The Role of Communication in The Great Debaters Movie: A Study on Social Identity Theory

This paper discusses the role of communication in The Great Debaters movie and its connection to Social Identity Theory. It covers a summary of the theory, a synopsis of the movie, and implications of the theory.

Running head: Communication 1
Communication
The Great Debaters Movie

Communication 2
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Brief orientation...........................................................................................................................3
Thesis statement...........................................................................................................................3
Preview of the major factors........................................................................................................3
Summary of theory..........................................................................................................................4
Synopsis of Chosen Media Material and Application of the Theory/Model...................................5
Sufficient description of the material...........................................................................................5
Reason behind choosing media....................................................................................................5
Implications.....................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Reference list...................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Brief orientation
The paper is based on the role of communication in which a movie taken to describe the specific
model of communication. The Great Debaters movie is opted to accomplish the assignment in
which Social Identity theory is taken. Intercultural interaction should be developed by the
government in an adequate manner so that discrimination can be removed from the society.
Thesis statement
“The importance of Intercultural Interaction in society” is the thesis statement of this paper.
Preview of the major factors
Social identity theory is explained as a theory that forecast the behaviours of intergroup as per
perceived group status differences, apparent legitimacy and stability of status differences
(Scollon, Scollon and Jones, 2011). The paper will cover the summary of social identity theory
and the synopsis of The Greater Debaters will be given in the paper which entails sufficient
description of the material and the reason behind choosing this movie for this paper. The learning
from the model will be elaborated in this assignment.

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Summary of theory
Social Identity theory is explained by Tajfel and Turner in which they defined that the
component of a person’s concept of self comes from the groups to which that person belongs. An
individual does not have a personal selfhood as per this theory but several identities linked with
their associated groups. It is not possible that each group has specific social contexts as per the
groups they are related to, which might involve their family, their country of nationality
(Burford, 2012). An individual identifies himself as a member of a group that is called in-group
for him. On the other hand groups that an individual does not recognize with are covered under
out groups. It has been found that there are three processes that built this in-group and out-group
mentality.
Social categorization
Social categorization entails the category of the people such as white, black, republican,
democrat, professor and student. It is vital for the groups to identify that in which group they
come from by which the behaviours of the group can be explained. An individual has the ability
to connect with several groups at the same time (Hogg, 2016).
Social identification
Social identification has the concept of adopting identity of in group. It is the process which is
being processed after identifying the social identity. An individual or group that poses as a threat
for the ingroup is called outgroup. People start to act like other member to attain the attention of
others for describing the identity (Hornsey, 2008).
Social comparison

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It is the component of social identity theory in which people start to compare their groups to
other groups for moving ahead and seeing a favourable bias towards the group in which they
connect (Tajfel, 2010).

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Synopsis of Chosen Media Material and Application of the Theory/Model
Sufficient description of the material
The Great Debaters is related to an underdog debate team that triumphs of a national
championship. The major characters of this movie are Henry Lowe, Samantha Booke, Melvin, B.
Tolson, Hamilton Burgess, Dr James Farmer and Sheriff Dozier. It is a 2007 American
biographical drama movie which is directed by Denzel Washington. The concept of this movie
was to fight against discrimination by showing the strong communication skills. It has been
found that the black team competes with white schools at the time of civil unrest in America. The
black team was assembled by Professor Tolson at Wiley College. The team was trained by
professor with good efficiency to debate across the country to prove that they are not behind
anyone (All Readers, n.d). The black team was competed first time and faced the injustice and
terror of racism. Although, black team has to face number of challenges but finally they were
selected as the leading team in the country, Harvard University. At the debate, James was given
the chance to debate with Samantha, ultimately, winning the contest. After that the black team
won the debate performance for the next ten years.
Reason behind choosing media
The movie is being opted for this paper because it is the good example of better communication
which shows the discrimination in the form of racism. The selected theory is entirely suited on
this movie because social identity theory shows the three processes of social categorization,
identification and comparison which are linked with the synopsis of selected movie (Ebert,
2007). There are three examples of the movie that show the direct connection between the movie
and the theory. First example is the difference between culture as one team was being belonged

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to black team and other one is white team. The second examples are comparison between black
team and white team which shows the connection of movie with the theory. The third example of
this movie is criticism of black group by white group which shows favourable to out-group and
dissatisfy the social identity.

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Implications
The chosen media have huge impact on its audience as it is based on the discrimination issue
which is huge for the society. It can be learned from the social identify theory that everyone is
equal. However, the involvement of group in to another group take time to manage but it does
not mean that one should start bad behaviour to others. Social Identity Theory entails entire
description for discrimination, prejudice and type cast which are seen to outcome from a
requirement of positive identity.
It tells its viewers about culture and communication that every country has specific culture and
language and it is essential to give proper respect to each other (Scollon, Scollon and Jones,
2011). There are many people in America who believes in racism and increase the discrimination
that is why the implication of this theory is vital for the country.
Yes, the theory was useful to understand the interactions because it was able to describe the
entire explanation about the discrimination which can be seen in the part of movie that black
team has to face many issues and disrespect from Americans. It has been observed from the
movie that comparison was made which showed the negative results.
Yes, there are some limitations of the social identity theory that have found in the application
process. The research of this theory has been criticized due to low ecological validity. It is unable
to define in expressive way that why in-group favouritism might outcome in violent behaviours
towards out-groups. The impact of out-group has adverse feature.

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Conclusion
It can be concluded that the role of communication is bigger in every condition. The paper has
been made on specific movie “The Great Debater” in which “Social Identity Theory” has been
used. The description about the movie and the theory has been made along with the connection
between theory and movie. It has been found that the discrimination is the biggest issue which
may bring the negative thought for the entire community. Patience and will power has been
shown in the movie that led black team in victorious situation. The reason behind choosing
movie has been reflected in this paper. Intercultural issue should be resolved in an adequate
manner as it does not impact the community of one country but also influence the entire world.
The specific three examples of the movie have been described as the example by linking with
chosen theory.

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Reference list
All Readers, n.d. The Great Debaters Movie Review Summary. Available on:
http://allreaders.com/movie-review-summary/the-great-debaters-38459. Accessed on 23rd April
2018.
Burford, B., 2012. Group processes in medical education: learning from social identity
theory. Medical education, 46(2), pp.143-152.
Ebert, R. 2007. The Great Debaters. Available on: http://allreaders.com/movie-review-
summary/the-great-debaters-38459. Accessed on 23rd April 2018.
Hogg, M.A., 2016. Social identity theory. In Understanding peace and conflict through social
identity theory (pp. 3-17). Springer, Cham.
Hornsey, M.J., 2008. Social identity theory and self‐categorization theory: A historical
review. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(1), pp.204-222.
Scollon, R., Scollon, S.W. and Jones, R.H., 2011. Intercultural communication: A discourse
approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Tajfel, H. ed., 2010. Social identity and intergroup relations. Cambridge University Press.