Critical Analysis

For this activity, I chose to analyze a clip from one of my favorite movies, "Remember the Titans." This movie takes place in a time of social upheaval in the United States due to intense racial discrimination. As such, I have decided to use the Marxist and Critical Race theories to perform my analysis. (I understand this is a rather long clip, but the segment I used to analyze spans from 3:00-6:45, in the cafeteria.)

From a Marxist standpoint, this clip demonstrates the social expectations that have been inured into these young football players. This is most evident in how both the white players and the black players view the "unusual" behavior of Louie Lastic, who is the biggest standout in that race plays no part in his perceptions of people. At first, the main black character, Julius, is leery as to why Louie chose to sit at the black table rather than sitting with "his people." Similarly, one of the white characters calls Louie a "traitor," simply for sitting at a table with people of another race. Both of these viewpoints illustrate how social boundaries and expecations are firmly cemented into the minds of these young people. Their reactions to Louie demonstrate their acknowledgement that they have a place in society based on the color of thier skin. In the same manner, Louie is looked upon as a sort of social outcast simply because he "doesn't have any people," and instead, accepts and tries to get along with everyone.

As I said, this movie takes place in a time when racism dominated American culture. Racial contrasts are vividly portrayed in this scene of the film, particularly in how each race is portrayed. With one or two exceptions, the white players appear arrogant, angry and "betrayed" by Louie's acceptance of black culture and his overt demonstration of it. Contrastingly, after the initial interrogation of Louie by Julius, the black group accepts him with smiles and soulful singing. Both the arrogant whites in the presence of blacks and the soulful, singing of the blacks themselves reflect true to life stereotypes as well as common, stereotypical portryals of these cultures in Hollywood.