Great Debaters Theme

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“The Great Debaters” In Denzel Washington’s movie “The Great Debaters”, many different themes are represented dealing with the idea of identity. Identity is the state or fact of remaining the same. Identity of accepting one’s race, gender, and recognizing the power of knowledge. These themes are shown throughout the movie which is about a college professor who boldly challenged the discriminatory Jim Crow laws of the 1930s. The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the southern United States. The film tells the story of a debate team that has little thought of winning a national championship or even becoming a great debate team. Four students from Wiley College in Marshall Texas which is a black institution in the Jim Crow south. Mr. Tolson, the school’s English professor, demanded the highest standards for his debate team for them to see that it is possible to challenge, and possibly change the unfair treatment of blacks especially in the South, and other problems like gender equality, and finding and accepting one’s identity. The first …show more content…
All desires demand knowledge, so they can be fulfilled. Without knowledge, a desire would remain a desire since it would not be possible to choose and act out the appropriate attempt to fulfill it. “The Great Debaters” showed what knowledge could do to fulfill desires. The desire in this movie was to show that racism is wrong, and trying to find the righteous mind. The debate’s team’s goal was to not to win, but to bring awareness to America that all men are equal and therefore discriminating against one’s race is wrong. The challenges that Mr. Tolson and his student’s faced made them stronger as a result, and made them want to achieve their desires even more. The themes of race, gender and knowledge are not the only important parts of the movie, one must recognize the events that led to the scene, and the events directly

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