I love melodrama. If you have seen Asian television series or soap operas, the most ridiculous scenarios happen such as a husband giving up his eye balls to his wife because she has vision impairment from some freak accident. All this happens merely to convey how committed their relationship is. Melodrama is useful for communicating abstract feelings that are sometimes inexplainable in words.
Jeremy Tyler's personal narrative of his struggles as a high school player trying to reach his NBA dreams may be the one film that is overflowing with melodrama and could be the new blueprint for how Asians make melodramas in the future.
Before Jeremy Tyler became the 39th pick in the NBA Draft, a reality he probably never imagined as rising star in the amateur ranks, Tyler began crafting his own melodramatic episodes to narrate his life journey from San Diego native to future NBA star.
The star and presumed co-director of his own documentary (actual documentary filmmaker Andrew Gallery), "My Life With Jeremy Tyler," Tyler says his life may be the "Greatest story ever."
In the age of Lebron James, it seems that the spectacle of the amateur player is part of the branding process for future athletes looking to become sellable commodities. Problem is, by the subtitles in the trailer, the goal of the documentary is to make his leap from junior year high school star to professional overseas player a huge triumph of global significance. I'm not trying to trivialize what he went through and the scrutiny him, his school, and his coaches experienced. But the melodramatic prose of the trailer, told through text and moving image, makes Tyler's life way more spectacular than it really is. I guess what I'm trying to say is, what prep-to-pro hasn't been under the media's scrutiny and how is his experience "making history"?
Of course this was Tyler as a sophomore in high school talking about himself. As a teenager, I was prone to saying some awkward things, which I will not divulge to a national audience. As youth, we're still figuring things out and we learn through trial and error in our actions and words. I'm sure Tyler will look back on this now and probably chuckle at his former self. He has a bright future ahead of him.