Remember the Titans Review Essay

The movie Remember the Titans is one of the most inspiring sports movies in recent memory.. This is due to the performances of Denzel Washington as well as others in the cast but   its success can also can be attributed to the fact that the story was based on real life events. As is the case with most movies, those that are based on fact, no matter how loosely, usually seem to add to the drama that mindless action movies which are big on special effects and small on acting and story. Remember the Titans is not one of those movies because the racial tensions that were associated with busing and school integration in the last 1960s’ and 1970’s was one of the divisive sources during that time. For a young, contemporary society, it may seem difficult to be able to successfully transplant oneself into that specific time and place and to wonder aloud, what the entire situation was all about. There were tensions that came from the mixing of the two teams, regardless of their color.   Many players at T.C. Williams were counting on a starting spot for the football team, only to have many of the positions challenged due to the integration of the school. Due to the fact that the school that is being meshed into T.C. Williams is a predominately African American school, with the setting of the story taking place in 1970 Virginia, only adds to the frustrations on the part of the athletes from both schools. This reality places a stress on the already fragile relationships that the white and black players as well as students have for each other. However, in the end, the story has a happy ending and the school not only successfully integrates, but has one of their most successful years on the football field.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the major sources of debate within Titans is the way in which Herman Boone receives the head coaching job at T.C. Williams.   The school has been integrated and the football team, a bastion of relief and excitement for the masses in Alexandria, Virginia. Within the movie, it is plainly seen that the majority of white students and their families are not in favor of the integration of the school. What is the source of even more resistance is the fact that Herman Boone, not because of his merit but simply because of his race, is being made head coach over the current coach, Bill Yoast who has had his share of awards given to him for his splendid coaching record in the past. The school board feels that this is the appropriate choice to make as they believe that it will help the town to ease into the idea. This is not ethically right or proper. There is not way of knowing exactly how well the team would have fared if the coaches were picked on their merit instead of on race, but it seems that as long as starting positions on the field were earned by the physical and mental merit of the players, so too should the coaches be made to honor the idea of creating a meritocracy as well.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What is not acceptable and is seen as the central aspect of the movie, are the relationships between the players from both of the schools. At first, many of the players on both sides did not want to befriend their competition with regard to the specific starting position that they were hoping to earn but also their competition in society as well. It is the efforts of Julies and Bertier, the leaders of their respective former schools and therefore, is divided by racial lines, which help to make the transition from two separate teams into one a bit easier. The two characters are very forceful on the football field as it is required to remain successful but they are also equally as forceful with regard to the integration of their fellow teammates. Both are resistant to the experiment by once they get on board with the idea, the rest are sure to follow. This is the true sign of a leader but also of the team recognizing the fact that they need to come together as a team in order to win. Cohesiveness of a team is what every coach strives to achieve. The second source of calm and rational thinking in the face of a situation that many on the team might respond to with hatred and bigotry, comes from Coach Boone and Coach Yoast. Yoast will eventually see the bigger picture and swallow his own feelings of mistreatment and submit to the will of the school board and usually, to the will of coach Yoast. He had such a stellar coaching record because he knew how to win. The same can be said about Coach Boone as well. He does not like the situation in which he was picked to coach T.C. Williams but he resolves that this is not only good for his career in the long run, but for the cohesion of the entire community as the football team serves as the center of life in Alexandria, Virginia. In the special features, the real coaches are shown talking as old friends and there is nothing to suggest that is not the case in real life. But the relationship of the two coaches, as was the case with the players, was a contentious one. Race obviously played a central role in the actions of the T.C. Williams football team. People are a product of their environment and Alexandria, Virginia expressed loudly, their feelings about the forced integration of their school as well as the football players did the same. But Coach Boone and Yoast as well as the majority of football players on the team realized what it took to win.   All had enjoyed winning seasons before the integration of the school. Had the teams never enjoyed victory and never yearned for success within their daily lives, there might have been little hope for this experiment to have succeeded. Only those living there at that time can accurately describe what life was really like during those times but the ethical behavior of the majority of players as well as their recognition of what it takes to win in this life, eventually became the paramount reason as to why the team went on to have a successful season and racial strife within the team unity could only be seen as a speed bump if they wished to continue to win. WORKS CITED Bruckheimer, Jerry.   Remember the Titans. Buena Vista. 2000