Visal Representations of Masculinity

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Masculinity works in many ways throughout Remember The Titans. Cinematically, the movie itself is a journey that fails to focus on anything but masculine identities, and seems to draw parallels to the ability of male bonding and football to overcome any social issue.  In “Remember The Titans.”

             Visually the movie reinforces the importance of masculinity in various ways. All of the major characters are men, with the exception of Coach Yoat’s daughter Sheryle. She is portrayed as a tomboy who hates dolls, only loves football, and sports jerseys from time to time. In one specific scene, she sits and exchanges football tips with the head coach while his own daughter (in a dress with painted nails) plays with dolls and rolls her eyes. The juxtaposition of the masculine identity in Sherly and feminine identity Boone’s daughter would be cute if the movie wasn’t so obviously slanted to favor Sheryl.

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The problem is that this is an entirely made up identity. The real Sheryle was one of four daughters, did not live with her father, and apparently was not near as crazy about football or sports as they made her look in the actual movie.  Why masculinize the identity of a character that is irrelevant to the plot?

           

 

 

Sunshine is made fun of by his peers for his “girly” experience. Visually, he has long hair, practices meditation, and generally presents a calm exterior. Sunshine only begins to get along with his teammates after he beats Gerry Bertiere in a fistfight, because apparently it makes sense that the best thing to resolve strained relationships is good, old fashion violence.  This is actually a theme that trends throughout the entire movie (another example is how Julias and Bertiere only bond after Julias decleats Petey.)  He also faces his own form of bias in the movie as many people refuse to interact with him under suspicion that he is gay and or a hippy. But the important part is that Sunshine is initially introduced to us like this:

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But Sunshine drops his long hair and tie-dye clothes, and eventually becomes more synonymous with the masculine identity that the rest of the Titans represent.  By the end of the movie, he is a wrecking machine who single handedly crushes three defenders in the final play. Oh, and he looks like this:

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Ultimately, it seems that the only explored trait within the characters of Remember the Titans is masculinity.  All of the team players are hulked up on testosterone and football.  Sheryl, the only female who gets any real screen time, is masculinized for no apparent reason.  Meanwhile, Sunshine is ostracized at the outset and is only accepted by his teammates once his masculine identity develops.  Women are brushed aside throughout the entire script as creatures who don’t understand or are annoyed by masculinity/football and whose only concerns are to paint their nails or play with dolls.