Blog 16: The Basketball Diaries

                The film The Basketball Diaries was released in 1995, although the actual story took place in the 60’s. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jim Carroll, and focuses on his struggle with drug addiction. Long story short, Jim is part of an undefeatable high school team but with all the pressure he faces, he starts to get addicted to heroin and other pills.  His best friend has leukemia and his team’s coach makes passes at the students. Eventually, the kids get caught experimenting during a game in the school and not only do they get kicked off the team, but out of school as well. The streets of New York become the place in which he can feel safe and go in search for more heroin and to rob. Their dream is gone.

                The streets of New York in the movie don’t look too different as it does now.  The movie had a few scenes in which they were playing basketball in the park. It seemed very common during the 90’s have a scene in the park playing basketball. The park didn’t look too different, but the ambience of it was. Maybe it had to do with the style of clothing, but also the cars and the buildings had a slightly different tone to it. It’s actually a little difficult to explain. It was not an exaggeration when the kids were trying to find anything that they could get high off. It was and still very common at this point. Overall from what I've seen growing up, the movie seems pretty accurate.