The Longest Yard
Kwami McLeod
Rhetoric 101
The Longest Yard
(Stereotypes and all)
What our society has become truly amazes me every day. The things we watch and enjoy as a culture are sometimes highly offense. I choose to look at the movie The Longest Yard for an in depth look at stereotypes in our society. After watching and studying this movie I can only ask myself one question: What have we become? The Longest Yard is a movie about a former NFL MVP quarterback (played by Adam Sandler) jailed for joyriding his girlfriend’s car. Crewe (Sandler) is forced by the jail’s warden to create a football team to play the very guards that lord over them. Yes, The Longest Yard movie was very funny and entertaining to many audiences, but it featured many stereotypes we uphold as a people today. Many people enjoyed the movie nonetheless. Peter Travers, a critic for Rolling Stones magazine, says the movie was, “A mean, lean laugh machine.” With you, I’d like to analyze the stereotypical elements we see in the depiction of the inmates, guards, and African Americans. Together maybe we can understand the hidden under tones of this silly movie.
The hilarious movie The Longest Yard brought many viewers to tears from laughter. I myself did not laugh during this movie. The stereotypical ways our society views African Americans was portrayed heavily throughout the film. Let’s take a look at one scene I found particularly disturbing. Crewe(Sandler), while constructing his team, realizes he needs better athletes to join his team. He decides to go to the basketball court to persuade some of the black athletes to join his team. The opening music for the entrance to the basketball court is heavy rap music and many of the black males have shirts removed and pack massive amounts of muscle on their bodies. They show off speed and strength in their basketball skill on the court. Now what stereotype is this? Yes that every black male is athletic and dominates in sports. This is the stereotype that
Rhetoric 101
The Longest Yard
(Stereotypes and all)
What our society has become truly amazes me every day. The things we watch and enjoy as a culture are sometimes highly offense. I choose to look at the movie The Longest Yard for an in depth look at stereotypes in our society. After watching and studying this movie I can only ask myself one question: What have we become? The Longest Yard is a movie about a former NFL MVP quarterback (played by Adam Sandler) jailed for joyriding his girlfriend’s car. Crewe (Sandler) is forced by the jail’s warden to create a football team to play the very guards that lord over them. Yes, The Longest Yard movie was very funny and entertaining to many audiences, but it featured many stereotypes we uphold as a people today. Many people enjoyed the movie nonetheless. Peter Travers, a critic for Rolling Stones magazine, says the movie was, “A mean, lean laugh machine.” With you, I’d like to analyze the stereotypical elements we see in the depiction of the inmates, guards, and African Americans. Together maybe we can understand the hidden under tones of this silly movie.
The hilarious movie The Longest Yard brought many viewers to tears from laughter. I myself did not laugh during this movie. The stereotypical ways our society views African Americans was portrayed heavily throughout the film. Let’s take a look at one scene I found particularly disturbing. Crewe(Sandler), while constructing his team, realizes he needs better athletes to join his team. He decides to go to the basketball court to persuade some of the black athletes to join his team. The opening music for the entrance to the basketball court is heavy rap music and many of the black males have shirts removed and pack massive amounts of muscle on their bodies. They show off speed and strength in their basketball skill on the court. Now what stereotype is this? Yes that every black male is athletic and dominates in sports. This is the stereotype that