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Joe Manganiello
Capstone
“Shooting For the Stars: How Space Jam operates as a surreal documentary of Michael Jordan’s Odyssey back to basketball.”
James R. Jordan Sr. was murdered in July 1993, just one month after his son, Michael Jordan, won his third-consecutive National Basketball Association (NBA) championship. Michael Jordan - the most famous athlete in the world, a virtual billionaire - was devastated by the death of his father, and this led to his premature retirement from the sport of basketball, and his infamous attempt at baseball, the sport that his father loved most. With equally high amounts of scrutiny and fanfare, Jordan failed to find anything close to the successes he had on the hardwood during his two-year stint roaming the outfields of minor league baseball. All the while, despite his struggles, Jordan remained the largest star in professional sports. In 1995, Jordan finally returned to the NBA, where his legend grew ever larger: Chicago set the NBA record for wins in the 1995-96 campaign, and won another three championships in three seasons from 1996-98.
Warner Brothers released Space Jam (1996) five months after Jordan’s 1996 NBA championship run. Starring Michael Jordan and featuring dozens of cameos from celebrities in pop culture and professional sports, Space Jam is a fictional account of the end of Jordan’s baseball career, and his return to basketball. Following yet another frustrating performance in a baseball game, Jordan is called upon by the Looney Tunes to help win a basketball game against evil aliens who have threatened to enslave the Tunes in outer space. Jordan decides to participate in the game in order to “help his friends.” Unbeknownst to him, the same aliens who are threatening the Looney Tunes have also stolen the playing talents of current NBA players - Jordan’s peers and friends - and are simultaneously destroying the NBA. Jordan must win the basketball game in order to save Tune World, return the NBA to homeostasis, and remain a free man himself. By the film’s conclusion, Jordan and the Looney Tunes win back their freedom and the talents of the NBA players, and Jordan has confirmed his passion for basketball and desire to return to the NBA.
An obvious work of fiction, what makes Space Jam a fascinating film is its choice to traverse the historical timeline of Michael Jordan’s life during the mid-1990s. While the inclusion of the Looney Tunes and extraterrestrials makes the film largely fantastical, Space Jam covers many historically true events: Jordan’s initial retirement from basketball in 1993, his attempt at playing professional baseball, and his return to the NBA in 1995. The film chooses to fill in the gaps of the story with fiction, but does not do so capriciously, rather Space Jam functions as a surreal documentary - offering commentary on how Jordan returned to the NBA through fantastic symbolism and the bizarre. Space Jam is the cooperation of the surreal and of history. With the film’s star Michael Jordan playing himself (along with dozens of other cameo performances), he volunteers as the main subject of a film documenting real events in his life. How Jordan (the star) and Jordan (the man) are represented in this film becomes a critical point of emphasis in the claim that Space Jam can interpreted as a work of documentary.
The film opens to a starry night. As the initial choice by Director Joe Pytka, there is much to connote from the image. The noun “star” is diverse in that it equally represents (a) a body of light in the night sky and (b) celebrity. Space Jam is a film abounding in stars (celebrities), and in particular, one large star (Michael Jordan); Pytka’s choice to open the film with stars (bodies of light) seem motivated by the film’s star power. In a literal sense, the opening scene of Space Jam is of a young boy playing basketball under a starry night. The activity wakes up his father, who asks his son to go to bed. The boy pleads for his father to allow him to stay up until he misses his next jump shot; the father is impressed by just how many baskets in a row his son can make. “You’re getting pretty good, son.” They converse about the son’s future, which includes lofty goals of becoming a championship Division I and professional athlete, and the father listens and encourages his son, telling him that he can do anything. As the audience knows outside of the film, however, the son is not ordinary - he is a young Michael Jordan. As Michael tells his father that he will play basketball at the University of North Carolina, win a championship, then go on to play in the NBA, it is impossible for the audience to shed their previous knowledge - he accomplished all of those things between 1981 (his freshman year at UNC) and 1993 (his first retirement from the NBA) - of Michael Jordan. This creates humor through dramatic irony. It is funny to see a young Michael Jordan tell his father what he will become in advance of accomplishing such unimaginable successes. But this is just literal interpretation.
