Textual Analysis of a Similar Media Product
The Basketball Diaries
Introduction: The film I am going to analyse is: The Basketball Diaries which was released on April 21st 1995 and directed by Scott Kalvert. The film belongs to the drama genre with the sub-genres being: crime and coming of age.
Part One: Narrative Structure
Like all films, The Basketball diaries follows Todorov’s Narrative Structure:
Ø Equilibrium (everything is balanced),
Ø Disruption (something disrupts the state of normality/balance which changes the lives of the characters involved).
Ø New Equilibrium (balance is restored but with changes.)
The Equilibrium is at the beginning of the film where there is a state of normality as the teenage characters, Jim and his friends live their usual lives playing basketball and causing trouble in the streets of New York. The Disruption occurs when Jim is peer pressured into taking drugs before he has sex. At this time he starts to get addicted to heroin and his state only gets worse as his best friend dies from Leukaemia. The New Equilibrium is when Jim is released from prison and we realise he has overcome his drug addiction as he turns down the drugs, from his old friend Pedro, and goes on to become “an acclaimed poet, musician, novelist, and performer.”
Claude Levi-Strauss ( an anthropologist) suggested that the production of meaning depended on the concept of binary oppositions for example : up/down; left/right; hero/villain. Throughout The Basketball Diaries binary oppositions are presented. For example there is a contrast between Jim and Reggie (addict/ ex addict) as Reggie had recovered from drug addiction whereas Jim at the time was suffering and was heavily addicted to heroin. Another example would be the binary opposition of active and inactive represented through Jim and Bobby as Jim was very active and plays basketball whereas Bobby was in hospital with Leukaemia and could not walk. The binary oppositions of success and failure are represented through Jim and Neutron. Neutron did not do drugs and ended going further with his basketball career whereas Jim became addicted to drugs and therefore his basketball career went down the drain.
This film is told in a linear/ chronological order as the story is told in the older in which it happened for example: Jim begins playing basketball then tries heroin and gets addicted which then forces his mum to throw him out of the house, making him a homeless. Reggie tries to help him overcome his addiction but he returns home and his mum calls the police and he is sent to jail. He then overcomes drug addiction and achieves in his life. Due to the clear conclusion, this means the film is a closed narrative. The narrative is also single strand as the storyline of drugs affecting Jim’s life develops over time and is the only storyline throughout the film. The narrative is omniscient as opposed to restricted because no information is withheld from the audience as they see, know and understand everything. The audience finds out all information through cross cutting as well as Jim’s voice over narrations.
Part Two: Genre codes and conventions and representation
Furthermore Jim’s basketball coach, Swifty, appears to be kind at first and seems to be kind to his students when he offers to pay for their food. He also offers to help Jim at basketball when he says “You come by sometime and we’ll go over to the school together, yeh we’ll get a pizza and make a night of it”. At this time we think Swifty is just being friendly. Later on in the film we find out he wasn’t just being friendly and that he is a pedofile when he offers Jim money and begins to touch him below the waist. Swifty is also said to be racist when Jim narrates “theres only two things Swifty Forbids, using the word motherfucker and stealing from the other team as long as their white”
However, Jims mother and Reggie seem to be the only adult characters who arent on drugs (Reggie recovered from drugs before),involved in a gang or have cruel intentions. Jim’s mum is represented as weak as she cannot control her son and ends up throwing him out of the house. She and Reggie are the only people who try to help Jim get away from drugs.
Social class is negatively and stereotypically represented as the characters are working and lower/under class and from the economically deprived of New York- complete with the thick New York accent and foul language shown through onscreen diegetic sound (dialogue) “ey you little prick!” They are also represented as having animal like behaviour such as mugging an old lady, masturbating on roofs and vomiting on people. The set design of the flats the characters live in also show that they are quite poor as they live in very small, crowded apartments with wallpaper peeled off from the walls. The characters hang out in dirty alley ways or abandoned houses where they take drugs. This represents people from poor areas to be dirty and makes it seem as if their life revolves around drugs and violence. I think the way age and the characters are represented links back to the representation of social class.
As the genre is drama, I think the storyline is typical to the genre as themes such as : alcoholism, drugs, sex, violence, death, religious intolerance (Jim went to a Catholic School) poverty and class divisions are presented and are all conventions of the genre. Another convention is for the character (or characters) to go through conflict at a very crucial moment in their lives and survive some sort of tragic crisis; therefore this storyline is typical as this is exactly what happens to Jim as he has a conflict with himself and with the people around him: family and friends. These themes and conventions are also presented in films such as: Thirteen, A Clockwork Orange, Elephant and Falling Down.
Diegetic sound is typical to the drama genre in terms of dialogue for example there is a lot of swearing – “ey you little prick” and the narration (non diegetic sound) relates to the storyline and themes when Jim narrates “headquarters, home on and off to every down and out junkie and wino”. From 1:10- 2:50 in this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt9NXmqIRLc&feature=related mise en scene (lighting , movement and positioning of characters) is very typical as the drug addicts can barely keep their eyes open and also cannot speak very quickly –shown when a drug addict says “and... I ..got.. stoned”. Also as they are in abandoned houses the lighting is very dark which creates an uncomfortable and hostile atmosphere typical to the genre as it shows struggle.
At 4:56 of the link above a sequence of them breaking into a shop begins. We hear the onscreen diegetic sound of glass smashing and we hear parallel sound (non diegetic.) It is quite fast which matches the characters quick movements and the fact that they are in a hurry. We later hear offscreen diegetic sound of police sirens and when Pedro gets arrested from 7:47 we hear a slower guitar soundtrack. This shows that the hurry is done and dusted. At the very end of the link when Jim sees Newtron being successful with his basketball dreams non diegetic sound plays (coming right along-by the posies) and the lyrics are “please be strong” which matches his situation as he needs to be strong to overcome his addiction.
The editing is typical to the genre as there is straight/match cuts (which build continuity) and cross cutting which shows things happening at the same time but in different locations. This also forms parallels and links what is happening in the different places like at 2:45 you see Jim and a friend about to take drugs then at 2:54 cross cutting is used to show Jims mother praying for him to stop.
Fades are used to show the passing of time and at 8:58 of this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcrt2n1mYV4&feature=related a dissolve is used to show that Jim is dreaming and the affect the drugs have had on him. From 7:18 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVr0IslooIQ&feature=related Slow motion is used and this builds suspense and makes us wonder what is going to happen next. Slow motion is typical to the genre as this technique is usually used just before something drastic happens such as a killing.
In this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xze9mavcSqQ&feature=related camera is used in a way which is typical to the genre. In the basketball sequence, the camera is unsteady and there are tracking shots, tilts and pans. This looks very chaotic and matches the fast paced game that is taking place. There is also medium 2 shots, medium close ups and big close ups to show characters reactions in the fight scene at 2:45. Another typical use of camera is high angle (to show weakness) and low angle (to show power)
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