For the past few years, "The Basketball Diaries" has been blamed for a rash of disconnected school massacres in the United States. The anti-media zealots who blame school violence on the fantasy sequence, where Jim Carroll(Leonardo DiCaprio) barges into his classroom to kill everyone in sight, starting with his teacher, ignore the facts, as usual.
The reasons that Carroll fantasized about this killing spree were; 1)The teacher got a sick thrill from beating his pupils, and 2)Carroll was high on heroin. Of course, one does not need to become a drug addict, in order to desire revenge against power mad tyrants, who exploit people that they believe themselves to be morally superior to. As for the kids of Columbine High, and other pre-Columbine mass-murderers, most of them were either bullies, or victims of bullies. The fact that they were fans of this movie is irrelevant. If what I'm saying isn't true, then perhaps the opponents of free speech would like to tell me why there weren't a rash of school shootings following the 1968 movie "If..."
Rent, or buy an original copy of this film for the following reasons; 1)The talent of Leonardo DiCaprio, 2)The explanation for that controversial fantasy sequence, and 3)The music video for the song "People Who Died,' by the REAL Jim Carroll, just in case you thought that when he made that song 20 years ago, he was only kidding.
The reasons that Carroll fantasized about this killing spree were; 1)The teacher got a sick thrill from beating his pupils, and 2)Carroll was high on heroin. Of course, one does not need to become a drug addict, in order to desire revenge against power mad tyrants, who exploit people that they believe themselves to be morally superior to. As for the kids of Columbine High, and other pre-Columbine mass-murderers, most of them were either bullies, or victims of bullies. The fact that they were fans of this movie is irrelevant. If what I'm saying isn't true, then perhaps the opponents of free speech would like to tell me why there weren't a rash of school shootings following the 1968 movie "If..."
Rent, or buy an original copy of this film for the following reasons; 1)The talent of Leonardo DiCaprio, 2)The explanation for that controversial fantasy sequence, and 3)The music video for the song "People Who Died,' by the REAL Jim Carroll, just in case you thought that when he made that song 20 years ago, he was only kidding.