Remember the Story, Not the Book

Before the Apprentice and the Jersey Shore, and Big Brother and the Real World, reality television existed.  It existed in the form of game shows and Miss America pageants and the likes.  However, the birth of reality television as our generation knows it would surprise you.

The first mainstream use of many tactics we relate to reality television, such as 24-7 filming, one person confessionals, and obsessive invasion of privacy (for lack of a better phrasing) really originated in “Hoop Dreams”.  For those not familiar with the film, it followed the lives of two high school freshmen looking to make basketball teams and work their way to the NBA.  These two kids, Arthur Agee and William Gates (who are among a class that included Michigan’s Fab Five), are seen sitting in their living rooms at age 14 and continued to be filmed throughout their high school careers and returned to during their college careers.  Although neither of them reached the professional level, their story is powerful and worth remembering.

This blog is supposed to be about the books that set up the movie, and of course, this in depth look into their personal life is an unscripted tale.  Interestingly enough though, after the movie’s release Ben Jorvasky was approached to write a book based on their story.  This could spark a debate on why?  The whole book is better than the movie thing works when the book has more breadth and goes more in depth into the characters than does the movie.  However, this movie is two hours and forty-five minutes of interviews with real people.  We are brought into the bedrooms of these two kids, and we see them at the ages of 14 all the way until they are 20 or 21.  The book is no substitute for that experience, for hearing them talk about what they want and reflect about that later.  Even the most imaginative writer would be hard-pressed to one up them.

Also, we know the stories.  I assume the reader of this book would most likely be someone who watched the movie.  The switching of scenes between Arthur and William are choppy at best in the book, and each chapter is marked with an epigraph, which is really just a weak quotation from a family member or coached, really only pertaining to one of the kids and not the other.

The book becomes a transcription of the movie, more than it offers new perspective on any aspect.  Scenes that seem so revealing of character in the movie are lost in writing.  The most memorable moment of the entire film is the final words, while William Gates is describing how he does not think about playing in the NBA as much anymore, and that he would be happy if he stopped playing basketball, over a video of him talking on the phone with his wife and daughter.  “That’s why when somebody says ‘When you get to the NBA, don’t forget about me’ and all that stuff, I should say ‘Well if I don’t make it don’t you forget about me.”  This line, followed by a soft smirk and a fade to black tells you everything you need to know about this young man and his journey. 

This line is paraphrased, well slightly misquoted near the end of the text.  It is not misquoted in an unfair way, but in a way that takes the emotion out of it.  I remember an interview with Steve James, one of the filmmakers, where the interviewer remarked that Gates had uttered the perfect line to end the film.  Steve James responded that he knew that would be the last line of the movie as he was hearing it.  Everyone else knew it, why not the author?

Those who have seen the film will certainly never forget the stories of Arthur Agee and William Gates.  They represent the thousands of young men and women who fall short of their high goals and never become household names, yet still are able to live admirably despite what others perceive as failures.  They will not be forgotten.  The book however, hopefully that will be forgotten.