A historical interpretation of the scene, on the other hand, still begins with the starry night (a visual introduction to the stars of the film), but is assisted by the context of Jordan’s relationship with his father, and of his first retirement. The loss of his father played a substantial role in Jordan’s surprise retirement in 1993. Additionally, his father’s love of baseball was equally substantial in Jordan’s decision to attempt professional baseball. In the film, after telling his father what he would like to accomplish in basketball, young Michael tells his father that he will play baseball (like his father did) following his basketball career. This draws a pleasant response from his father. “Baseball - Now that’s a real fine sport.” Suddenly with these lines of dialogue, Space Jam becomes a surreal account of Michael Jordan’s life. Considering how unprecedented it was for Jordan to retire in 1993, the dynamic of young Michael’s dialogue shifts from dramatic irony (the audience knows he will become all of the things he wants to be) to prophecy (young Michael already knows he will attempt professional baseball). This is contrary to history; Jordan’s first retirement was not premeditated from childhood. The inclusion of baseball in this opening scene is not solely for comedic affect - it represents an altered version of history.
Jordan’s father than jokes that the next thing his son will do is “fly.” This reveals that he, too, is in on the joke. The Air Jordan brand is the most powerful sports marketing empire in the world - worth billions of dollars. Michael Jordan’s ability to “fly” (a creative way of marketing his supreme athleticism, grace) has become one of the most common descriptors associated with his star. Young Michael, who has already proven to be prophetic, then begins to dribble at the basket like he is about to slam dunk - or fly. What’s happening in the diegetic world (young Michael dribbling toward the basket) begins to cut in and out with a montage of Michael Jordan basketball highlights, until finally the montage takes over the film. While the audience never sees young Michael dunk the basketball under the starry night, it is implied that he does - or, more importantly, that he has accepted the fate of the prophecy.
The choice to include the montage of historical footage of Jordan’s basketball career is a fascinating one by Pytka. The montage is not a work of fiction; the many video clips cut together are very much ones from reality - real basketball games. And yet the montage does not disrupt the diegetic world of Space Jam for several reasons. The most critical similarity, of course, is the that both Space Jam and the montage share the same subject: Michael Jordan. Although it is a work of fiction, Michael Jordan is playing himself in the film, which creates a collision between his on-screen and off-screen star. It is not enough, however, to say that because Michael Jordan is playing himself Space Jam operates like a documentary. (For example: Spike Jonze’s film Being John Malkovich (1999) prominently features the actor John Malkovich, who is playing himself, but never feels like a documentary about Malkovich.) Rather, because Space Jam traverses such major historical events in the life of Jordan, and does so with Michael Jordan starring as himself, the film takes on the shape of a documentary - one that just so happens to be transparently fantastical and bizarre.
The montage establishes three things: (1) Jordan’s star outside of the diegetic world, (2) the realization of the prophecy from the film’s opening scene, and (3) an expectation that a decision to leave basketball for baseball is looming following the montage. To the last point, the next scene of Space Jam is a press conference where Jordan announces his retirement from basketball. The audience knows that Jordan historically held an actual press conference officially retiring from basketball in October 1993 (about three years before Space Jam was released). Jordan (on screen) says that he was happy his father got to see his last basketball game before his death; this is the last reference to his father’s passing for the duration of the film. At the press conference, Jordan states he is going to try professional baseball, which receives a heavy reaction from the media. Before the media can have their questions answered, the camera jumps out of the press conference through the ceiling and onto another planet.
Once on Moron Mountain, the audience is introduced to a fat, scary boss - Mr. Swackhammer, voiced by Danny DeVito. He is demanding a new attraction for his amusement park, scolding his henchmen - five small, meek aliens - that they must bring him something new. “The customer is always right,” says Mr. Swackhammer. Then by accidentally sitting on the remote, Mr. Swackhammer turns on Looney Tunes, and the idea is born to steal the Looney Tunes and make them come to Moron Mountain to entertain the masses. Moron Mountain is a place that represents the greed of high-end capitalism. The camera falls back to Earth as Jordan is in the batter’s box of a baseball game.
