Thursday, July 25, 2013

Great Debaters


After reading the short story "Battle Royal" and having a few discussions with a couple of classmates I have come up with a great connection to this story. Seeing that the narrator was mistreated and faced with racial obstacles to achieve what he wanted I automatically thought of The Great Debaters directed by Denzel Washington. The movie and short story had similar situations with race and the outcome of both situations. The main characters of his film were Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Nate Parker, Jurnee Smollet and Denzel Whitaker. Rather than comparing the narrator in the short story to another character I compared him to a group and their struggles.
         I connected these two together because in the movie and the short story the protagonists went through the same obstacles with race. Both had to go through racial situations in order to prove there toughness and durability for the ending result they wanted. Both showed their determination by focusing on their goal and not getting distracted no matter how hard things got. In the short story Battle Royal when the narrator was getting beat up he never thought to quit because he knew how important his message was. Both had to deal with getting no respect when they would give there speech or debate. In the short story the narrator had to face white people laughing and paying him no mind while reading his speech, having the crowd laugh and pay him no mind.  In the movie when the group where debating in Texas, they had to face the white crowd staring at them awkward and leaving every time it was there time to debate. But at the end of the key events that were told by the group of debaters and the narrator, they got the respect from the white people that were there audience for that event. Both the debaters and the narrator at the end achieve something that they wanted although they had to face racial and abuse. The narrator in the short story got his chance to say his speech in front of the white audience and ends up getting a scholarship. And at the end of the movie The Great Debaters the group won the national championship against a powerful Harvard University.

 

 

 

http://youtu.be/JnezpSJwr8c

2 comments:

  1. Rashard, you have made a great connection here between "Battle Royal" and "The Great Debaters." When we were discussing this story in class I did automatically think about this movie. I felt that there were many similarities between the two. The main persons in each were basically fighting against the white public in order to say their speeches. The fact that both the main character in the story and the main characters in the movie had to deal with racial injustice and disrespect in order to be able to get their messages across showed a great connection. In both the short story and the movie they all had to deal with the treatment that the white people bestowed upon them which showed great face within each. Great job here!

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  2. Rashard, you've done it again! You have made a great connection between "Battle Royal" and "The Great Debaters." I am pleased to hear that after having an enriching conversation with your fellow classmates, you were able to make such a wonderful connection between these two works. In "Battle Royal," the main character had to put up a fight in order to be heard by the opposite race, and in "The Great Debaters," the same thing occurred. Race plays a significant role in both “Battle Royal,” and “The Great Debaters,” and I feel like you conveyed your idea very well in this media outtake.

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