Sunday, 30 September 2007
This clip above is towards the end of the film during the gym lockout. The lockout is voted to end and as the coach walks into the gym he finds all of the students with their teachers studying and completing their work in order to meet the contracts which they had signed earlier on in the year. Throughout the movie, the coach keeps on asking this student "What is your deepest fear" and the student never replies. However, in this scene the student replies and tells the coach "Our deepest fear". This is the same student who attempts to hit the coach at the start of the movie. Therefore this clip shows how the coach has changed the attitudes of the students and how the stereotypes and representations are now being challenged instead of followed.
The video above shows the first meeting between the Richmond basketball team, and their new coach. In the clip one of the students shows attitude to the coach and treats him like a man of his own age as he talks disrespectfully, eventually the student attempts to punch the coach, and the coach blocks the punch and pushes the student into the wall. This clip clearly outlines the manners which the students in Richmond have been brought up with and follows the representations and stereotypes which have been attached to them.
Above we can see a clip from the movie coach carter. the clip shows some of the negative attention the coach received from the residents in Richmond for locking up the gym and forfeiting matches. In the clip, a man confirms with the coach whether he is coach carter or not and once the coach replies yes, the man attempts to spit on the coach but manages to spit on the window. the coach reacts by getting out of his car and is confronting the man and then his son steps out of the car and holds him back as the resident drives off. this clip reflects the manners which the elders have been brought up with in Richmond, it shows how immaturely the man handles a situation and it says something about the role models that the teenagers are meant to look up to.
Analysis
To what extent is the stereotypical representation of black people challenged with particular reference to Coach Carter (2005)
Media Language
Media Language
•Alot of urban clothing is shown at the start of the movie such as hoodies, baseball caps, baggy clothing etc. Props such as guns are used to canote violence and danger, as well as drug dealing - stereotypical view of a young black adult
•A number of different camera shots are used throughout the movie, there are a number of long shots used whilst showing the Richmond basketball team, and this has been done in order to present the team as a whole.. Close ups are used in a number of scenes in order to show the facial expressions of the students when they are rude to their basketball coach.
•The movie is set in Richmond, California, USA
Institution
Genre
Representation
Audience
Ideology
Narrative
Social
Historical
Institution
•MTV
•Domestic –
•Opening Weekend: $24,182,961(2,524 theaters, $9,581 average)% of Total Gross: 36.0%Widest Release: 2,574 theaters
•Overall Domestic: $67,264,877 87.7%
•Internationally: $9,404,929 12.3%
•Worldwide: $76,669,806
•As shown above, the movie did not do as well internationally as it did domestically.
Genre
•Genre: Drama/Sport
•Coach Carter is not no ordinary movie with a message but it is a movie based on a passionate basketball coach who locks up their school gym and cancels matches as the team do not perform academically. It consists of skilful basketball matches and a turn of events that you wouldn't see in any usual sport movie.
Representation
•Black people are first represented as promoting anti-social behaviour, one of the ways in which this is shown in the movie is through drug dealing, violence and with use of props such as guns. Anti-social behaviour is also shown when one of the students shows attitude to the coach and tries to hit him in the face but the coach grabs him and pushes him into the wall.
•Throughout the movie, the representations of black males is challenged as the students begin to focus on their school work and they stop the violence and crime due to the guidance of the coach.
Audience
•Teenagers – sends a message to teenagers which is stay out of trouble and show commitment towards school work before any hobbies.
•Adults – kind of creates a moral panic that the students of today are not focusing in school academically as they are too busy doing something else.
•Sports/basketball fans – movie is aimed at fans as they may be interested in basketball and might want to see the matches played and the tricks of the game.
•MTV generation – a lot of urban clothing and urban slang used such as the “N” word therefore this may interest the urban MTV crowd
Ideology
Men are shown as the match winners as they are playing and winning the basketball matches where as the women are shown as cheerleaders who support the men, therefore this film could promote patriarchal values.
