Remember the Titans

The year is 1971, integration of high schools is becoming the new fad, but it takes more than just a school board to convince a town to forget what they are accustomed to and to approve of this integration of high schools which combines the blacks and the whites together, on and off the football field. There is a saying that goes, Ignorance can be bliss, but ones ignorance can only take them so far. Denzel Washington portrays the new head coach for T.C. Williams High school in Alexandria, Virginia, a white town. Through the struggles of many, a few will stand tall, the titans. This is an amazing cinematic presentation that shows that when some stand for what they believe in, their pride and courage can be contagious enough to alter the opinions of others for the good in such cases as their opinions of racism.

As Jason Silverman said, “I try not to get too caught up in the politics of every single movieвЂ"a good one can be a mind-altering substance, transporting me to new, weird and/or wonderful places.” With that said, let’s start this off by saying, it was no surprise that the integration was not going to sit well with the hometown folks who are not used to a change, nor do they want to adapt to this kind of change. This is an excellent movie that shows the change of a community and how they mature over time from their stubborn ways. If having a tremendous plot like this was not enough, the essential message which slowly becomes apparent throughout the movie is a very common message that can never be taught too much, racism. That essential message is what I am going to discuss further. The movie shows the importance of accepting change because it shows the consequences when a person doesn’t. First, the movie shows how change is necessary to keep relationships. If someone is too full of pride to admit that they are wrong, then they will feel a growing malice towards the one who is right. The movie had a great example which was when Gary had to cut Jerry because he refused to accept that blacks are equal to whites. This shows how racism can affect even the greatest friendships.

Second, the movie shows why people act the way they do. The way that Sheryl Yoast, Coach Bill Yoast’s daughter, acted towards the blacks in the movie shows that the principles about racism is set by the peers such as close family. Since Sheryl had her father Bill as her biggest influence in life, she never had the same beliefs as those racist residents of the Virginia town embedded into her mind because of how Bill never showed an ounce of racism against the blacks and was not opposed to the merger, though he was still understandably upset when he lost his job to a black coach. Coach Yoast losing his job to Coach Boone can show some racial conflict within the community yet again because of the fact that Coach Boone was only handed the coaching position to start with because of being black. The movie clearly states that the color of his skin was the only reason he received the job because every other coach in the state was white so they needed a black coach just so the black community wouldn’t feel neglected. Nonetheless, both coaches are extremely qualified coaches who both could have coached the team at an extremely high level.

Third, the movie shows how scared everyone was of change. Early it showed how the white players were scared of losing their spots on the team to the blacks. Though this, Gary steps up as a team captain and assures his teammates that if they just play and practice like normal that they will not have to worry about losing their spots. Gary throughout many