Documentary

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The genre, documentary film, is comprised of numerous modes or classifications of films that address a wide-variety of subjects. Stylistically, documentary filmmakers may choose to capture traces of the truth in a variety of ways using filming and editing techniques to convey a message about a selected subject (Plantinga, 2005). As Bill Nichols emphasizes in his 1991 essay entitled “The Domain of the Documentary”, the documentary genre encompasses many modes of films that are able to capture truth and reality in an engaging and expressive manner (Nichols, The Domain of Documentary, 1991). When examining the 1994 documentary film, Hoop Dreams, directed by Steve James, the purist definition of this genre is not fully brought to life on screen as Plato himself would have defined, instead more modern modes of documentary storytelling are used to share this subject (James, 1994). By understanding his artistic choices as a director and storyteller, it is evident that Hoop Dreams, a powerful and revered film, is able to use the reality of two young inner-city boys to reveal a universal truth about a journey that we all take throughout our lives.
Steve James’ film uses nonfiction storytelling techniques to recount the journey of William Gates and Arthur Agee, two high school boys with aspirations of playing in the NBA. Their skills and abilities afford them opportunities to attend private schools with stronger educational programs than the local high schools that they would normally attend. While the film feels like a fictional movie at times, the subjects are real and the lives that are affected by the events in the film really happened while cameras were rolling. Because of the nature of the story and the time that elapses in...

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... audience with a very realistic view of the difficulties experienced by Gates and Agee.
Hoop Dreams is a modern documentary that utilizes many characteristics of cinema verite to tell the story of William Gates and Arthur Agee. Over the course of five years, filmmaker Steve James is able to capture and retell the truth that happened to these young men and the lives around them. As Bill Nichols highlights in “The Domain of the Documentary”, this film utilizes many different filmmaking techniques to create a documentary that uses the reality of its subject to reveal a greater truth about society. Through the use of reflexive mode of documentary filmmaking, Hoop Dreams remains a highly revered documentary that helps define one mode or major definition of this broad genre in the minds of documentary theorists such as Bill Nichols, and casual film watchers alike.

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