Remember the Titans is very much based on a true story; fact can back up most of the movie's dramatic events in some way. However, almost every time factual events are presented in the film, they are exaggerated or altered to help direct the audience towards a better understanding of the film's themes. For instance, T.C. Williams High School was an attempt at forced integration, but not to the extent portrayed in the film. The community was in turmoil, but not so violent in their reaction to the integration. These examples, in which the film takes certain liberties, help to create the environment of Alexandria, Virginia at the time. They over exaggerate that environment, but nevertheless are accurate in their general presentation of the sentiment among the different forces at play in 1971 Alexandria and T.C Williams High School.
From the film's point-of-view, these exaggerations are necessary to drive home the key points. Remember the Titans intends to portray the unifying power of a team sport and how characters can development from being close minded stereotypes to admirable and open minded emotional individuals. This is an obvious point of the movie as in dramatic and heart touching fashion, Emma Hoyt played by Kate Bosworth, has a very limited role yet still undergoes this character...
The exaggeration is exemplified by Bertier as he, an unblemished and respected star athlete in real life, is initially given a negative
portrayal in the film. Ultimately, Bertier's portrayal as an ideal hero- a modest, accepting, honest team leader- is true and based on historic accuracies. But to get to that point, the movie exaggerates, and thus extra drama and exaggeration are added to give more emotional power to the people, places, and team's involved in not only T.C. Williams High School, but also all of Alexandria, Virginia in 1971. This could be taken a step further as not only a
reflection on one northern Virginian town, but rather on the racial conditions of the southern United States as whole in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Works Cited
Agnew, Jean. Triumph over Tragedy. Gerry Bertier. 16 Feb. 2007 http://ww.gerrybertier.com/Worddocs/TriumphoverTragedy.doc.
Bos, Carole. The Titans: Story Behind the Movie. Law Buzz. 18 Feb. 2007 http://www.lawbuzz.com/movies/remember_the_titans/the_titans_ch1.htm.
Brown v. Board of
Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) (USSC+). The National Center for Public
Policy Research. 16 Feb. 2007 http://www.nationalcenter.org/.
Merron, Jeff. Reel Life: 'Remember the Titans'. Page 2 ESPN.com. 18 Feb. 2007 http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:8d83mZcBKcQJ:espn.go.com/page2/s/closer/020808.html+ESPN.com+Remember+the+Titans&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us.
Original Titans Hiistory Page. '71 Original Titans. 15 Feb. 2007 http://www.71originaltitans.com/history.html.
Remember the Titans (2000). The Internet Movie Database. 14 Feb. 2007 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210945/.
Sanders, Rich. "# 40, Gerry Bertier, T.C. Williams, Football, 1972." The Connection Newspapers 8/3/2006. 17 Feb. 2007 http://www.*****/article.asp?article=69563&paper=59&cat=198.
