The Great Debaters

The Movie:
Well, finally my great debate over which movie to show has come to a winning conclusion, I think. Of course, the essay we read for homework encouraged me to follow my convictions and show something with a curricular tie-in: namely the power of language, education, persuasion, and of course, a dose of American history. Next term when we begin studying persuasion, we will discuss fallacious reasoning; argument; counter-argument; syllogisms; etc.

Some interesting notes about the movie. It stars Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker, both winners of the Oscar for Best Actor: Washington for Training Day and Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland. Interestingly, there is oddly coincidental casting of the young actor who plays James Farmer Jr. He is named Denzel Whitaker.

The movie, inspired by a true story, is set in 1930's, Depression-Era, Texas at Wiley College. There are references to the Fire-Side Chats of President Roosevelt, and to the New Deal - the President's plan to stimulate a dying economy and offer relief to the unemployed and starving. The plot highlights the continued struggle of African Americans to educate their population and combat the anti-literacy laws of the 1800's and the Jim Crow laws, which were still in existence.

As you've seen so far, there is also some interesting discussion of the derivation of certain words: denigrate, meaning, in some cases, to "blacken" from the root Niger, and lynching, from the name of a slave master Willy Lynch.

Finally, the scene where the students are practicing speaking with their mouths full reminds me of my university rhetoric course, where we learned of Demosthenes, a reknowned Greek orator. A common story tells of his talking around mouthfuls of rocks to improve his diction, but it is unknown whether this is fact or merely a legendary example of his perseverance and determination.

Note: We may need to finish the movie during coffee break Friday - I'm guessing 5 minutes or so; hope you'll stay.

Your essays:
Back by Friday, if all works out well. I've marked about half. Some very good efforts, so far. Really interesting topics.

The essay you read for homework:
We will commence with this after Christmas and do a second, close reading.

That's all for now - two more sleeps, people!