Persuasion In Remember The Titans

Ashley VanKoughnett
Ms. McGuire
EWC 4U1
14 February 2008


Persuasion In Remember The Titans


The motivational speech I have found to be the most persuasive of the options studied in class was the Gettysburg scene in Boaz Yakin's Remember The Titans. The film itself features a newly integrated school struggling with accepting each other race's differences and there is no shortage of this on the football field. A new head coach has been appointed, a black man named Herman Boone, with the assistant coach, a white man named Bill Yoast. The team must learn to respect each other if they want any chance at a successful season. Coach Boone takes the boys, both black and white out for an early morning jog and they end up at the field where the Battle of Gettysburg had once taken place during the Civil War. While there, Coach Boone takes the opportunity to help the boys realize that they must come together and become leaders for not only themselves, but also for the rest of the school as well. Coach Boone successfully uses various persuasive techniques to make his monologue meaningful and worth remembering through his knowledge of his entire audience, the examples and irony he uses to get his point across, and his appeal to the boys' emotion.
One thing that was extremely necessary in order to make the speech worth something was to establish right off the bat that he, Coach Boone, is not taking sides or making any generalizations regarding the two different races. He does this throughout the monologue. He not once refers to the colours of black and white; he only uses diction such as boys, men, and brothers. This was essential to establish unity between the parted team. If the coach did not accept the integration then how could the players, who most often look up to their coach, especially when they are young boys. He makes sure to not segregate one race or the other so that both sides will feel that what he is saying is relevant to them.
Along with Boone's knowledge of his audience, he also uses a historical example to get his point across. He adds a bit of irony as he takes the boys to the site of the Battle of Gettysburg where he says, "This is where they fought the Battle of Gettysburg. 50 000 men died right here on this field fighting the same fight that we're still fighting amongst ourselves today" (Remember The Titans). He uses this example in history to show the boys that this war has been going on for too long. The young boys who lost their lives fighting for the rights of their race have died in vain if the boys, as well as the rest of the school, cannot pull it together and accept each other. If they cannot treat each other with respect, then those who lost their lives in the Civil War did it all for nothing. Also, he is implying that a war like this should never happen again, and it has already started among the football players as well as the school.
Finally, in addition to the knowledge of the target audience and the use of historical example, Coach Boone appeals to the boys' emotion which becomes the greatest persuasive technique within the monologue. The diction he chooses to use tends to be somewhat gory especially when he says, "This green field right here was painted red. Bubbling with the blood of young boys. Smoke and hot lead pouring right through their bodies" (Remember The Titans). Although typically boys are more prone to use such graphic images than girls, these images are still traumatic for someone their age. It seems unreal that people their age had once had to endure so much, as described, to fight for something that still has not been abolished completely. This diction almost places a hint of fear in the mind of the boys especially as he gives the warning that, "If we don't come together right now on this hallowed ground then we, too, will be destroyed" (Remember The Titans). This implies that he is talking about the football team and their game being destroyed, but also, the community and the student body being destroyed and even more full of hate than there is already present. Also, Coach Boone frequently refers to the players as "men." It is any boy's dream, especially a football player's to be considered a man. This shows the boys that Coach Boone does respect them and what he is saying might be worth hearing. He has given them the responsibility, by calling them men, to act like men and overcome the preconceived notions that they had had about one another.
Boone's speech was highly motivational and persuasive. His unity with both sides of the audience (the boys, both black and white), his allusions to past tragedy, and finally, his diction and appeal to his players' hearts and feelings proved to be great tactics to use to encourage the boys to overcome the situation that society has put them in and deal with it. Coach Boone even says, "I don't care if you like each other or not, but you will respect each other" (Remember The Titans). He makes sure that it is known that if the boys would like to succeed then they must learn to appreciate each other to begin to heal the division in not only the team, but in society itself.



Works Cited

Remember The Titans. Dir. Boaz Yakin. Perf. Denzel Washington and Will Patton. 2000. DVD. Walt Disney Pictures, 2001.