Space Jam Film Analysis

During the first round of the 1995 NBA playoffs, the Charlotte Hornets were down by one point against the Chicago Bulls with seconds left on the clock. Once Muggsy Bogues received the ball, Michael Jordan backed off of him on defense and said, “Shoot it, you f’ing midget.” Bogues’s shot was completely off causing the Charlotte Hornets to be eliminated from the NBA playoffs. The following year, Muggsy Bogues announced his retirement and his coach believed that one play ruined his whole career since his jump shot never recovered. Not to mention, Muggsy Bogues stars in Michael Jordan’s movie, which appears to be unusual because Jordan possibly ruined Bogues career. During the film, the villain leader, Mr. Swackhammer, forces his alien servants
to threaten and challenge the Looney Tunes in a game of basketball to win their freedom. Soon after the Tunes accept their challenge, the aliens attend an NBA game to steal the professional players’ skills turning them into MonStars. Bugs Bunny knew it was physically impossible to defeat the MonStars, having said that, his crew sought help from Michael Jordan. Jordan proceeds his mission and must defeat the MonStars in order to return the NBA players’ skills and save the Tunes from losing their freedom. Michael Jordan, an NBA All-Star from the film, Space Jam, is a conventional hero who follows Campbell’s heroic journey. He begins his story when he is casually playing golf, nevertheless, Bugs Bunny sucks him in a hole to help defeat the villain MonStars in basketball. His skills, actions, and sacrificial manners prove why he is a conventional hero. Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes characters design an interesting outfit for their team, The Tune Squad. Jordan wears a white jersey, labeled “Tune Squad” and a white pair of loose basketball shorts, both with red, white, and blue stripes. Also, his shorts contain a red and white target with a radiant blue “T” on the left half of the outfit to represent his leadership to the team. Michael Jordan wears one blue wristband on his left arm just like how he used to wear one when he played with the Chicago Bulls in the NBA, except it had been black. Lastly, he completes his outfit with his name-brand shoes called “Jordans.” There are a few symbols that represent Michael Jordan and describe who he is as a person. The props used in the film that are essential to Michael are his shoes, ball, and “secret stuff.” There are three types of basketball shoes, including: Adidas, Nike, and Jordans. Michael Jordan was known as the greatest basketball player in the NBA and was the only player that was capable of creating a shoe brand named after himself. Michael Jordan makes about a hundred million a year from his shoes alone. While most NBA players play with Adidas or Nike shoes, Michael Jordan wore his own shoes his whole career. Another symbol that represents Michael is the basketball. As simple as it is, without the basketball, his skills are useless. Without the ball, there would be no chance for him to train to develop his skills and reveal how good of a basketball player he was. However, the basketball is not the only ball that defined Michael Jordan. For instance, he enjoyed playing golf and baseball as well. The final prop that Jordan uses is his “secret stuff.” During halftime of the Tune Squad and Monstars game, Bugs Bunny drinks Michael’s bottle of “secret stuff,” which increased Bugs height and strength, although there was nothing special about his drink. Michael’s primary goal for the “secret stuff” was to boost the Tune Squad’s confidence. If Michael did not create the idea of the “secret stuff,” the Tune Squad would have been demolished by the MonStars since the score was 18-66. These symbols eventually lead Michael Jordan into being the GOAT, greatest of all time, of basketball. Space Jam consists of a variety of diverse fictional and nonfictional characters that play an integral role in the story. There are three types of characters, including: the humans, the Looney Tunes, and the villains from Moron Mountain. First, the humans are regular everyday people who come in contact with fictional characters from a popular television show. The main human character is Michael Jordan. His primary goal is to prevent the MonStars from stealing the looney tune’s freedom. Second, the Looney Tunes are a fictional group of friendly cartoon characters who somehow manage to come into contact with the real world in search of help from the greatest basketball player known to man, Michael Jordan. Mastermind to this endeavor, Bugs Bunny, acts as a bridge between the cartoon and the real world. With Bugs Bunny’s constant relatable nature he is able to present the real problems they are facing in their cartoon dimension. Ultimately, Bugs becomes allies with the legend, Michael Jordan, to overcome the tension with the villains. Third, Mr. Swackhammer, the dictator of Moron Mountain, has the desire of taking over the Looney Tunes world. The Nerdlucks, small alien servants to Mr. Swackhammer, are forced to bring the Looney Tunes to their master. While the Nerdlucks are on their journey, they discover that stealing the NBA players skills would make them unstoppable. Eventually, the Nerdlucks attend a Phoenix Suns game with the intention to rob the NBA players from their basketball skills. Once they steal the athlete’s skill, the aliens ultimately increase about ten times their size and are now the MonStars. Michael Jordan starts his journey to save the NBA players skills and the Looney Tunes freedom from the MonStars. Michael Jordan’s use of dialogue explains his mindset and how he helps others. After he agrees to help the Looney Tunes, Michael realizes he needs his basketball gear to play. He