"Hoop Dreams"

One thing that struck me about hooks's essay about Hoop Dreams was its brevity. Usually she goes much more in-depth about the films, but I felt unsatisfied about her argument.
After watching the trailer on YouTube, I agree that the cultural aspect of the piece seems to be missing from the film. The trailer definitely presents it as an entertaining movie/spectacle, rather than an emotional examination of humanity. I liked how the trailer didn't mention race, though. It wasn't like "The struggle of young African Americans to overcome obstacles..." hooks may disagree, but I like that they portrayed them as Americans, regardless of race. This may detract from the cultural importance, but to me it says they were marketing it as a story about people, not just people of a certain race. They probably did this to attract more white viewers.
After watching the trailer, I looked up the film on Wikipedia. I read about the two boys around which the film centers. Though he struggled with his grades, William Gates played basketball in college, and even trained with Michael Jordan, but was injured. His brother, who was in the film, was murdered in 2001. The other boy, Arthur Agee, also played for his college team. He is currently a motivational speaker, and his father was murdered in 2004.
These facts tell me a few things--that the documentary exploited these boys' dreams, and made a lot of money off of their dreams, but didn't give much back. They still struggled with school, never achieved their dreams, and their families weren't able to move out of the dangerous neighborhoods. Although they seem relatively successful in other careers, their stories are still sad, and the trailer to the movie suggests a happy ending. It seems like the film makers turned their stories into a Hollywood movie, complete with a false happy ending, thus tricking white audiences into believing it.