The 2000 movie Remember the Titans is based on the true story of forced integration of a Virginia high school in 1971. This means that the townÆs all-white football team will have both white and black players. As part of the integration plan, the townÆs white high school coach is replaced with a black high school coach (Denzel Washington), and the white coach is asked to remain as assistant to the new coach. Most of the movie deals with racism and black/white conflict. But this conflict turns to cooperation when the players and coaches get to know each other as human beings, not stereotypes. By the end of this sentimental movie, everyone has learned to live and work together, and the football team emerges victorious for the season.
The movie centers on race relations in the segregated South, and how white and black people were able to overcome their prejudices (especially the whites) and become a community. Because of the volatile racial tensions, emotions run high in the film. Two of the primary emotions are resentment and anger. The white coach is resentful and angry at having to become the number two man just because of integration, not his ability. His emotion turns from resentment to disgust when he realizes the extent of the prejudices around him. The white team members are resentful and angry because they have to work together to achieve success on the football field, but their emotions also change from anger to tolerance as they get to know each other.
The 1981 movie Ragtime takes place in the early decades of the 20th Century, a time of great change in American society in nearly all areas except the gap between the rich and the poor and race relations. There are many situations and characters in the movie including real-life characters and fictional characters such as the talented black ragtime pianist Coalhouse Walker, Jr. that the main action of the movie focuses on. CoalhouseÆs success as a pianist has enabled...