Narrative
•Coach Carter doesn’t follow Propps theory of character roles as there is no real villain in the movie, however, Coach Carter could be argued to be the hero of the movie as he is the one who leads the team through the season and improves their academic skills.
Social
Raises a moral panic - Alerts society that students go to school to learn. if academic results are not good enough, then other activities should be banned.
Historical
•Black youths have been known to be abusive and violent in the past and this movie challenges this stereotype as the students who start off as following the negative black stereotype later challenge it.
Monday, 24 September 2007
BBC Review by Neil Smith
When Californian school coach Ken Carter refused to let his undefeated basketball team compete until they bettered their grades, he made headlines across America. Now his principled stand gets the Hollywood treatment in Coach Carter, a slick high-school sports story that balances the usual clichés with an unusually sophisticated, pro-education message. Think Dead Poets Society with a basketball hoop and you'll know the score in Thomas Carter's predictable but enjoyable melodrama, which gifts Samuel L Jackson an eye-catching leading role.
Jackson has taken this kind of mentor part before, most notably in 1997's teacher-goes-postal thriller 187. Here, though, he's in more fatherly mode, his stern taskmaster hiding a sentimental streak as broad as the basketball court on which he holds sway over his unruly squad of rebels. Carter brings the boys in line by calling them "Sir", punishing every offence and making them sign contracts that promise they will pull their collective fingers out in class.
"AN UNCOMMONLY SAVVY MESSAGE"
His tough-but-fair tactics immediately reap dividends in the gym as the Richmond High Oilers sweep the State Championships. But when his pupils fail to keep up their end of the bargain, our hero is forced to take drastic measures. His actions soon set him on a collision course with his charges' parents, the local community and the school board, who place more importance on sporting success than preparing its students for college.
Over long and deeply manipulative, Coach Carter should nonetheless be praised for its far-from-fashionable celebration of personal advancement through academic achievement. Its uncommonly savvy message excuses a multitude of sins - not least Jackson's grandiose speechifying and a coarse depiction of inner-city life that suggests every teenager is either an unmarried mother or a drug-dealing gangster in the making.
Jackson has taken this kind of mentor part before, most notably in 1997's teacher-goes-postal thriller 187. Here, though, he's in more fatherly mode, his stern taskmaster hiding a sentimental streak as broad as the basketball court on which he holds sway over his unruly squad of rebels. Carter brings the boys in line by calling them "Sir", punishing every offence and making them sign contracts that promise they will pull their collective fingers out in class.
"AN UNCOMMONLY SAVVY MESSAGE"
His tough-but-fair tactics immediately reap dividends in the gym as the Richmond High Oilers sweep the State Championships. But when his pupils fail to keep up their end of the bargain, our hero is forced to take drastic measures. His actions soon set him on a collision course with his charges' parents, the local community and the school board, who place more importance on sporting success than preparing its students for college.
Over long and deeply manipulative, Coach Carter should nonetheless be praised for its far-from-fashionable celebration of personal advancement through academic achievement. Its uncommonly savvy message excuses a multitude of sins - not least Jackson's grandiose speechifying and a coarse depiction of inner-city life that suggests every teenager is either an unmarried mother or a drug-dealing gangster in the making.
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Media Attention
I found some newspaper articles which were printed on the front pages of newspapers during 1999 when Coach Ken Carter locked up the school gym and began to cancel matches.
•Coach Carter: “Average is just not good enough. Period."
Finances
•
•Domestic - Opening Weekend: $24,182,961(2,524 theaters, $9,581 average)% of Total Gross: 36.0%Widest Release: 2,574 theaters
•Overall Domestic: $67,264,877 87.7%
•Internationally: $9,404,929 12.3%
•Worldwide: $76,669,806
source: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=coachcarter.htm
source: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=coachcarter.htm
Review
Richmond is a troubled area. The high school dropout rate is 50 percent… and residents are more likely to go to prison than college. Teenage pregnancy is as common as the flu, which puts added pressures on an already strained economy. The stories you hear about the dangers the ghetto plays in the lives of the youth that grow there speak directly to the problems at Richmond.
