Remember the Titans

Remember the Titans Film Analysis Kelsey Lowe PSY 132: Psychology & Culture

Remember the Titans

Remember the Titans Film Analysis Not only do two different races collide in the amazing true story depicted in the 2000 movie Remember the Titans, but two cultures as well. Set in 1971, this movie follows the story of a high school football team as they are forced to integrate. The head coaching job is given to Coach Boone an African American, over the former, much beloved head coach, Coach Yoast. The two stars of the team, Gerry Bertier and Julius Campbell, and their coaches have to learn how to look past each other's race and become one team. The boys first meet at a much divided summer camp and then go on to make life long relationships with each other, bringing the town together in the process. The cultural differences keeps the team apart because each group appears to be vastly different, but these differences become less important as they get to know each other. Remember the Titans is one of my favorite movies. I have watched it more times than I can count, however, I have never watched it with the cultural aspects of the film in mind. When I saw the movie on the list, I decided it would be fun to watch it with this new perspective in mind. It almost makes it an entirely new movie. I noticed so much more than I had before. Everything that we do or think is a reflection of one of the many cultures that we belong to. This movie is no different. Many different cultures come together and force a group of young men to forget all of their former cultures and verge into one new one: a team. The psychological concepts that are at the forefront of this adventure are, Sociological approach, music, and non-traditional vs. traditional cultures. In the beginning Gerry Bertier and Julius Campbell detested each other, but their love of the game brought them together. Once they got to know each other they became the best of friends. One evening Gerry is getting ready to go play basketball with Julius in his

Remember the Titans

neighborhood, when his mom walks in. Once she finds out what he is planning on doing, she refuses to let Gerry go. Gerry tries to make her understand, but she just says, "I don't want to get to know him," and says that Gerry is going to go to church with her instead. Gerry gives up and goes with his mother. This scene represents the psychology concept of sociological approach. Sociological approach "is a general view of human behavior that focuses on broad social structures that influence society as a whole, and subsequently its individuals." (Cross, 2008, pg. 14). The approach focuses on the people in a person's life, not the environment that someone lives in. It is how people respond to the pressures around them (Cross, 2008, pg 14). "Once created by people, society turns and confronts its creators, demanding subordination and obedience" (Cross, 2008, pg 14). Basically people are controlled by the culture that they are a part of. Their cultures dictate the actions that they perceive to be right. According to Max Weber, "Passing traditions on from generation to generation, these societies evaluate particular actions of individuals as either appropriate or inappropriate" (Cross, 2008, pg 14). The new generations don't have a choice. In this scene, Gerry is heavily influenced by his mother. He had no problem with going to an African American community to play basketball with his new friend, but when his mom heavily disapproved, he changed his thought process. He was pressured to believe that going to play with Julius would be wrong. In those days it was against the norm to be friends with a person of a different race. This scene definitely portrays the concept of sociological approach by showing how Gerry's decision is influenced by society. The idea that whites are superior to African Americans has been passed down from previous generations to Gerry's mother and now

Remember the Titans

she is trying to pass it on to her son. Gerry was pushing against society's norms and they were pushing back. In this one instance society won. Soon this would not be the case. Once the team gets to camp, they separate themselves by race. They interact with the other group as little as possible. To get the boys to come together, Coach Boone forces them to get to know each of their new, different teammates, otherwise they will be running and practicing much harder. During one of the meetings among teammates, the white male plays some country music and begins dancing to it, having the time of his life. At the same time, his African American teammate just sits there in shock and horror. He even exclaims, "Does the term cruel and unusual punishment mean anything to you?" Clearly their music tastes are very different. "The traditional music of different cultures may fluctuate in notion and harmony," (Cross, 2008, pg. 103). Each culture is accustomed to a certain style of music. They all have their own preference for different scales, rhythm, and intervals (Cross, 2008, pg. 103). When a person from another culture hears music that they aren't accustomed to, it is weird to them. It might be considered noise instead of music. Words and beats can be drastically different and give off different meanings. In the United States there are many types of music which come into play in this movie. The music enjoyed by the groups of boys in this film are vary greatly. The white boys listen to the country music. The music has a very twang style to it and reminds me of square dancing music. The African American boys, on the other hand, listen to more soulful music. It has more of a dancing beat to it. Even in the same country and the same town, music styles vary drastically.

Remember the Titans

Coach Yoast is a single father raising his young daughter named Sheryl. She has been raised in a football house and would prefer to play with a football or basketball than with dolls. After a comment made by Sheryl about his coaching, Coach Boone asks Coach Yoast why he doesn't get her some dolls. Coach Yoast simply replies that she doesn't want to play with dolls. "She loves football." Nontraditional cultures are based on more modern beliefs and principles, whereas, traditional cultures are based on past beliefs and principles (Cross, 2008, pg. 23). Traditional cultures tend to not like change and are more conservative as well as restricting. According to Cross, "traditional society structures people's lives and gives them little choice in their actions" (2008, pg 9). Gender roles are one of the hot topics that differ greatly between these two cultures. In traditional cultures gender roles are discriminatory and in nontraditional cultures they stress for equality (Cross, 2008, pg 9). The movie portrays both a traditional culture and a non-traditional culture. Coach Yoast and Sheryl represent the nontraditional culture, while Coach Boone and his daughter, Carol, represent a traditional culture. Sheryl is anything but a typical girl. She is always at the football field with her dad. She is more into the team's games than most of the parents and when she's not focused on football she is playing basketball or another sport. When she visits Coach Boone's house she would rather watch tape of the football game or the opponent's tape, than play dolls with Carol. Carol is the definition of a traditional culture. She always wears pretty dresses, has her nails done, and won't go near any kind of athletic ball. The gender roles are very obvious and very different in these two cultures. All these concepts help identify cultures that we each belong to. We can discover the similarities and differences that exist in every culture. In general, these concepts are accurately

Remember the Titans

portrayed in films. The differences in musical taste is often used as a comedy piece in many films. The sociological approach is used as an obstacle the protagonist has to overcome, as are traditional and nontraditional cultures. I never really realized how dominate a role that psychology played in movies. It makes sense though, since psychology is basically who we are as people. We are defined by the culture we live in. I learned more about what sociological approach was. This actually has nothing to do with a person's environment, but only with the people one is around. Seeing this in action helped explain this to me. I will now be more aware of this. When watching movies from now on, I will pay much more attention to the different cultures being portrayed by the characters. This will add a whole new element to the movie. I will now be able to identify what makes characters different and I will be able to link it to a culture. Cultural conflicts and events are all around us. My take-away lesson would be that even though cultures are engrained in all of us, we can push past them and be our own person. Also, just because two people are from completely different cultures, it doesn't mean that they cannot not look past it and become the best of friends.

Remember the Titans

References Shiraev, Eric,and David Levy. Cross Cultural Psychology: Critical Thinking and Contemporary Applications. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc., 2008. Print