The movie Remember the Titans

Remember the Titans: A Film about Racial Discrimination

Remember the Titans is a 2000 American sports film directed by James Cameron. The film is based on the true story of two T.C Williams High School football players and their coaches. The film’s main issue is racial discrimination. The film is an example of how numerous images, or rather, works of art, capture the American fight with racial inequality. Sports has provided a platform for triumph over racial discrimination, as seen by some of the American athletes who surmounted adversity to win big international awards.\u00a0 Athletes such as Jesse Owens, Tiger Woods, Jackie Robinson and Arthur Ashe are some of the few people that have showed color is not a determent for success. The movie Remember the Titans gives an insight how racial discrimination was thwarted by individuals who allowed their reasoning to triumph over what they heard from other people. The movie however also fails to give proper insight about racial discrimination especially its beginning.

The Influence of Social and Cultural Foundations

Social and cultural foundations have proved to be a strong influence on many people. It may influence a person in the positive way and in most cases, in the negative manner. In the movie Remember the Titans, the influence of culture can be seen. The players did not have any real difference between them apart from the two captains who each captain the white students and the other, the African-American students. In the movie, it can be identified that the African Americans do not have any issues about playing with the white students. However, the pressure from the society especially white parents causes the white students at first to also have a negative perception about the black students. This is one of the examples of how society and culture changes the behavior of an individual. The behavior of the opposing players is based on the culture surrounding each one. The resentment from the black students is the reason why they have difficulties playing with the white student. In contrast, the upbringing of the white kids as being superior to African Americans is the sole reason for them being hostile against the blacks. This was the case during the height of racial discrimination and the movie has properly portrayed this issue.

The Role of Parents in Enforcing Discrimination

The movie shows the influence of parents on their children. The main work of parents is to ensure that children have a proper upbringing both mentally and physically. The movie portrays a group of vile parents who instead of molding their children to grow to be better people in the society, they encourage them to be disrespectful to individuals of other races. All the parents come in full support of the only white players and a white head coach. This is the main reason why initially the students fought each other during training. Their parents had instilled in them a negative perception about each group. The students therefore had a skewed perception and could not think on their own but rather rely on what the society had told them. The movie has correctly showed the roles of parents in enforcing racial discrimination in their children. Currently, the same case still occurs in some areas. Parents that show racial discrimination tend to teach their children such behavior.

The Unity of Culture

Culture plays a significant role in the lives of young people. One of the characteristics of a culture is the oneness of a group. The harmony in a group or community is built by how individuals respect one another. The movie shows how different racial group stand for one another. For instance, when Herman Boone is selected as the new coach, the white community ferociously complains about this. The head coach Bill Yoast contemplated leaving his spot and moving to a new team. The white students in their support for Yoast decide that they will not play. This scene shows how culture plays an important role in bringing people of the same group together. The movie has portrayed this part properly giving a clear glimpse of every detail. When Yoast decides to stay, the white players also agree to play. The oneness of a culture and its influence on its people has been clearly shown on the movie.

Inaccuracies and Omissions

The scene where the movie shows the parents demonstration against the black and white students playing together is filled with women rather than men. The movie has inaccurately portrayed this information. Men are known to be vocally active especially in situations that might lead to violence. In the movie, we are shown differently in that the women are the ones who are vocal than the men. The movie hugely fails in this part to give the actual perception about the different genders especially during the time of heightened racial discrimination. It would have been better if many men could have been cast in this scene to give a proper representation of the actual scenario.

The movie fails to show one of the salient issues in racial discrimination. It has hugely concentrated on the white community more than both the whites and blacks. The black community have been hardly presented and their fight against racial discrimination apart from the students. The daughter of the head coach Boone has been shown a few times but does not provide a bulk of the fight. It can be argued that the movie has concentrated on painting the white community extremely negative and the blacks as having no part in it. It would have been great if the movie had included the struggle of the blacks at home or campaigning as well for their rights ferociously. This part has not been developed in the film and it has left a huge hole or rather, made the fight against discrimination weak.

Conclusion

In conclusion, social and cultural backgrounds are one factor that determines the behavior of an individual. These are the foundations of a person\u2019s character. A toxic environment or society always leads to a person being bad in the society.