Basketball is one of the few things the young men have that can take them away from the pains of reality. It stands as the highlight of a life that will likely lead to, at best, a life in poverty and at worst gangs, drugs, and an early death. So when Ken Carter, a former All-American basketball player and now small business owner in the city takes over the team, he looks to not only lead a revolution on the court, but in the lives of the men who play for him.
Carter, a former military man, institutes a rigid routine that not only molds these boys into intense physical specimens but gives them a reason to be more. He gives them a sense of self respect. What before was a motley rabble of ego and rebellion that resulted in conflict and failure becomes a cohesive team who finds success both on and off the court.
The movie itself is structured in such a way as to focus on the infamous lock-out of 1999. In that year, as the players failed in the classroom, Carter took the plan to the next level. He declared that the team would forfeit their next games, an amazing feat during a season that had been, until then, perfect. The backlash from the community, who saw only the failure of the basketball team and not the successes of its players, was immense. The players, on the other hand, seeing their progress and buying in to the coach´s plan, stuck by his side. In the end, the young men who were written off before they were born were suddenly something more. They were students, they were athletes, and they were men.
source: http://www.dvdtown.com/reviews/coach-carter/2973
Basketball is one of the few things the young men have that can take them away from the pains of reality. It stands as the highlight of a life that will likely lead to, at best, a life in poverty and at worst gangs, drugs, and an early death. So when Ken Carter, a former All-American basketball player and now small business owner in the city takes over the team, he looks to not only lead a revolution on the court, but in the lives of the men who play for him.
Carter, a former military man, institutes a rigid routine that not only molds these boys into intense physical specimens but gives them a reason to be more. He gives them a sense of self respect. What before was a motley rabble of ego and rebellion that resulted in conflict and failure becomes a cohesive team who finds success both on and off the court.
The movie itself is structured in such a way as to focus on the infamous lock-out of 1999. In that year, as the players failed in the classroom, Carter took the plan to the next level. He declared that the team would forfeit their next games, an amazing feat during a season that had been, until then, perfect. The backlash from the community, who saw only the failure of the basketball team and not the successes of its players, was immense. The players, on the other hand, seeing their progress and buying in to the coach´s plan, stuck by his side. In the end, the young men who were written off before they were born were suddenly something more. They were students, they were athletes, and they were men.
source: http://www.dvdtown.com/reviews/coach-carter/2973
This image shows the baggy and urban clothing worn by the black youths in the movie and how they begin to follow the typical stereotypes which they have been given. i chose this image because it shows the personality of the man above and how it changes throughout the movie. 
This image shows the expression of coach Carter when his team wins their first game of the season. The team lost 22 games and only had 4 wins in the previous season before coach Carter arrived. 
This is an image of a game which the team wins in a tournament as they keep on progressing and winning matches under coach Carter.
This is an image of Coach Ken Carter, his role is played by Samuel L Jackson in the movie. The movie is based on a true story in which Richmond High School (Richmond, California, USA) head basketball coach Ken Carter made headlines in 1999 for benching his undefeated team due to poor academic results.
Proposal
To what extent is the stereotypical representation of black people challenged with particular reference to Coach Carter (2005)
Director: Thomas Carter
Genre: Drama/Sport
Hypothesis: the stereotypical representation of black people is challenged in Coach Carter
Media Language: Alot of urban clothing is shown at the start of the movie such as hoodies, baseball caps, baggy clothing etc. Props such as guns are used to canote violence and danger, as well as drug dealing - stereotypical view of a young black adult. Set in Richmond, California.
Institution: MTV
Genre: Drama/Sport
Representation: How the typical representation of black young adults is challenged in this movie.
Audience: Teenagers, adults, and sports/basketball fans. MTV generation
Ideology: Could be argued to be patriarchal as the women are shown as cheerleaders to help the men who are the players and match winners.
Narrative:
Wider Contexts
Social: Alerts society that students go to school to learn. if academic results are not good enough, then other activities should be banned.
Historical: Black youths have been known to be abusive and violent in the past and this movie challenges this stereotype.
Theorists: Todorov
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