In 1965, African Americans were given the right to vote. The decade that followed brought with it an increasing recognition of black rights, but the prejudice of the white community was still profuse. ‘Remember the Titans’ is set in this socio cultural climate. Directed by Boaz Yakin, this film follows the adversities faced by an newly integrated high school football team and their African-American coach. Throughout the film, characters are presented with a number of defining ethical and moral dilemmas. This discernibly includes racial prejudice, peer pressure, ego and ambition.
These discourses will be explored extensively with reference to relevant literary features and therefore demonstrate their exceptional ability to shape viewer interpretations. With the production of this film, Yakin effectively manipulates the audience’s’ perceptions of relevant issues and dilemmas, to furthermore convey the oppression of the black community during the 1970’s. The purpose of this presentation is to analyse moral issues and dilemmas within ‘Remember the Titans’, while evaluating how text structures, language and visual features can be used to influence audience responses. Remember the Titans’ effectively portrays relevant moral dilemmas relating to ambition and ego, thus manipulating potential interpretations of audiences. Based upon the actual events of 1971, the film portrays a major racial conflict evoked by the desegregation of T. C Williams High School and the struggle to overcome these in the Titan’s pursuit for victory.
Viewers are introduced most importantly to the newly transferred coach Boone, and the displaced coach Yoast. Yoast truggles with the vices of ego and ambition, while his ability to overcome moral dilemmas is challenged as he begins to see beyond the colour of coach Boone’s skin. This is demonstrated as he is nominated for the high school’s hall of fame, though is informed that he will not receive the honour unless he allows the biased referees and school board to sabotage the team’s victory. Though this loss will result in Boone losing his new coaching job, it will earn Yoast the award and the town’s praise. t is forced to consider the consequences of this radical decision, viewers are also made to consider their positions within the dilemma.
Consequently, through the techniques of characterisation and plot, the director represents characters empathetically, manipulating audiences to perceive critical dilemmas in ways which coincide with the decisions of the characters. Throughout the film, racial prejudice is introduced as a defining moral issue. Specifically, coach Boone is forced to address the continuous racial conflict on the team. To resolve this, athletes of opposite creed were made to share a room and report what they had learnt about their teammates to the coach each night.
One scene displays the initial impacts this has upon the group, as two teammates break into a trivial fight over a poster after being paired together. Their strong personalities clash, as Julius refuses to back down, knowing he has a right to put the poster up over his side of the room. Gerry states, “I’ll look wherever || want to, and I don’t wanna be looking at that for two weeks” (Yakin, 2000). Though it may be something as compromisable as putting up a poster, Gerry feels the need to assert his position as the white team captain. Camera angles shift from high, to eye level, to low to demonstrate the struggle of power between the two.
An over the shoulder close up is used to clearly convey the emotions of Julius during this confrontation. Hence, viewers are clearly positioned to feel empathetic towards Julius as a black teammate, who clearly struggles to fight for equality on and off of the playing field. In summary, this scene effectively shapes audience interpretations of racial conflict during the 1970’s and evokes empathy towards black characters within the film. Gerry Bertier is faced with a number of major moral dilemmas, though in particular those relating to peer pressure from family and friends.
As the film reveals, his character development is highly affected by the prejudice of the white community. Over time, he demonstrates a genuine change of heart in regards to race issues as a team leader after the integration. However, the white community evidently struggles to adapt to these changes and Gerry finds himself confronted with opposition and denial towards his newfound racial acceptance. This is displayed in a scene as their team wins a game and he is presented with the choice to either join his white friends at the “hill” to get drunk, or stay with his teammates to celebrate.
If he stays with his team, he will risk being socially outcast and thus he is pressured to adhere to societal norms. When conversing with his girlfriend, he states, “Listen, when something unexpected comes, you just gotta pick it up and run with it” (Yakin, 2000). With this use of metaphor, Gerry is clearly attempting to justify the acceptance of his black teammates as he takes a well known concept, which is football, for the use of explaining his stance on the issue.
High and low camera angles also effectively symbolise Bertier’s decisions, as he takes the higher moral ground and stays with his teammates. With the use of these techniques, audiences are positioned to understand the moral dilemmas faced and react to the oppression of the black community empathetically. In conclusion, ‘Remember the Titans’ provides essential insight into the struggles of the black community with use of cinematic and literary techniques to capture the film’s message.
The director represents characters empathetically, manipulating udiences to perceive critical dilemmas favourably and agree with the decisions of the characters. These techniques are also used to capture the oppression of the black community and position audiences to understand these issues. The usage of cinematic and literary devices such as metaphor, plot, characterisation, camera angles and shots, audiences come to acknowledge racial conflict. Finally, through this emotionally moving cinematography, ‘Remember the Titans’ shapes how society experiences moral issues and reacts to the dilemmas that stem forth from them.