Jordan is not playing well, but instead of getting critiqued by his coaches, they ignore his bad swing by complimenting him. “His uniform looks great.” “[You] can’t teach that.” The catcher on the other team thanks him for an autograph as he comes up to the plate; before each pitch, the catcher tells Jordan what pitch is going to be thrown and where it will be. Even with the unsolicited assistance, Jordan still fails to hit “his pitch.” The catcher let’s Jordan know he’ll get him “another one.” The world is Jordan’s Yes Man because of Jordan’s star. This phenomenon is personified by a supporting character named Stan Podolak, who is instructed by the baseball team’s owner to make sure Jordan is always content. This is counter-productive, of course, as Jordan does not want Podolak around him - he never asked for a personal Yes Man. Podolak is portrayed by actor Wayne Knight; while a celebrity in his own right, Knight is much less of a celebrity than Jordan, which allows for the insertion of a character into a world full of cameos and persons playing themselves.
The crowd roars in applause when Jordan strikes out, and that is surreal - baseball players do not receive appraisal for striking out. A UFO then flies over the stadium, and everyone, including Jordan, sees it. The UFO crashes underground and goes to Tune World. In reality, this would be breaking news all over the world, but there is no additional reaction to the UFO beyond an initial gasp from the crowd. The lack of acknowledgment toward the UFO landing is bizarre, and an example of the surreal universe Space Jam embodies. In Tune World, Bugs Boney is being hunted by Elmer Bud - this is normal reality for Tune World - when the space craft lands.
Jordan’s family (played by actors) comes home shorty after he arrives following the baseball game. His son, Jeff, just finished a baseball game of his own in which he did not play well. Jordan tells his wife that he’s doubting whether or not baseball was the right choice. This informs the audience that Jordan is wrestling with self-doubt over his career; it is a moment that feels much like a traditional documentary. In the next room, Jordan’s children are watching a sports talk show where Jim Rome (as himself) is giving Jordan a hard time for his terrible baseball performance. This moment signifies that Jordan is still a large enough star in national coverage to feature despite being a minor league baseball player who is dramatically underperforming. Furthermore, it is proof that the news of aliens crashing to Earth has not spread. Jeff asks his father if “everybody gets mad at you.” “Worse,” Jordan says. “They are all real nice about it.”
Jordan changes the channel to Looney Tunes for his kids and leaves the room. On screen, Porky Pig interrupts Road Runner and Coyote from their television show and demands that all Tunes have an emergency meeting. This leaves Looney Tunes on the television screen but with no subjects - just the desert landscape of the Road Runner program. The kids wonder where they went. It’s a fascinating choice by Pytka: the main demographic of Looney Tunes (children) are left to wonder what happened to their favorite stars (the Tunes). This is similar to what sports fans (the demographic) must have felt when Michael Jordan retired from the NBA (stopped playing for the Bulls). Even deeper, it can be imagined that companies like Nike and McDonalds (Jordan’s endorsers) were left speechless when they heard of Jordan’s retirement like the children on the coach waiting for Road Runner to come back on.
The aliens tell a room full of Looney Tunes that they are all prisoners, and that the Tunes will be slaves to the Moron Mountain theme park. The aliens are small (at the moment), and so Bugs and the Tunes trick the aliens into playing a basketball game (how surreal is that?) for their freedom. This backfires, however, when the aliens devise a plan to steal the talents of current NBA players. (The irony being that they don’t know who Michael Jordan is because he is not a current NBA player - he’s a “baseball” player.)
The film jumps to New York City in Madison Square Garden, where the New York Knicks are playing the Phoenix Suns. (Historical context: the Knicks and Suns were two of the best teams in basketball during the 1990s, and had perennial All-Stars in Patrick Ewing and Charles Barkley on their teams, respectively.) The aliens show up to the game inside of a Trench coat; it is impossible outside of the bizarre universe of cartoon fiction to believe that a headless Trench coat could make it inside the Garden for a ticket to a professional sporting event. They sneak onto the court as invisible goo, climb inside of their chosen players (Ewing and Barkley) and take their talents. This can be interpreted as a metaphor: in a league absent of its greatest star, the Barkley’s and Ewing’s - the overall product - are worth less without Jordan.
