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  • Essay / James Gartner's Glory Road: More than a Sports Film

    Glory Road is an American sports drama film directed by James Gartner, given an authentic story encompassing the events of the University Division Basketball Championship of 1966 NCAA. It was released on January 13, 2006. Don Haskins, represented by Texas Western College head coach Josh Lucas, led a team with an all-black starting lineup, a first in NCAA history. the NCAA. Glory Road explores racism, discrimination, and student athletics. Supporting on-screen characters Jon Voight and Derek Luke also star in their roles. The duration of the film is 1 hour 58 minutes. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Greatness Road is usually not about underdogs and winning the big game. It's about racism in American sports and how mentor Don Haskins and his players on the 1965-66 Texas Western University basketball team took a leap forward comparable to when Jackie Robinson was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers. In Texas at that time, we learned, college basketball teams had been integrated, but there was an "informal rule" that no more than one black player was ever played at home, two on the road. or three if we were behind. After Texas Western won the 1966 NCAA title with an all-black group on the court, defeating an all-white Kentucky team led by Adolph Rupp, the rules were changed and today's high school and professional basketball began . Glory Road has some main themes particularly concerned with racism in sports. Racism is first highlighted by the atmosphere surrounding the Texas Western players. When Don Haskins recruits, he is primarily interested in white players, but is then forced to recruit black players because they have few opportunities in this predominantly white sport. White players were dominant; white athletes were seen as smarter and black athletes were seen as incapable of winning at the highest levels. This is further illustrated by the fact that there were unwritten rules limiting black participation in college basketball, and is also reflected in African Americans' belief that they would not have the opportunity to play basketball. the university. White people have the upper hand in society. and this is reflected in college basketball. Whites were offered more scholarship opportunities and playing time before Blacks, regardless of their talent. Only after Haskins beat him did Rupp recruit Kentucky's first black player. This is indicative of the notion of white privilege as white people in Kentucky. Whites enjoyed greater sporting opportunities than blacks. And while Haskin helped break the color barrier in major college sports, it doesn't instantly change people's minds or end white privilege. Therefore, the film's racial overtones have larger implications on the long-standing issue of white privilege in sports. and also in society. Sport-related racism is also a key issue in the film, as sport helps overcome racism, but it also helps reinforce it. Basketball separated blacks and whites along social lines, which helped maintain racism in the sport as it existed in society. But sport is also a way for a group of black individuals to progress by beating an all-white team, thus helping to bring down thebarriers of racism. Sport provided a non-violent means of competition between blacks and whites, but it was also used as a means of limiting the opportunities available to blacks. Thus, racism was a key aspect of sport and racist attitudes within society also carried over into amateur athletics. The main characters are coach Don Haskins and basketball team stars Bobby Jones, David Lattin, Moe and other members of the team. Leadership skills are mainly seen in Coach Haskins, Bobby Jones and Lattin. The coach does the right thing while the assistants are expected to do things correctly. The coach followed his vision of putting together a team with a majority of African-American players to play. While his assistants mainly focused on putting things in place for the team and helping with the recruiting process. If we compare the two coaches of the teams that participated in the national championship final, a difference can be noted between the two coaches' methods of motivating their players. Coach Haskins had the ability to transform the team into a strong entity by finding the right position for each player, demonstrating his technical skills and experience in basketball procedures, and intelligently using his expert power . To motivate his players, he would say, “Play intelligently, with big heart,” while the rival coach said, “We are going to win this game, go ahead and make me a prophet.” While Coach Haskins attempts to bring out the players' inner talent, the rival coach's choice of words indicates a personal interest in winning, rather than a concern for a greater vision for his team or players , lacking human skills. less spotlight in cinema leadership as well. Before the final game, players who were not African-American were able to capture the coach's vision of a game for all by starting and playing with an all-African-American team. In other cases, we see the coach affirming the team's values ​​and emphasizing the objective when he reminded his players of their priorities and the challenges of each training session. The film's director James Gartner chose to make Glory Road not because it was a sports film, but because the other layer of racism and times. The reality of the story and its importance compelled the director to make it. The director once mentioned in an interview: "I went to one of the premieres of Glory Road and someone in the theater came up to me and asked, 'What happened 40 years to tell this story? And that was my first question and what appealed to me was just getting this story out there. » At that time, the director thought he had achieved his goal. The film is beautifully written and performed. The actors also did a commendable job. The movie is very well acted, but two people steal the show: Jon Voight, who plays Kentucky State's extremely racist coach, and Derek Luke who steals the show as the team's overachieving star. The music of the film adds the icing on the cake, the sound effects attract the attention of the spectators and easily allow them to visualize the ordeals that the characters are going through. Sound effects during gameplay make viewers curious and make the story captivating. What makes this film work is the struggle that black people lead. This film is inspiring. This is a great triumph for first-time director James Gartner. It's much more than just a sports film since the main character is much more than just a basketball coach. The director of the film also did an excellent.