The Emperor’s Club and Finding Forrester

Be Who You Are

        In the films The Emperor’s Club and Finding Forrester a new meaning of integrity was stipulated in both films, two main characters Mr. Hundert (The Emperor’s Club) and Jamal (Finding Forrester) demonstrated the meaning on Integrity. Integrity is the consistency of staying true to yourself and the moral principles you value no matter what.   Mr. Hundert and Jamal shared similar conflicts of being faced with serious situations, which led the two characters to stay true themselves no matter what, however the examples were shown different between Mr. Hundret and Jamal.  In the two films The Emperor’s Club and Finding Forrester, the characters Mr. Hundred and Jamal, exemplify the meaning of Intregreity with similarities and differences, and both demonstrated the outcome achievement of staying true to yourself.

In the film The Emperor’s Club a teacher named William Hundert taught at a prep school called St. Bedict, whom he devoted his life to his students to inspire them to be apart of education and to be the best they can be.  Mr. Hundert was a man with values that included passion, reason, hard work, and honor.  However, his student Sedgwick Bell tested Mr. Hundert strong principles and values.  Sedgwick Bell was the son of Senator Bell whom had power and money, which also tested Hundert integrity.  Hundert Integrity was questioned was in Mr. Julius Caesar competition when he suspected Sedgwick Bell cheating.  Suspecting Sedgwick was cheating, Hundert told his headmaster, but was simply told to ignore the accusations and to give him a pass. Senator Bell attended this competition, therefore the reasoning why the headmaster dismissed Hundert accusations because Senator Bell had the money to provide for the school. From there on Sedgwick Bell slithered his way through the school years and graduated with a diploma that he clearly didn’t deserve or earn.  Hundert went against everything he valued and believed in by staying quiet, which he could be look at as a hypocrite.  Hundert didn’t stay true to himself and let power and money stops him from doing the right thing.  Hundert lived with disappointment and never forgave himself for the mistake he had made. He disregarded all of his other great contribution to the growth and structure of his other students.   Twenty-fives year later, a rematch of Mr. Julius Ceaser Competition was held and this time Mr. Hundert approached the matter differently. Instead of repeating history Mr. Hundert true integrity was shown by holding on to his strong principles and values and ending up making the right decision.  In the movie Hundert says, “The worth of a life is not determined by a single failure or a solitary success”(Michael Hoffman). The meaning of Mr. Hundert words is that no one is perfect everyone makes mistakes including him. Hundert should not be judged for one bad event that happened is his life. Mr. Hundert made a mistake, however doesn’t change the righteous man he is, because he has good intentions.  He was given a second chance to change what he had done in the past and he did, which shows the integrity he truly holds within.

In the film “Finding Forrester”, Jamal is an African American young-athlete that lives in the brox whom is an excellent writer. Jamal meets and develops a unique friendship with a novelist that helps mold Jamal with his writing and to choose the right path. Jamal demonstrated Integrity by believing in his values and sticking with them. Jamal faced a difficult situation that tested his integrity to stay true to what he truly believed in. An example of Jamal integrity was when Jamal lost the championship game breaking the compromise deal with Crawford.  Crawford deal was if Jamal won the championship game that accusations of the consequences of plagiarizing would be dropped and there was only needed an apology.  Going against Crawford deal Jamal missed those shots loosing the game because he believed that the right choice was to stand up for himself. Another example was when Jamal told Forrester, “Man, f**k you William! You wanna know what the real bullsh*** is? How about you let me take on this one cause you're too damn scared to walk out that door and do something for somebody else. You're too damn scared, man! That's the only reason.” (Finding Forester). Jamal words to Forrester are explaining how no matter how scared you always do the right thing.  Jamal was a young teenager, but had the consistency of integrity do always do the right thing you believed in no matter what the consequences were.

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