Problem
View and Reflect Questions for The Basketball Diaries.
i. Give a short plot outline of the movie The Basketball Diaries.
ii. What is the reason that Jim (Leonardo DiCaprio) becomes addicted to drugs and destroys his life?
iii. What drugs do we see the boys take?
iv. How are the boys in the film 'at risk'? Pick one character and analyze him according to the at risk continuum.
v. Having seen the end of the film, what do you think the rest of Jim's life will be like?
vi. Use the lab and research some of the facts of Jim Carroll's life. (Try Wikkipedia and a New York Times article "Jim Carroll's Long Way Home" by Alex Williams, published: September 25, 2009 to get started). Does Jim's outcome match your expectations?
vii. What is the relationship between creativity, emotional pain and addiction (if there is one)? What could you do, as a youth support worker, to help a young person like Jim Carroll?