Remember the Titans | Teen Ink

Remember the Titans

November 27, 2017
By Anonymous

Remember the Titans. An iconic football movie that touches base on many social issues in society, such as racisms, discrimination, desegregation, prejudice, aggression, and segregation. This movie is based upon a football team at T.C. Williams High School located in Alexandria, Virginia. In the time frame of 1971, there were laws passed that gave African Americans the right to integrate schools that were originally for Caucasians only. This brought an uproar at T.C. Williams High School resulting in problematic situations. The movie plays out how two schools both African American and Caucasian integrate, especially with their football teams. Coach Bill Yoast coached the players at T.C Williams High School up until Coach Herman Boone was promoted the position of head coach there. This caused conflict issues when combining both races together in one team. Athletes were pushed to become one team that learned the importance of racial equality within the sport and society. Once the players were conditioned with team cohesion by both coaches then the Titans were able to harmonize and win their championship.


Issues:
Racism
- Coach Bill Yoast being recognized instead of Coach Boone for the titans successful season
- When one of the white football players call Denzel a monkey
- When Caucasians were out protesting against school integration at the high school
- Coach Boone being told that if he didn’t have any wins than he would be removed as head coach for the Titans


Discrimination
- Sunshine tries to take the black guys to the bar and the bar owner refuses to
- When the football players are each paired up by African American and Caucasian races and are required to learn things about one another but the caucasian guys ask stereotypical questions
- When someone throws a brick through Coach Boone’s window at home


Prejudice
- When a caucasian student refers to the African Americans students as “black animals”
- When the caucasian football players didn’t want to play for a African American coach and called Coach Boone a “coon”
- Julius meeting Bertier’s girlfriend that was white and her not wanting to shake his hand because he wasn’t white


Segregation
- When one of the African American football players asked Louie (caucasian player) why he wasn’t sitting with his people
- Gerry Bertier’s mom not wanting to give the African Americans a chance


Sexual Harassment
- One of the football players being called, “Sunshine” because of his sexual preference


Sociological Issues not mentioned in movie:
Violence and Aggression
- Bartier attacking Julius over a disapproval of a poster in the room
- Citizens in the community rioting and attacking the African Americans
- Both races fighting inside the school


Racial Integration
-Titans playing against other teams and conflict uproaring on the field between both teams


The issues stated above all relate to sociological issues in one way or another. Racism, discrimination, segregation, prejudice, and sexual harassment all come into play in Remember the Titans. Racism is presented through out the entire movie because African Americans and whites refused to be on civil terms. Both races made unremarkable comments and actions towards each other resulting in discriminating and segregating each other. The result of the athletes segregating one another was Coach Boone had them pair up to get to know each other. It was made clear that everyone's role on the team would be determined on their hard work not by race. Sexual harassment is also brought up when one of the players gets called, "Sunshine" because he seems to be too into himself, pretty, and feminine. Athletes calling him, Sunshine, forced him to act out by kissing Gerry, this way he will be accepted by the team for who he really is. In the book there is many sociological issues that are discussed in the movie but aggression is one social issue that stood out as well. In the movie, aggression was physically portrayed but didn't seem to be very problematic to the characters. For example, football player Gerry Bertier’s started a fight with Julius because he didn't like a poster that he had put on his side of the room. This displayed that even though Gerry felt more superior he eventually was able to see eye to eye with Julius. Racial Integration also wasn't mentioned in the movie. Once the Titans were able to play against other teams, those teams were all Caucasian athletes and coaches. This made it a problem when playing games because of other teams racial slurs and violence while playing.


The issues in Remember the Titans may still seem unclear as to what they mean. Racism is a major social issue within this film, as mentioned before, you might ask, what is racism?According to Memmi, Albert (2014), Racism is a collective language at the service of each person's emotions. Along with this I want to add on the discrimination that was portrayed in the plot of the movie. African Americans and Caucasian both discriminated each other with stereotypical aspects. An outlook of (Sage, Eitzen, Eitzen, & Professor Emeritus George H Sage, 2012) thoughts about racial discrimination in change of society. "Moreover, the prominence and huge salaries of minority superstars such as Lebrun James, Miguel Cabrera, and Carmelo Anthony have led many levitate and professional sports now provide a broad notifies, thus, illustrating, it is often argued that racial discrimination is a thing of the past." (page 149). Violence is also a major social issue that is physically played out in the movie but not formally discussed. But, what really is defined as violence inside and outside sports? “An increase in both frequency and seriousness of acts of violence has been well documented. Violence is most prevalent in team contact sports, such as ice hockey, football, and rugby. While most occurrences of violence emanate from players, others, including coaches, parents, fans, and the media, also contribute to what has been described as an epidemic of violence in sports today.”

Remember the Titans was and still is a movie that touches base with the reality of the society we use to live in. It is filled with racism, discrimination, violence, and many segregation acts. This movie does a good job of showing all these sociological issues and harmonizing the athletes and some society to become one. I can honestly relate the world we live in today to this movie. We still face people who are racist and discriminate individuals around us.


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