"Reel Truth vs. Real Truth"

      As a sports fanatic, my favorite movie of all time is Remember the Titans. It includes football, Denzel Washington, and drama. What's not to like? The credits tell you that the movie is "based on a true story" about a mixed race football team in Alexandria, Virginia in 1971. 
      I've always taken the "based on a true story" phrase as meaning that the director and producers may have added characters, changed characters, and made things more dramatic than they actually were. But, at the same time, I always trusted that the events in the movie were very similar as those in real life. 
      Now, as an avid reader of Cracked.com, when I saw the article titled, "6 Movies Based on a True Story (That Are Also Full of S***), I clicked on it right away. I found what I didn't want to find: There is was: #5 Remember the Titans. I didn't want to find out that the movie of my childhood and one of the greatest sports dramas ever made was simply made up. No, it had to have been a TRUE story.
      
I kept reading and found this:    

 "By the time the championship season rolled around [racial tension] had mostly subsided. No one protested on the first day of school, and while there were heated exchanges in practice, according to the actual players and coaches it was based purely on position battles, and not race."

      What? Much of the movie illustrates the tension between the black and white players. It shows Gerry Bertier, white, and Julius Campbell, black, overcome their hatred, become close friends, and thus lead the Titans to victory. Practices are marred with fights that are started because of race. 

      Coach Herman Boone, played by Washington, even leads the team on a middle of the night run to Gettysburg, illustrated in the picture to the side.

       Guess what? That never happened in real life. The real Boone never brought his team to the Gettysburg cemetery for that iconic speech. That was purely for plot and drama. Their training was held at Gettysburg College, as depicted in the film.

Is that okay? Does the dramatization of this story take away from the power of the film? Should directors be able to claim it as "based on a true story?" Is this intellectual honesty? 

More information on the "Reel Truth" vs the "Real Truth"

A Real "Strong" Argument, Perry

         To the right is an ad from Republican Rick Perry's presidential nominee campaign. This ad campaign is called "Strong." On the YouTube page, this video has 6,971 likes and 312,339 dislikes. I don't mean to be leading, but I really do. 

        

         Okay, I'm not going to lie, at first I thought it was a joke. Then I realized that it wasn't, and that this is what he actually believes. This is what he is using to try and convince people to vote for him. This seems like a perfect example of what not to do to get people to like you. But, as we have talked about in class, it's all about audience. And I really don't think my parents or I am the audience. He's not going to convince us, like Frederick Douglass wasn't going to convince the slave masters in his book. (wait, did I just compare my family to a white slave master?) 

           

   Anyhow, the most alarming thing he says is, "There's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school."

          Wait, what? I'm sorry, Rick, but I really don't see how you got from bashings homosexuals to saying children can't celebrate Christmas in school. Those two claims don't really come hand in hand to me. Actually, I think I get it. The fact that gays can serve in the military is somehow stopping the kids from celebrating Christmas in their schools? No, that wouldn't really make sense. 

          I believe what you are so eloquently trying to say, Rick, is that our country's "wrongness" is measured on the comparison of gays serving in the military to children learning Christianity in school. 

How does a guy trying to become President of the United States base his campaign off of making American "Christian again?" Does this ad, with a blatant stab at gay rights, hurt his campaign? Or does it strengthen his supporters' views, convince the in-betweeners, and anger everybody else? 

The Great State of Illinois, and My Biggest Worry

       As we all probably know, our esteemed ex-Governer Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to prison for 14 years today. He was convicted with 18 counts of corruption including trying to sell President Obama's vacated Senate seat for money or favors. He was originally arrested 3 years ago. As I was skimming the news to fact check, I read that 3 Illinois governors since 1970 have convicted of crimes and sentenced to prison. Go Illinois! (click here for more.)

       Anyway, upon hearing that Blago had finally been convicted all I could really think about was.... I wonder if he has to get his hair cut in prison. I know, I know, the guy is going to prison for at least 12 years, I shouldn't be making jokes. But this humorous (to me anyway) thought lead me to another question.    

How will the former governor hold up in prison?

       In a HuffPost Chicago article, I learned that he will work an eight-hour day, will have to share a cell with another cellmate, and visits from his family will be limited. I was actually surprised when I heard this. Somehow, I had pictured that he would get special treatment. I had pictured that he would get catered  meals and a nice, spacious cell.

       

       But that isn't the case. In prison, a person doesn't get treated based on who he is (for the most part), but rather what he did. It's one system in American where just because he's Rod Blagojevich, it doesn't mean he gets special treatment. All I can say is, I hope they let him bring in his special brush. But he probably won't need it after all.