SCREENING NEOLIBERALISM: U.S. BASKETBALL FILMS IN THE 1990s

This thesis examines 1990s basketball films as sociocultural texts that reflect the socioeconomic shifts in African American communities resulting from neoliberal policies. While basketball was invented in 1891 as a tool to promote moral discipline through movement, it eventually evolved into a commercialized sport shaped by capitalism. By the late twentieth century, neoliberal policies, such as privatization, deindustrialization, and cuts of the welfare funds, accelerated the poverty, urban and social decay, crime, and, as a result, hopelessness in African American neighborhoods. In this environment, basketball, at its peak level with David Stern’s new and successful neoliberal and paternal policies, emerged as an escape route for the African American youth from the marginalized neighborhoods. This growing interest in basketball met with the sites of exploitation, which consist of commodification, alienation, and white paternalism by those who controlled it. Through historical contextualization and theoretical frameworks from Marx, David Harvey, Rachel Griffin, and Gitanjali Maharaj, the thesis analyzes how 1990s basketball films visualize these dynamics. The study contrasts films of the decade with earlier examples, revealing the narrative shift due to neoliberalism. The analytical chapters focus on Heaven Is a Playground (1991) and Blue Chips (1994). The films depict the topics of commodification, alienation, and white paternalism. The thesis argues that neoliberalism reshaped the African American community through basketball, which the chosen films visualize dramatically.