Jordan is watching sports news on television and learns that Ewing and Barkley (as well as three other players: Larry Johnson, Muggsy Bogues, and Shawn Bradley) were “injured” and taken out of their respective games due to irrational behavior. “Looks like I retired just in time.” This is a self-aware line for Jordan, as he is referencing his own giant importance to the sport, as well as his role as the star of professional sports. Then Podolak walks into the room, and in one sentence, references Nike, Hanes, Wheaties, Gatorade, and a Big Mac (from Mcdonalds) in one giant ad placement. Jordan shoots him a look. This is totally surreal: the moment is an admission of not just his off-screen endorsements, but of their role in making the film; Jordan’s star is as important to the making of Space Jam as the cameras the movie was shot with. (This is replicated later on in the film when one of the Monstars compliments Jordan on his sneakers - the latest Air Jordan Nikes.)
The aliens stealing the talents of NBA players is a metaphor for the league treating the sport as a product - that the ability to play basketball can be controlled by the league. Upon seeing the aliens transformed into humongous mutants, the Tunes decide to name the frightening new aliens “Monstars.” A fascinating title, “Monstar” is literally the combination of “monster” and “star.” A deeper look suggests that the title is a marriage of the two nouns: a Monstar possesses the power of a celebrity with the intent of a monster. As the plot of Space Jam unravels, it becomes clearer what the Monstars signify for Jordan.
Jordan is golfing with comedian Bill Murray and former basketball star Larry Bird (both playing themselves) when a lasso pulls Jordan through the hole of a Par 3, and he is sucked through the Warner Brothers symbol (metaphor) and into Tune World. (Later in the scene, Daffy Duck kisses a Warner Brothers symbol located on his posterior and says “We’re property of Warner Brothers Inc.” The characters of Space Jam are hyper-aware of Warner Brothers control over the product.) The Tunes rush Jordan like most people do, and Bugs pleads to Jordan that the aliens are going to enslave the Tunes - make them tell the same jokes for all entirety, keep them locked up like animals, and force them to perform for a bunch of low-brow, bug-eyed aliens - unless they win a basketball game. The Tunes (entertainers) need Jordan (the biggest star in sports) to restore order in their world. Jordan disputes that he can help the Tunes saying, “But I’m a baseball player now.” “Right,” Bugs says. “And I’m a Shakespearian actor.” Jordan wants to help but hasn’t played basketball in a long time. Could it be that Jordan feels trapped by his baseball choice - that his pride/star is too big to admit he failed at something?
When Jordan is introduced to the Monstars, they ask him if he has heard of the Dream Team before referring to themselves as the Mean Team. Dream Team is a reference to the 1992 Olympic Men’s Basketball team that Jordan starred on which won Gold. For the Monstars to know what the Dream Team is without knowing Michael Jordan is surreal. Jordan tells the Monstars he doesn’t play basketball anymore, and they hassle him; the Monstars roll Jordan into a ball and dribble/play with him. “You’re not scared of them, are you Michael?” Tweety Bird asks. The Monstars are mutant versions of his peers talent, but figuratively they can represent something much larger. Could it be that Jordan is unsure about coming back to basketball because he’s afraid that maybe, after two years, he’s lost his own talents? If so, it’s possible to re-imagine the scenario in Space Jam (saving the Looney Tunes from evil aliens by winning a basketball game) as something closer to an existential battle for Michael (win the battle against inner demons). Jordan’s response -“Let’s play some basketball” - is not an answer to Tweety Bird, rather a statement that the audience is going to find out if his return to the sport is merely about proving critiques wrong or if it is more about showing he isn’t scared to play again.
Back on Earth, a spiritually lost Charles Barkley stumbles upon girls playing basketball on a blacktop. They notice him and are amazed. He asks them to play, and they vehemently accept, but they quickly learn he is not himself - he is not Charles Barkley the basketball player without his talents. The core of who they know him, and how he knows himself, is missing. In a haunting line, the same young girl who was beyond excitement to play basketball with a legend says: “You’re not Charles Barkley. You’re just a wannabe that looks like him. Sorry. Break out (of here). You shouldn’t even be here. Be gone.” All five of the lost ball players work with doctors to figure out what’s wrong with them. They are continually told that nothing is wrong with them, but that is only in a medical sense. Without their basketball talents, what makes them who they are - which is to say, what makes them public figures and large enough stars to be in a major motion picture like Space Jam - is gone.
