Already an award-winning filmmaker, future Hall of Fame basketball player Kobe Bryant knows full well how to turn media into art. It’s going to be his next great achievement following one of the greatest NBA careers in history.
A recent example of this is a video Bryant narrated for ESPN. It blends a lot of different visual and linguistic factors to form a brilliant explanation of why today’s children don’t know about basketball’s rich history.
It’s meant for the younger generations and to helps those without a keen knowledge of the history of the game to acquire a better understanding. It’s also meant for fathers like Kobe who has not taught their children about the game’s past.
“We have a problem! We have a problem!” the man screamed. “My son, my son, thinks Jordan’s just a meme,” Bryant says. “He thinks Magic wears glasses and plays for the Quidditch team. The only Bird he has ever seen has wings that aren’t green. Help me! Help me! I know not what to do.”
It’s by now obvious that Bryant has a rich understanding of the NBA. Maybe it has to do with him growing up the son of a pro basketball player. Though, there’s a lot he’s done since entering the Association as a high school player years ago that has helped him understand just how important this history is.
“What am I to do? You are living in a fear that you yourself have made,” Bryant continued. “Have you sat your son down, showed him film of what used to be? Have you showed him how Pistol Pete could score 40 before threes?”
Bryant goes on to bring up past stars such as Nate Archibald, noting that he was Stephen Curry before there was a Stephen Curry. What about Elgin Baylor doing the Euro step before European players were prevalent in the game? Yeah, Kobe brings that up, too.
This is just another example of Bryant’s post-basketball life taking on a new meaning on the big screen. Job well done, Kobe.