Remember The Titans Sociological Theory

After discussing both the social cognitive theory and the cultivation theory in class, the opportunity was presented to choose a film that represented either the portrayal of social groups or violence in the media. For this assignment, I will be disucussing one of my all time favorites, Remember the Titans, and the repesentation of social groups in this film. The film takes place during the era of segregation and racial discrimination in our country. The men and women at TC Williams High School are segregated in every way, and specifically, the film focuses on the school’s football team. In general, the two primary social groups being represented in this film are African Americans, and Whites. Both the cultivation theory, and the social cognitive …show more content…
The whites behavior towards those who were black during this time all modeled their actions after what was seen on television, heard on the radio, and witnessed in person. The white football players, specifically, treated the black football players based on how the world was treating blacks during this time. The behaviors initially were very harsh, and unkind. Even though they didn’t know anything about their fellow teammates at the time, based on what they were seeing in the public, they just knew they weren’t allowed to like them or be friends. They purely imitated the behaviors that they were seeing, viewing it as a societal norm to treat the blacks poorly because of their race. Moreover, the whites even began to be rewarded for such harsh behaviors. For example, when one of the white football players were to insult a black one, several of the other white players would laugh or encourage the white player, “egging him on”. Thus, making the white player feel more confident of his actions, and making him more likely to insult or make fun of another player later on. Based on our notes, this applies to the idea of instigative effects, also a part of the social cognitive