In my opinion, I feel that the motion picture, Coach Carter, which is based on a true story is a great example of the Karl Marx's perspective. Ken Carter, former basketball player of Richmond high school takes the job of coaching the basketball team and it was not a walk in the park. He was one of the best athletes to ever come out of this high school. With his expectations, he made the team and their parents sign contracts. During the season, the contracts were violated and Carter cancelled all the games while locking the gym until improvement was shown from every player om the team. While time passes by the students, parents and the people of the community were against it so the school board eventually opened up the doors. The team made the choice to not play until they showed academic improvement, which was a success. The Oilers made it to the playoffs and lost in the first round but they still had their families along with the community by there side. Six of the players from the team were able to get into college and play basketball.
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| "Richmond Oilers along with Coach Carter going to the playoff game" |
One morning during the duration of receiving this assignment, I decided to watch this movie and this isn't my first time seeing this movie but watching it for a second time made me realize that it was much deeper than any individual would suspect. As I watched this movie, I began to think of Karl Marx's perspective on the economy. "Coach Carter" showed many symbols of how these students lived in poverty and what their surroundings were. Failure was expected out of the students at Richmond high cause of the statistics, even the faculty had doubts in the students which is an example of symbolic interationism. One of the players on the team was in a situation where his girlfriend was pregnant which caused him to figure out if he was going to give up basketball to be there for his child or keep playing to achieve his dreams. The girlfriend ended up getting an abortion without his consent and he continued to play for the team which is social interactionism.
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"The team refusing to play before improving academically"
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Karl Marx's theory assisted me in understanding this source more in many ways. From the beginning of the movie to the end, I noticed all different types of symbolic
situations occurring. Minorities all over this country not just in Richmond, California have the expectation of failure but it is student- athletes like this that rise up over the statistics and achieve success. Ken Carter made a
social institution in making this basketball team what it became in the end by turning these boys into men. To me, a minority it matters because I know in some individual's eyes that failure is expected out of me but I have to achieve success in order for me to be satisfied in my life.
*Movie could be found on Netflix with a subscription
