Rhetoric Project

1. Mrs. Forys’ Example (Yours should be better!) Rhetoric Project

2. Coach Boone: Remember the Titans

3. Background Remember the Titans was released in 2000. The film was produced by Jerry Bruckheimerand directed by Boaz Yakin. The movie is based on the true story of Herman Boone (Denzel Washington) who was appointed head football coach at Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia. In 1971, the first year of racial integration, Coach Boone had to inspire the youth to forget the color of their skin in order to become friends, a team, and champions.

4. Thesis In Remember the Titans, Coach Boone utilizes the rhetorical appeals of logos, pathos, and ethos to inspire his football players to expunge their prejudices and hatred in order to become a team.

5. Logos “Fifty thousand men died right here on this field, fighting the same fight that we are still fighting among ourselves today.”

6. Coach Boone appeals to his players’ logic when he reminds them that “Fifty thousand men died right here on this field, fighting the same fight that we are still fighting among ourselves today.” Just as the endless rows of crosses in the picture of Gettysburg today appeals to the audience’s sense of logic, so does Coach Boone’s statement to his football players. Fifty thousand is an immense number used for the purpose of illuminating the tragedy of the battle of Gettysburg. Coach Boone is implying that the battle, fought between blacks and whites, is the same battle that millions were fighting in 1971.

7. Pathos “This green field right here, painted red, bubblin' with the blood of young boys.”

8. Not only does Coach use logos, he also appeals to the players’ emotions with pathos. He emphatically emphasizes “This green field right here, painted red, bubblin' with the blood of young boys” to create an emotionally impactful image. After appealing to the logic of the boys, Boone is hoping to extract some emotion from his players by emphasizing the horror of fighting a war because of race, which is what the players of his team are currently doing. The red of the boiling blood on top of a green field appeals to everyone as archetypes; red symbolizes violence as green symbolizes peace. Coach Boone invokes the power of these colors to juxtapose the way they are acting (violent) with the way it could be (peaceful) if they would all give up their prejudices toward the opposite race.

9. Ethos “Listen to their souls, men. I killed my brother with malice in my heart. Hatred destroyed my family. You listen, and you take a lesson from the dead.”

10. Coach Boone removes himself from the argument when he asks the players to “Listen to their souls, men. I killed my brother with malice in my heart. Hatred destroyed my family. You listen, and you take a lesson from the dead.” Here Coach Boone emphasizes the voices of the soldiers who died at Gettysburg, which was fought during the Civil War. With this historical allusion, Boone solidifies his point with the moral backing of the soldiers who suffered or perhaps regretted their role in the war. Though necessary, the Civil War was the most horrendous domestic war in the history of America—many killed their own family members. Coach Boone quotes what a soldier might have said after the war in order for the boys to “take a lesson from the dead”: the violence needs to end. He compares the “brothers” of the Civil War to all the young men— “brothers” of a team—accentuating the fact that they are all men, and they should all be fighting on the same side.

11. Works Cited "20 Best Inspirational Speeches from the Movies." Lifehack RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2014. <http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/20-best- inspirational-speeches-from-the-movies.html>. "Ghost Tours and Investigating Gettysburg's Real Ghosts and Real Hauntings." Gettysburg. Haunted America Tours, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hauntedamericatours.com%2Fghosts%2FGETTY SBURG.php>. Microsoft Office 2007. Vers. Word. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2007. Computer software. "'Remember the Titans' Coach Boone to Speak at Ferris, Sept. 10."'Remember the Titans' Coach Boone to Speak at Ferris, Sept. 10. Ferris State University, 7 Sept. 2014. Web. 13 Oct. 2014. <http://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/ archive/2014/september/boone.htm>. Shapiro, Leonard. "Shapiro: After Seven Decades, Langston GC Still Going Strong." ESPN.com. ESPN, 2 Feb. 2009. Web. 13 Oct. 2014. <http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/columns/story?id=3876854>.

12. Warm Up • Use your phone/computer to go to celebratemydrive.com and make a commitment to drive safely. • WHY?! • The Band Perry will come play at our school! • We will win $100,000 in grant money! • Vote everyday this week for KHS to win! Antigone test review Friday before presentations!

13. RHETORIC PROJECT RUBRIC • 20 pts – researched background information • speaker, time period/context, intended audience, etc. • 30 pts – 3 visuals illustrating the 3 quotes • quotes should be somewhere on your visual • 30 pts – commentary • 10 pts – works cited • On a slide or taped on the back of your poster • 10 pts – presentation/ creativity

14. Rhetoric Project Reminders • Today is your LAST work day… project is due FRIDAY (no excuses)! • Thesis needs to be approvedbefore you put it on/in your visual. • Work on commentary. Explain the visual and connect it to the purpose of the speech. • Put it all together today. • If electronic, email it to me by your class Friday AND bring it on a flash drive.