Analysis

Remember the Titans

 

You have got to learn how to respect and get along with others but in order to do that you have to respect yourself first. Remember the Titans is an all-time favorite movie of mine, and very well could be yours too. There are so many messages in this movie that the director is delivering to the audience. There are two messages in the movie that stuck out to me and those are segregation and how the community and football team had to overcome it, and how to learn and give respect to one another. It was a long and hard journey for this group of people, as I am sure it was for everyone. In this movie there is a segregated high school. Then times were changing and it was not segregated anymore. The kids at the high school, the parents, and the community were so upset by this. The football team had been having practice before school started and that’s where the real test was at. The football team became a white and black playing team. None of the boys knew how to go around this and get along with each other. In this movie it shows the struggles and triumphs of how they overcame this. In the end everything works out for everyone, but getting there was a rough and tough time.

Respecting yourself and others will get you far in life. This takes people many years to learn, but once you have learned this it comes natural to you. “People say that it can't work, black and white. Here, we make it work every day. We still have our disagreements, of course, but before we reach for hate, always, always, we remember the Titans (Yakin. DVD.).” Respecting yourself and others was extremely hard when the segregation was coming to an end. No one wanted to do anything to respect each other so instead of saying nice things they would say terrible things to each other, then that would cause a fight. In this movie it all started when the football team got a new head coach, Coach Boone and he was colored. The last coach was white and so were the football players. Of course the players and the parents were more than upset to find out that a colored man was going to be coaching the football team and that colored men were also going to be playing this game with them. This caused so much tension between everyone. When they had to go to football camp that was their first true test. They were at camp for two weeks and had to room with their assigned bus buddies; one white person per one colored person. This pushed everyone’s button. When they first got there they hated one another. With respect and getting to know each other they soon became one big family. They learned respect for each other by bonding with one another and sharing the love for football. When respect is earned it is given. That is what everyone did and when they learned that’s all they needed to play better as a team and better as a family.

            Getting along with others is something you learn at an early age. Doing this is hard to do especially when you have different views about things, how you grew up, what time period you grew up in and whether or not you like that person. We all have to grow up at some point and put those reasons behind you to get along with others. “Yeah. I hope you boys have learned as much from me this year as I've learned from you. You've taught this city how to trust the soul of a man rather than the look of him. And I guess it's about time I joined the club (Yakin DVD)”. When you get along with others you also learn things from them. You cannot pick a fight with anyone and everyone you see, so it’s better to get along with them. In Remember the Titans no one got along with each other until they learned that they had to. You have to be willing to get to know somebody in order to actually get to know them. No one was willing to get to know each other; they just wanted to bash on one another. Coach Boone was the one who made them get along though. When he did this it caused the team so much tension because they were not willing to do this. They white boys did not want to nor care to get along with their teammates because they were colored. They worked on that the whole season and overcame it eventually. They worked with each other and got to know everyone and even their families and how they grew up. To me I think this is when it was an eye opener for everyone on the team, and they realized they were the same people trying to achieve the same goal- being the best that they can be both on and off the field.

            Growing up I learned how to give and earn respect at an early age. That was one thing my parents drilled into my head as a child. They always told me I will go far in life if I do this everywhere I go. And that is exactly what I had done. These boys in the movie finally figured out that when you give respect you get it back and it is much easier to get along with each other by doing so. When the boys figured this out it made them play football as a team and not trying to play it by themselves.

            Overall, respect and segregation are two very important things learned in life. Without them the world would be a very difficult place to live in. That is why this movie is such a good movie to watch. It shows you the importance of getting along with each other, respecting them and how to get along with people of different race. If you haven’t already seen Remember the Titans, I suggest you watch it. You won’t regret it.

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

Remember the Titans. Dir. Boaz Yakin. Perf. Denzel Washington and Will Patton. Walt Disney                 Pictures, 2000. DVD.