Remember the Titans

Remember the Titans, was the movie I chose to write my final paper on. I wanted to pick a film that I had never seen before and one that had a great message. I was told that Remember the Titans was a great film and I heard right. The movie was based on a true story in Alexandria, Virginia during a time when the world was living in segregation. This was a time when the mixing of races was unheard of. Triple A Football was a way of life in Virginia and the story tells of a teams struggle to overcome their differences and conquer their sport. This film delivered a powerful message of leadership and sacrifices with a football theme.

The movie centers around the 1971 season of the T. C. Williams Titan high school football team. The Titan football team, who was lead by Coach Bill Yoast, was an all white team that held many championship titles. Coach Yoast ran a very successful team and was nominated to the high school hall of fame that same year. In the year of 1971, T.C. Williams was one of the only schools in Virginia that was intergraded. From the first news that the school would be intergraded, the current players of Titan football team were concerned that they would lose their position to a black player. The whole town was in a complete up roar. Some people in the community were open mined and some just rejected the whole idea of integration.

The Titans had more to worry about than playing football, they had to learn to trust and accept one another as equals. The school board had hired Coach Herman Boone as the head coach for another school in the district, an all black school, but decided to use him as a role model and placed him as the head coach of the Titans. Coach Boone was aware that he was being placed as head coach, because he was going to give the black community something to appreciate. This obviously did not go over well with Coach Yoast. Coach Boone understood how Coach Yoast felt having been in his situation many times before.

Coach Boone offered offer Yoast a chance to stay and coach along side him. Coach Boone made the offer and Coach Yoast only saw it as working under him, not with him. Boone had the right intentions, but Yoasts' pride is what kept him from accepting the offer out right. The day of the first football meeting, Coach Yoast showed up unannounced with the entire white Titan team. This was the first time you would see the separation of the two races and the first time you would witness Coach Yoast undermine Coach Boone.

Coach Boone had arranged a camp for the team as a test of their strength on and off the field. Before they had even left the school grounds, each player was forced to sit next to someone of an opposite race and that person would be their roommate. This act of leadership was a test to the players on how they would react to the integration and force them to get to know their teammates regardless of race. The camp was designed to test their physical and mental endurance. This was also a test for the coaches to see how they would respond to each other's leadership style.

Both coaches were aware that in order to be successful on the field, they would need the team to come together as one. Coach Boone stated that he would never turn down anyone who wanted to play for him. He made it clear that everyone will have a chance and the better person would play regardless of color. As for Coach Yoast, Coach Boone made it very clear that he did not need his help with the offense. Coach Yoast was to concentrate on the defense and leave all of the offensive plays to Coach Boone. This scene showed that Coach Boone was not willing to accept help or suggestions from his new assistant coach.

During the camp, Coach Boone realized that he would need to do more than have each player with a roommate of a different race. He needed them to come together and sharing a room was not enough to get them on the same page. When using Louie Lastik as an example of getting to know your roommate, Coach Boone showed his caring side for the first time. Through out the film up to this point you only see the disciplinarian side of Coach Boone. Boone encouraged Louie to attend college as his roommate was planning on doing. When Louie told the coach that he was not smart enough to get a C+ average to attend college, Boone offered to review his scores every week to help him reach that goal. It did not matter that Louie was a white student; he was a player on his team and wanted him to succeed.

Coach Boone went on to require that every player had to get to know their roommate. He wanted them to ask questions and get to know about their life. Until they did, they were to practice hard three times a day until everyone knew something about each of their team mates. He was so determined to stick to his rule that coach Yoast accused him of flirting with the fine line of being tough and crazy. This is where you start to see the stronger players emerge. Gary and Julius are the same person, just opposite races. They are both strong willed and leaders of the team. They disliked each other from the start, as I believe they both felt threaten by the other.

One of the scenes that stands out the most in the movie is when Gary approached Julius regarding Boone's rule on getting to know each other. Gary attempted to confront Julius to get it over with but, Julius refused. Gary in turn accused Julius of not trying hard and not listening to any of the coaches. In defense Julius told Gary that he knew that his team mates were letting blocks go by allowing the quarterback (Rev), who was a black member of the team, get hit all of the time. He told Gary that he was going to look out for himself and not depend on the team. Julius was making the point that Gary was supposed to be captain, but he would not be the leader and tell his own white members of the team to do their job.

After Gary and Julius exchanged comments and Gary accused Julius of having a bad attitude, Julius responded with "attitude reflects leadership". This made Gary realize that he needed to be the leader, the captain of the team and equally treat everyone the same. Coach Boone took everyone for a run through the forest to the grounds where the battle of Gettysburg was held. He explained to them that thousands of young men died at that very spot fighting for what they were still fighting in themselves. As a leader, Coach Boone was telling the boys that many people have lost their lives fighting this battle and if they want to be great they would need to come together and over come their differences.

The movie took a drastic change after the Gettysburg scene. Coach Boone was determined that camp was the place where the team would have to develop a strong bond. When they returned to the real world, their bond would have to be strong in order to stay united as a team. As the movie went own, they showed a scene where