Jordan sends Bugs and Daffy to his home to pick up sneakers and basketball shorts. At Jordan’s home, Bugs and Daffy talk to themselves about how their likeness is used on coffee mugs and t-shirts, and how they see “none of the profits” from that. This conversation, and their shadows on the wall, wake Jordan’s daughter up. “We have to get new agents,” Daffy says. “We’re getting screwed.” Jordan’s kids at one point save Bugs/Daffy from the family dog. When they ask where the Tunes are going, Bugs tells them their Father has a big basketball game, but that they cannot tell anybody. The scene is played off as fantasy, something that the kids easily could have imagined the entire time, but it represents what it must be like growing up as the children of one of the biggest stars in American culture - constantly being told what your Father is doing, where he’s going, and why he isn’t home.
When Jordan first arrives to the Tunes court there is a glowing ora around him, not unlike the glow of an angel or a divine creature. (Aren’t the Tunes/Space Jam deifying Jordan?) In the middle of slam dunking, Stan - who has found his way to Tune World - interrupts his practice session by running up to him and throwing a hug around him. “Thank God you’re all right!” Stan embodies the masses desire for Jordan to return to basketball; society has a boxed-in idea of what Jordan should be (a basketball player) and what he shouldn’t be (a baseball player). Jordan gives Stan a wild look like Stan has caught him doing something he isn’t supposed to. When Stan asks Jordan to come back to “reality,” Jordan says he can’t leave because his friends need him for a basketball game. Stan asks, “Michael, do you realize your friends are cartoon characters?” “Yeah. So?” Michael reveals here that he has come to terms with the surreal nature of the diegetic world because it’s also his real world - his reality (as a celebrity) is the bizarre. He calls the Tunes his friends, thus referring to the Tunes as his equals. But the line can also be extended to refer to his role in professional basketball - his desire to “help his friends” (ie: NBA players) with their game (ie: NBA), or even to help his friends (NBA/Nike/Warner Brothers) with their game (making money). On Earth, the police are blocking off NBA games at the Western Forum in Los Angeles. In a figurative sense, it could be said that when Michael left the NBA, the sport went on hold. In Space Jam, the film creates this scenario much more literally: in time with Jordan being taken from Earth to protect the Looney Tunes, the NBA is being shut down from the fear caused by the aliens who stole the talents of the players.
Jordan’s intro to the basketball game in Tune World is “normal” - the public announcer calls his name and number, the crowd cheers, Jordan trots onto the court and greets his teammates - but the surreal setting of the game make it feel like a dream. It is pure fantasy to see Jordan in a Tune Squad jersey and sharing the court with Lola Bunny and Sylvester; it connotes that the entire scene is from inside Jordan’s mind. The Monstars take a huge lead into halftime, but Stan finds out that the aliens stole NBA talent to enlarge and perform at such high levels. Jordan puts it together that the aliens must have stole the talents of the five players who were “harmed by bacteria.” Jordan attempts an inspirational speech to pep up the Tunes at half time. Space Jam then makes a strong allusion to the Bible: Jordan makes a final plea - “You with me or not?” - and all of the Looney Tunes are asleep. (One of several references comparing Jordan to Jesus.) But Bugs tricks the Tunes on behalf of Jordan: he convinces the Tunes that Jordan was holding out on all of them by not sharing his “secret stuff” (simply: water); the Tunes trip all over themselves to drink some of Jordan’s water, and as they do, their confidence manifests itself into bulging muscles and intensity. This is to say: any product associated with Jordan is a winning product. The Tunes climb back into the game, leading Mr. Swackhammer to announce that Jordan is “the one he wants.” He sounds like a plantation owner. Jordan, in an attempt to ensure he recovers the lost NBA talent of his friends (Barkley, Ewing, etc.), wagers his freedom on the game. Swackhammer says, “You’ll be our star attraction,” and that Jordan would sign autographs all day and play one on one with paying customers and always lose. Jordan is willing to risk it all because he recognizes that he and his friends are all in it together - that he is not Michael Jordan (star) without his game and without his peers.
