The movie Love and Basketball is a romantic American drama released in 2000. The story is about two teenage basketballers, Quincy and Monica who fell in love (Prince-Bythewood et.al, 2000). This movie clearly depicts adolescent development through the various scenes that are in line with adolescent theories. Monica has a heated argument with her mother where she confronts her mother for judging her style in dressing. She is a tomboy but the movie hardly equates her to being gay. This heated argument between Monica and her mother is in line with Sigmund Freud’s theory of adolescent development who believed that the stage of adolescence was a phenomenon that was universal and it was composed of changes in behavior, emotions and social changes (Santrock, 2014). The relationship between Monica’s physiological and psychological changes influenced her self image where she was viewed as a tomboy.
Love and Basketball presents a view that is biased in the period of adolescence. This is well illustrated in the theme on sexuality. It is centered on heterosexual type of sexuality. This is well displayed by the relationships in the movie which are all heterosexual. Both weaknesses and strengths of the adolescent stage are clearly shown in the movie. The romantic scenes between Monica and Quincy show how Monica becomes weak and emotional. The movie highly appreciates resilience. This is well brought out by Monica who is extra tough when she holds conversations with her parents, teachers, team mates or coaches.
This movie can be used for educational purposes. It is a credible representation of the adolescence stage. It brings to light the theme of sexual equality as it appreciates women’s sport where Monica stars as a talented basketballer. However, there are few improvements that one can suggest to make this movie better. The explicit sex scenes and sex talks should be scrapped off to make it a credible adolescent movie and a material for educational purposes.
References.
Prince-Bythewood, G., Lee, S., Epps, O., Lathan, S., Woodard, A., Haysbert, D., Blanchard, T., Lucy Pearl (Musical group). (2000). Love & basketball. New York, NY: New Line Home Video.
Santrock, J. W. (2014). Adolescence. New York: McGraw – Hill Higher Education.
