Blue Chips focuses on college basketball corruption, with storylines and characters built around the realities of the sports world in the '90s. Identity factors do not overshadow merit, and characters are portrayed with genuine flaws and conflicts. The film is far more interested in issues like ethics in sports than in pushing any modern ideological themes.

Traditional values like hard work, family, and male mentorship are prominent. Masculinity is neither mocked nor pathologized; rather, it’s at the core of the drama. There’s no overt attempt to undermine faith, family, or American institutions.

The film depicts a pluralism of perspectives, coaches under pressure, struggling athletes, boosters, and university administrators. There is little to no caricaturing of dissenting views, and modern identity politics are absent. Any criticism is directed at the system, not at traditional values or dissenting individuals.