Gunnin’ For That #1 Spot

Elitism is a weird concept. Not because its very existence relies upon subjugation, but because some people still consider it a good thing. In the world of American high-school basketball, elitism isn’t a good thing – it’s the only thing. You’re either an elite kid, or you’re not. And if you’re not, well then, you’re nothing.

It’s a social reality your average docu-maker would be eager to get stuck into. How does it feel to see yourself on the cover of a magazine under the word ‘Phenom’ while you’re still fighting puberty and a borderline case of gigantism? Was Jerry Maguire’s odious sports agent actually the most underrated moment of box-office realism? Do these kids really ‘just wanna play ball’, or do they just wanna see their name on a pair of sneakers? And, when you do finally become the 0.01 per cent of the elite who make it into the NBA, do you spend your days sniffing your multi-million dollar contract and praising The American Dream? Or does a little piece of you secretly want to vomit all over its elitist ideals?

These are the questions roused by Gunnin’ – then deftly ignored. Following eight of the country’s premiere high-school basketball players in the build-up to the Elite 24 game at the legendary Rucker Park, New York, Gunnin’ doesn’t so much analyse the celebrity incubator that turns these man-children into national heroes as it does reinforce it. Back-stories of the humble prodigy ‘done good’; slo-mo courtside footage; a rolling hip hop soundtrack – Beastie Boy Adam Yauch has created the kind of hype that keeps l’il bros in grade school dreaming of ‘the big time’. But if your heart doesn’t soar at the marriage of bling and b-ball, chances are you’ll leave with more questions than you came with. The bright lights of elitism – it ain’t everyone’s cuppa tea.

Andrea Kurland

Anticipation:

A Beastie Boy on basketball? Makes sense.

Enjoyment:

Where’s the insight? Where’s the grit? Do we really care ‘Who Will Be Next?’

In Retrospect:

If you don’t like b-ball, this 1’s gonna drag.