Film Review and Analysis

Running Head: FILM REVIEW AND ANALYSIS
Film Review and Analysis
Name of the Student
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Author Note

1FILM REVIEW AND ANALYSIS
Remember the Titans is a landmark film that was made in the year 2000, with Denzel
Washington starring as the lead protagonist of the story, Herman Boone. The film follows the
journey of Boone, a black man, as he takes up the position of football coach at a white majority
school, receiving much opposition and resentment as he does so. What the film eventually shows
is how Boone is able to unify the football team to win the tournament that year, thus defeating
challenges and obstacles like the issue of racism and getting the football team members to
recognize individual worth and human dignity in the bargain. Remember the Titans is a movie
that does a good job of showing how prejudiced white people were at one point of time in their
attitude towards the blacks, and that it led to a lot of empathy and nobility on the part of many
white players and the assistant coach Yoast, to combat this prejudice and work for the good o0f
the football team under the leadership of Herman Boone. This essay will analyze four important
quotes from the movie Remember the Titans using the four different frames of colorblind racism,
namely, naturalization, abstract liberalism, cultural racism and the minimization of racism
(Burke, 2017).
Analysis of Film Quotes using the Framework of Naturalization
Naturalism is a framework of colorblind racism, according to which racism occurs as a
natural process, as something which is an inevitable part of social behavior and cannot be
avoided therefore. Racial frictions are those that are perceived as a natural problem under this
framework of racism, and have to be dealt with as one would deal with other natural issues and
problems that are there in society (Bonilla-Silva, 2017). An important quote from the movie
demonstrates the elements that are commonly associated with naturalization. Coach Herman
Boone asks the question, “You think football is fun?” and pat comes the reply from Petey
Jones, “Zero Fun Sir”. While this dialogue may appear as one that is rather funny it is actually

2FILM REVIEW AND ANALYSIS
not so. By declaring football to be a sport that was no fun at all for Petey Jones, what Jones’
character meant to imply was that playing football and learning football under the leadership of a
black coach like Herman Boone was not something that was going to be fun at all. Jones wanted
to insinuate the fact that the game of football is one that could be fun only if it was going to be
coached by a white man. This insulting comment that was made by Jones, reveals very clearly
the fact that insulting a black man right on his face is not something that was considered to be a
big deal at all in American society. Jones found it absolutely okay to insult Coach Herman
Boone in broad daylight by declaring that football was not going to be fun under his coaching,
and that a white man was capable of doing a better and more interesting job. The racist behavior
in this respect stems from naturalization, that is the regard for racism as something that is
common and natural in white society and something to be engaged in on the part of white people
if they so desired.
Analysis of Film Quotes using the Framework of Abstract Liberalism
The framework of abstract liberalism is one that emphasizes the accordance of minority
rights, including black rights, an act which is believed to be unfair by the white majority or
ethnic majority (Bonilla-Silva & Ashe, 2014). There is a well known quote in the movie,
“Remember the Titans” that is reminiscent of the theory of abstract minimalism. This is when
Coach Herman Boone says “This is no democracy. It’s a dictatorship. I am the Law”. The
quote may sound harmless at first, but it is not so, given the fact that it is a statement that was
made by Herman Boone to assert his rights as a black coach of a white football team. Herman
Boone was appointed as the coach of the team because of his fantastic sporting skills, acumen
and expertise. In spite of being black, he was given a right or a privilege, that is the scope of
coaching a white men’s football team for a tournament. So when Herman Boone makes the