so he must go to the local area high school called  Marshal. I think i counted a total of three white people all teachers at this school. These are two very big extremes that I'm glad I don't have to live with but were a great way of putting things into context in the film.

Another was economic division: THe other issue brought up by the division of the schools was class division: Arthur was at Marshal high school but William was still attending St.Johns. It took the boys a hour and a half that is a long time every day to get to school. Also the neighborhoods were SUPER different. you could see it in the boy's eyes when the were on the boy leaving their home because it a lot greener and there were more plants and the area where St. John's is has a lot more money than the ghetto of Chicago.

Tis films shines a bright light on inner city life. the theme of poverty is very prevalent. At one point Arthur's dad Bo leaves the family and gets addicted to drugs for a few years he makes it out ok and re-joins the family. William's father also left the family but when William was at a much younger age. there was a reunion at one point but you could tell that William was still a little bitter about his father leaving the family. In the end Im happy that I'v grown up with all I have but it is impressive to me that despite the odds both boys went to collage and played in the NCAA

But despite all the hardships the boys make it out and are making a good life for themselves. William is the head of a church and Arthur is launching a hoop dreams clothing brand. Arthur is now a father of five kids by five different women. The two had a happy reunion in 2008. Although all is not happy. Arthur's dad got shot as does William's older brother Curtis.