demands that Bugs and Daffy Duck grab his equipment and mentions, “And whatever you do, don’t forget my North Carolina shorts,” while Daffy is confused and interrupts, “Your shorts from college?” Michael wore his college basketball shorts every game for good luck. Many chapters later, Bugs pulls out Jordan’s “secret stuff” and the team was curious on why they were not offered the drink before the game. Immediately after, Jordan confidently states, “No, well I didn’t you guys needed it, well I mean, you guys are so tough!” Then Daffy Duck responds, “You know, this goes to everything they taught me in health class.” Michael looks at Daffy with disappointment and sarcastically states, “Do you want to win or not?” In addition, Daffy instantly chugs the rest of the bottle, growing confidence on winning the game. Once the Tune Squad equalizes the score, Mr. Swackhammer becomes frustrated and Michael offers him a deal. Mr. Swackhammer feels extremely interested and says, “What do you have in mind?” Michael answers, “If we win, you give the NBA players their talent back, but if you win, you get me” (Space Jam). Michael offered his life in order to protect other people, which proves himself as a conventional hero. Jordan follows act one of Joseph Campbell’s heroic journey in the film Space Jam. Usually it is very uncommon for an athlete to be a hero saving others, although this may be true, Michael Jordan is not similar to the average sportsman. Jordan’s call to adventure comes when Bugs Bunny is desperate for Michael’s help, but he refused. He applied refusal of the call since he retired from basketball. During the 1993-94 NBA season he discovered the horrifying news that his father has been shot to death, leading Michael to retire from basketball and pursue a career in baseball like his father. He had doubts about going back to basketball since he retired over two years ago from Bug’s request. Michael realized that Bugs and the Looneys were in big trouble and they could not do it alone. Michael was not given any supernatural aid. However, he was born with a gift in basketball that was soon needed to help bugs and his crew to defeat the MonStars. Jordan crosses the first threshold into the animated world hidden in the center of the earth. At this instant, he finds out the villains he was dealing with were extremely overpowered. Jordan also follows act two of Joseph Campbell’s heroic journey in the film Space Jam.
Unfortunately, a goddess and temptress were not involved in the film. However, Jordan’s father was introduced when ten year old Michael was practicing his jump shot. His father, James R. Jordan, realized that Michael had the potential to be a superstar in the future and his dad guided him to greatness. Michael soon attended his dream college after high school and was drafted years later by the Chicago Bulls. On the other hand, since Michael was officially a retired player, he trained with the Looneys to get back into shape for basketball. Michael was in shape at the time, but not for basketball because players can lose their touch if they do not practice for over a week. Michael coached the Looneys and himself to make sure every player is fit and confident enough to defeat the MonStars. Although the Tune Squad were being destroyed by forty-eight points, Michael was able to motivate his teammates to give it all they have and try their best to equalize the score. Once the Tune Squad catches up, Mr. Swackhammer becomes furious and shouts at the MonStars with anger and Jordan interrupts him. Michael and Mr. Swackhammer make a deal with each other that if the Tune Squad wins, the NBA players get their skills back and the Looneys are free. However, if the MonStars win, Jordan would have to sacrifice his life to Mr. Swackhammer and would be a lifetime servant for him. Backing down was not the
answer for Michael and he was capable of finishing the game with a buzzer beating dunk. Jordan succeeded the ultimate boom and the NBA players received their skills back and the Looney Tunes gained their freedom again. The final act of Joseph Campbell’s heroic journey was slightly followed by Michael Jordan in Space Jam.
After the MonStars return their skills to the NBA players, they transform back to the Nerdlucks. The Nerdlucks were tired of being servants to Mr. Swackhammer and decided to join the Looney Tunes. Moments later, Michael Jordan realized that his upcoming baseball game was in five minutes. Jordan subsequently received a “rescue from without” and the Nerdlucks offered to drive him to his game in their UFO. Michael Jordan was highly respected and considered a legend in the animated and real word, which made him the “master of the two worlds.” Once Michael’s journey was complete, the “freedom to live” represented the freedom of the Looneys and Nerdlucks without being dominated by the super-villain, Mr. Swackhammer; and it also represented Jordan’s freedom of choice with the decision to make his return in the
NBA. Although Michael Jordan may not be similar to the average hero, he was able to save many harmless animated characters from Mr. Swackhammer. Mentioned before, Michael Jordan’s skills, actions, sacrificial manners show why he is a conventional hero. Michael slightly won the game against the MonStars by one point, which means there would be a high chance of doubt that any other player could defeat Mr. Swackhammer and his alien servants. Jordan was not a selfish person and always thought about his teammates, even when he was afraid the Looneys were going to be harmed by Mr. Swackhammer. To avoid this situation, Michael bet his life on the game showing that he is willing to sacrifice himself to save others. In essence, Michael Jordan is the only human to play both the conventional hero and athlete role.