Remember the Titans

The movie Remember the Titans is based on an actual true story where the United States Supreme Court overturned a ruling that ended state-imposed discrimination in government-funded schools in 1971. In the same year, T.C. Williams High School situated in Alexander, Virginia was effectively integrated, but neither race was about it. Remember the Titans is about the high school football team that overcomes racism, prejudice acts, and creates true friendships on their way to winning a state championship.

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The film stars Denzel Washington as Herman Boone, who was the Titans mentor and head coach. Boone is brought in to act as the assistant coach while the other coaching staff is all white. Along his coaching career, he is appointed as the head coach, but he is reluctant of the offer. However, when he realizes that the black community sees him as a symbol of respect and pride that the community lacks, he finally accepts the position. The film commences with a riot when a white store owner kills a black teenager. The incident sparks racial tensions that had existed owing to the desegregation of blacks in the high school. It is the responsibility of Boone to overcome the racial divides within his team, and in turn build a racially mixed team that would emerge gloriously.

The leaders are faced with dividing issues such as conflicting leadership styles between Bill Yoast and Herman Boone, racism that was rampant in the South, the blacks and the whites being forced to play together, and divided coaching staff made of the whites and blacks. As such, the leaders are racially different. For instance, Bill Yoast who is the assistant coach is white. Gerry Bertier, the unofficial spearhead of the white athletes is white wile Julius Campbell, who is the blacks unofficial leader is black. Owing to the mixed leadership, racism and football is the background of the leadership styles, as well as personal perspectives that every leader must learn in order to form a winning team. Boone is tough due to his difficult childhood and also plays an enormous role in civil activism. As such, his background and personal experiences have affected his behaviour and leadership styles. At first, when Boone met the Titan coaching staff, he knew that he would not feel wanted. Despite being pushed, he remained diplomatic, respectful and polite. He made it clear that his agenda was to win football games.

Once he becomes the Titan head coach, Boone seizes control and makes use of his authoritative power that effectively sets the tone for the team, as well as the rest of the coaching staff. The authoritative style he uses is evident when he declares that this is a dictatorship, I am the law, during the summer camp (Bruckheimer, Oman, & Yakin, 2000). Therefore, he capitalizes on the position he has to accomplish his primary goal of harmonizing the team with order and structure. As such, Boone's leadership enables the team to effectively accomplish short-term planning, monitoring performance and operations, and also clarifying on each team member's roles and responsibilities. As a result, he paves the way for cooperation between blacks and whites. In addition to his authoritative leadership style, he leveraged on a participatory approach where he valued and made sure that the other members of his team came up with ideas which were considered while making decisions.

Since Boone was an outsider in the community, most of the members were waiting for his failure so that they would find a reason to ridicule him and say that they made an effort to reinstate Bill Yoast as the head coach, only to be disregarded. However, he harmonizes the team, making it the winners in the tournament. His leadership approaches make the coaching staff to let go of their prejudices, and instead, focus on building the team. For example, Garry Bertier finally makes to a team leader after dropping his partialities, and in turn focussing on the team without discriminating based on colour. As a result, the relationship Campbell and Bertier forms plays a significant role in making the team come together. Boone, based on his perspectives plays a significant role in harmonizing the team. He also understands the perspectives of the other team members. By comprehending the perspectives of the coaching staff, he is able to bring together a winning team. He is able to bring about change, where the issues of race and students' perspectives change to incline with one understanding.

Therefore, Boone plays a key role in inkling the perspectives of both the coaching team and those of the students. For instance, he makes assumptions regarding Yoast and his belief system, primarily based on events that occurred within the city. In effect, Boone wisely decides to go to Yoast's home to discuss the situation. The meeting went wrong, but in the end, plays a vital role in Titans glory. Makes the players practice well enough, guides them all along despite the divisions. He does not lose hope, and finally, his efforts come to fruition. He brings together the team, which ultimately plays as one. In the end, they win the tournament, and therefore demonstrates how the high school football team overcomes racism, prejudice acts, and creates true friendships on their way to winning the state championship.

References

Bruckheimer, J. Oman, C. (Producers), &Yakin, B. (Director). (2000). Remember the Titans Motion picture. United States: BVI

Internet Movie Database. (2006). Remember the Titans. Retrieved June12, 2006, from

http://imdb.com/title/tt0210945/.