Remember The Titans: An Integrated Football Team

"Remember the Titans"

Remember the Titans is a movie about victory. Personal victories, team victories, and victories over racism all combined with the victories won with embracing change and finding conflict resolution is what made this movie so enjoyable to me and also why I feel others would enjoy it as well. Remember the Titans is a movie based on true events that almost anyone can relate to. It is a sports drama that not only focuses on football and America’s love of the game, but the racial issues involved during the time the movie was set, as well. It centers on an integrated football team and the team members personal struggles to accept one another despite different ethnic backgrounds, in addition to trying to gain public acceptance.
In the movie, Gerry Bertier, the Titans All American line backer, had to choose to cut a fellow Caucasian team member who wouldn’t embrace or accept the black players on the team. Even though it was his best friend, Gerry had to do what was best for the team. Had his friend simply learned to embrace change, his spot on the team and friendships with teammates would have remained the same. The white coach’s daughter embraced change better than anyone. She never showed any bias toward one race or the other, perhaps because she was so young. She treated every player equally and never hesitated to remind them when they were out of line.
Another aspect this movie portrays is keeping a positive attitude when facing hardships. Gerry Bertier was paralyzed in an automobile accident while out celebrating a team victory before the championship game was even played. Instead of getting down and giving up like most would want to do in his situation, he keeps a positive attitude and cheers his team on from his hospital bed. Because of his positive attitude, the movie goes on to let viewers know he was able to win a gold medal in the shotput event at the Paralympic