In Group/ Out Group in Remember the Titans

Based on a true story, the movie Remember the Titans directed by Boaz Yakin and written by Gregory Allen Howard, is the story of an African American football coach named Herman Boone (Denzel Washington) who was appointed as head coach to the football team, over Bill Yoast (Will Patton), of the first integrated high school in Virginia - T.C. Williams High School located in Alexandria. At a football camp, the newly integrated team is forced to overcome their prejudices against one another and eventually form brotherly bonds amongst themselves, starting with Gerry Bertier (Ryan Hurst) and Julius Campbell (Wood Harris). Upon their return to Alexandria, the Titans are met with disapproval and discrimination towards their new friendships. When Gerry is paralyzed in an accident while celebrating a team win and Julius sticks by his newfound “brother”, the Alexandrian community comes to realize that they must overcome old prejudices and must show a united front in support of the Titans. The Titans go on to win the state championship game, and Gerry later wins gold medals in the Paralympics. Ten years later, the entire team is gathered once more to bid a final farewell to their teammate, Gerry Bertier, at his funeral. Remember the Titans has many examples of in groups, out groups, prejudice, and discrimination, mostly due to the racial tension commonly associated with the time period. An in group is a group of people sharing similar interests and attitudes, producing feelings of solidarity, community, and exclusivity. An out group is a group of people outside one's own group, especially as considered to be inferior or alien. Prejudice is an unjustifiable (and usually negative) attitude toward a group and its members. Prejudice generally involves stereotyped beliefs, negative feelings, and a predisposition to discriminatory action. Discrimination is the treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit. An example of an in group from the movie would be the white population of the city of Alexandria. When the state mandated that T.C. Williams be integrated, many African Americans moved into the city and the Alexandrians didn’t include them in their activities, in fact they weren’t even allowed in some establishments, which is considered to be discrimination. The white populace treated the black populace as inferior to them, making the African Americans the out group. Upon hearing their head coach had been replaced by an African American, the white football players expressed their prejudice by refusing to play under Coach Boone unless Coach Yoast was also there. Another example of both discrimination and prejudice is when an African American boy was killed outside a shop in retaliation for integrating the schools.