Bill Murray arrives shortly after this exchange between Swackhammer and Jordan. Swackhammer breaks the fourth wall and refers to Bill Murray when saying, “Woah - I didn’t know Dan Aykroyd was in this picture!” What might be the most obvious example of breaking the fourth wall in the film, Swackhammer is confusing Murray for Aykroyd (comedians with common career paths) while admitting that everything that is taking place is doing so inside of a film. Daffy then asks Murray how he got here (the basketball court) and Murray says, “Well, the producer is a friend of mine” (referencing the film itself). Both of these moments reveal that the characters of Space Jam are aware of their role inside of the film, as pieces of Jordan’s story. As time is expiring at the end of the game, Jordan - recently equipped with the knowledge that he can do anything in Tune World - does the Air Jordan dunk from half court. This is a commentary on finally facing his fear of returning to the game and finding the reassurance that he’s unstoppable as ever.
At the baseball stadium that night, the crowd is chanting “We Want Michael.” The UFO flies over the stadium yet again, only this time it is there to drop off Jordan. He exits the UFO to a huge ovation; no one cares to question why he is leaving a functioning alien space craft. This is to say that the masses did not care why Jordan originally retired or why he decided to come back, just as long as he did return to basketball.
Jordan finds the five talent-less players in an empty gym. Unlike the baseball stadium’s bright lights and screaming fans, the basketball gym is dark; there is a glare through a window that makes it difficult for the players to recognize him as he walks into the gym. This is possibly a representation for how baseball has Jordan, and so the sport is bright and the fans are loud, but basketball seems void and passionless without him. “Face it: you guys stink. You want your games back.” Jordan’s sarcastic remark connotes that the players want their game (NBA) back, and that Jordan holds the key to the league’s return to prominence. “I’m going to regret this,” Jordan says before peer pressuring all five players into touching a glowing basketball which contains their powers. After they all touch the ball, the five players can dribble, dunk and run again. “I got my powers back,” Bradley says. Jordan smirks at Stan, acknowledging that he just played God. This leads to a powerful exchange between the men in the gym.
Barkley: “Michael, why don’t you stick around and play with us?”
Jordan: “I don’t think so.”
Barkley: “What? You’re going to work on that baseball swing?”
Ewing: “Leave the baseball player alone. You know he doesn’t play basketball anymore.”
Bradley: “He probably doesn’t even have it anymore guys.”
Podolak: “Michael, you hear that? They don’t think you can play the game anymore.”
The camera captures a shot of the five basketball players staring at Jordan, waiting for his response; Barkley even shrugs his shoulders. Jordan smiles: “There’s only one way to find out.”
The conclusion of the film is a Chicago Bulls game, and the crowd is electric. Unlike the surreal feeling of the Tune basketball game, Jordan looks just right in a red Chicago uniform running around with his NBA teammates. Everything is “normal” with the exception that Jordan is wearing the No. 45 instead of the No. 23. This is a historical fact: for most of his return season at the end of the NBA’s 1994-95 campaign, Jordan wore No. 45 - his number with the Birmingham Barons of the minor leagues. In a way, this serves as the only physical evidence that he ever left basketball, because before long, he changed his jersey number back to the popular No. 23, and the rest is history. It’s a fitting conclusion to Space Jam, a film that open with a montage about everything Jordan was up to 1993 and ends with Jordan back in a Bulls uniform like nothing ever happened. But the No. 45 serves as a reminder that for two years something did happen to Jordan: he was a man dealing with the death of his father, and a man testing the limitations of his own existence. While Space Jam is fictitious and fantastical, it is also strangely honest about how a celebrity of Jordan’s stature must feel trapped inside of the bizarre world of their own star. Seeing Jordan playing himself and re-imagining some of the most emotional moments of his life was documentation to how the star functions when their life becomes the spectacle.
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