RESOLVED (TV)
Summary
This documentary feature explores the complex and competitive world of high school debating. The program begins by explaining that, while public speaking is a very common fear, many American debate enthusiasts have embraced an idiosyncratic method known as "the spread" (short for "speed reading") in which participants deliver their arguments in a unique jargon at a very high rate of speed in order to make their points in their allotted time. At Los Angeles' Highland Park High School, known for its outstanding academics and athletics, eccentric senior Sam Iola and sophomore Matt Andrews are the "stars" of the debate team – often at the expense of their other schoolwork. At a tournament at Berkeley, the two present the affirmative side of a debate about America's responsibility to send peacekeeping troops to war-torn Darfur. In addition to their rapid-fire delivery of facts, Iola and Matthews set a "perfect trap" for their opponents, Dallas Jesuit, by arguing their point from a philosophical perspective of "human dignity," rather than simply analyzing the numbers. Iola notes that the argument is technically "simplistic," but it proves effective in the debate context and, after a complicated judging process, Highland Park is deemed the winner.
In Long Beach, at the more diverse public school Jordan High, two African-American students, Richard Funches and Louis Blackwell, explain how they got involved in debate after previously dismissing it as a "nerdy" pastime. Funches discusses how the debate team, along with his part-time job at a grocery store, keep him out of trouble, and quiet outsider Blackwell explains how his tastes are often dissimilar from those of his peers. Their coach David Wiltz accompanies them to the 2005 California State Championships, where Jordan High is the only public school represented, and Funches and Blackwell are ecstatic when they make it through several challenging rounds and defeat Bellarmine College Preparatory to become the state champs. Jon Brushke, Cal State Fullerton debate coach, explains that there is no true national competition, as so many states have their own unique styles and, due to low funding, most teams are required to foot the high bills for their own trips. Iola and Andrews eagerly prepare to attend the Tournament of Champions (TOC), which is held annually in Kentucky, and though they make it to the semi-finals, they lose to Chattahoochie in a debate regarding United Nations ambassador John Bolton.
In 2006, Wiltz is confident about Funches and Blackwell's chances at the TOC, and the boys explain that, inspired by "Pedagogy of the Oppressed," the philosophy tract by Brazilian writer Paulo Freire, they have chosen to move away from the "banking method" of debate, meaning an objective, fact-based info dump, and intend to embrace a more humanized style focusing on "identity and purpose" as their primary goals. When given an assignment relating to racial profiling, Funches and Blackwell approach the topic from their personal perspectives, leading other debaters, including Supreme Court Judge Samuel Alito, to argue that they are "butchering the activity" by straying from the acceptable style. Brushke is amazed when Funches and Blackwell's style earns them an unprecedented perfect score of 180 at one of the qualifying events, allowing them closer to their TOC dream. At the same time, Andrews' mother Nancy Rollins explains that she has chosen to pull her son from Highland Park and send him to a private school, Greenhill, which has considerably more funding for their debate team. Andrews and his fellow debaters make use of expensive search engines to full several plastic tubs full of extensive "evidence" for their assigned debate topics, resembling graduate students' research for their theses, though Wiltz argues that their obsessive studying is turning them into "drones" who cannot approach the topics from human, emotional perspectives.
Blackwell explains that he tries to focus on the learning experience of debating, rather than solely on the idea of winning, and he and Funches end up placing second in a round-robin competition. Iola admits that he has little to do now that he has graduated from high school, and Andrews, now a junior, faces resentment from his new classmates when he ousts older competitors from the team through his advanced skills. Funches and Blackwell attend the Berkeley competition, the West Coast "Super Bowl" of debating, and though some of their opponents are "extremely offended" by their comments about race, class and privilege, they attempt to reasonably explain why they feel disenfranchised within the debate community and soon pull ahead 4-2. Rahul Hirami from St. Francis High School tries to argue that the spread is an "elite framework" and things grow heated when the Jordan team argues that they cannot afford expensive research and must balance their debate-prep time with their jobs and Hirami counters that they must learn to "prioritize." The judges, flustered by the blunt conversation, decide that the Jordan team's argument was "inconsistent," as they seemed to argue both for and against the banking method, and declare St. Francis the winner, though an uncomfortable Hirami privately tells Funches and Blackwell that he agrees with their points and feels that they were the true winners, as they brought the topics out of "the theoretical realm" and applied a more realistic view.
The Jordan team returns home, discouraged, and Funches is soon suspended for fighting, bringing his high school debate career to an end. Iola heads to the University of California Santa Cruz and no longer participates in debate, while elsewhere Andrews is victorious at the 2006 TOC. Wiltz dissolves the Jordan High team and moves on to Jefferson High School in South Central Los Angeles, while Funches heads to the University of Louisville's debate team and Blackwell earns a scholarship to Cal State Fullerton.
Details
- NETWORK: HBO
- DATE: November 30, 1999 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:29:51
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:91767
- GENRE: Documentary
- SUBJECT HEADING: Documentary; Debates and debating; High school; Race awareness; African-American Collection - News/Talk/Docs
- SERIES RUN: HBO - TV, 2008
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Lisa Vick Kraus … Executive Producer
- Peter Kraus … Executive Producer
- Mark Clark … Executive Producer
- Sarah J. Clark … Executive Producer
- Marc Stanley … Executive Producer
- Wendy Stanley … Executive Producer
- Andy Waters … Executive Producer
- Liz Waters … Executive Producer
- Greg Whiteley … Producer, Director
- Tiffany Haynes … Associate Producer
- Brad Barber … Associate Producer
- Erin Jeanne Whiteley … Associate Producer
- Jon Brushke … Interviewee
- Matt Andrews … Interviewee
- Sam Iola … Interviewee
- Richard Funches … Interviewee
- Louis Blackwell … Interviewee
- David Wiltz … Interviewee
- Jane Pauley … Interviewee
- Samuel Alito … Interviewee
- Nancy Rollins … Interviewee
- Rahul Hirami … Interviewee
- John R. Bolton
- Paulo Freire