How Characters/Actors affect Media Production

In the movie ‘Remember the Titans’, based on actual events that occurred in 1971 during a civil war, the main character is a black man named Herman Boone who has experience in fighting for civil rights. Actor Denzel Washington plays the character. During that time in the US, schools segregated African Americans and whites attended different schools. Fortunately, Integrated schools introduced even though they caused a lot of turmoil in the beginning. The movie reflects on the beginning of integration in Alexandria and all the racism and friendships that resulted from it.

Herman Boone was the head coach of the Titans, a football team at T.C. Williams High School. He had perfectionist tendencies which made him viewed as a bit tough, but he was tough in a fair way. All his players were treated equally regardless of their race. To him, color did not matter as long as one was a good player; they would get a chance to play. Coach Boone is a representation of how the black people overcame oppression they experienced over the years. He often faced the challenge of being accepted by the community as a valued coach for the Titans. He forced the two races to interact and mingle, and for that, he became a hero.

The other character in the movie was Bill Yoast, the assistant coach who was a white man with a coaching style that was very different from that of Herman Boone. He got replaced by Boone from his role as the head coach. Bill Yoast was highly respected in the community and cared so much about his players. At the beginning of the movie, he was not for the idea of integration and used to undermine Boone’s authority as a coach. He even tried to have him fired.

Gerry Bertier was the team captain who was initially angry that black people were getting an opportunity to join the team. His anger did not last long as he started appreciating the new players and the value and skills they added to the team. His girlfriend, Emma Hoyt is the one who made Gerry be against integration. Gerry Bertier developed a friendship with Julius Campbell which made others see that it was possible to be united.

The narrator of the movie was Bill Yoast’s daughter Sherryl. Sherry tried to show the team the importance of teamwork and that they would not win by fighting each other but by working together.

The characters in this movie were used to enhance the leadership theme and racial equality. They also established the role of a magnet which eventually brought the colored and white kids together. Each character plays a unique role but ultimately, they work towards the same goal. At the end of the movie, the players were able to achieve intense brotherhood, and the racial tensions put to rest for good.

REFERENCES

Pera, Rebecca, and Giampaolo Viglia. “Exploring how video digital storytelling builds relationship experiences.” Psychology & Marketing 33.12 (2016): 1142-1150.

Bolin, Göran. Value and the media: Cultural production and consumption in digital markets. Routledge, 2016.