The Queen of Basketball Movie Analysis

In the remembrance of the woman once called "Queen of Basketball", a living legend, Lucie Lucy Harris's story is premiered this year. Rekindling the contributions made to women's basketball, Ben Proudfoot indulged in interviewing the women with a three-time back-to-back national college champion, an Olympian medalist, and the first woman to be officially drafted by the men's basketball team. Yet, she is someone whose name still needs to be acknowledged by the world. Utilizing the opportunity, Proudfoot tells the story of what happens when an unstoppable talent runs out of games to win. Someone who’s known as nothing becomes the person who writes history. With the true depiction of the life told by Lucie Harris herself, Proudfast records the documentary for the audience to know the unheard stories of great legends. He tells us that how genuine talent finds its way to succeed, and how women athletes struggled to pursue their careers back in the day; while writing it with humor yet relatable style filled with background imagery, tone, emotions, pieces of evidence.

Throughout the documentary, the director uses imagery to attract the viewers' attention to details, highlighting the pivotal point displayed in Lucy's life. As Lucy narrates her life, all the background images and clips synchronize with the timeline of Lucy's history. It provides a sheer visual depiction of the life Lucy leads. Starting with the clip of a black woman dunking the basketball, in the background with transitioning clips the narrator, telling about who Lucy is, " Because I'm Lucia!"  (Queen of Basketball 0:00-1:06), it turns out that the narrator herself is Lucy. The director takes the first-person perspective of the interview, which focuses on Lucy's face, captivating her gestures, expressions, and cackling smile. Entering high school and being taunted, " Long and tall and that's all" (Queen of Basketball 2:40-3:00), it turned out to be the opposite for her. Visuals of Lucy scoring 40, whereas opponents were unable to score at all, attests that lucy was much more than that and contradicts the idea that previously had of her, showcasing the challenges she went through. Participating in Olympics, with the videos of the event playing in the background, competing against japan in a wildly roaring crowd representing each country, lucy was able to make the first basket. "They shot the first basket, but they missed. Came back down the court, Anne Meyers passed me the ball; I shot it and made it. That was the first basket in the history of Olympic women's basketball" (Queen of Basketball 12:21-12:35). This scene demonstrates the pinnacle of Lucy's achievements. Thus, Proudfoot using videos and imagery in the background gives a clear sense of Lucy's life and her achievements. 

With the backdrop of transitioning music of different genres, it provides the tone of the context as we go along the documentary. While describing Lucy's family background as "sharecroppers": " A lot of the kids would gather at our house to play ball because they didn't have a goal, but we did"(Queen of Basketball 1:34-2:07), a slow country melody plays. It tells us even though lucy didn't grow up in a privileged home; still, she pursues her passion with the genuine talents she possesses. As she goes along the games and wins the big tournaments, the tune changes to upbeat, energetic arcade music, and the beats get higher as the number of wins increases. Especially during the "AIAW National Basketball Championship"(Queen of Basketball 6:08), the uplifting gospel choir conveys to us that the crowd is predominantly nuns and religiously associated individuals.