Research Paper On Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights – One Team’s Emotional Journey to a State Championship

“Friday Night Lights” is a 2004 movie directed by Peter Berg, based on the true story “Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream” written by H.G. Bissinger. This analysis is about the Permian High School Panther’s emotional journey to a state championship. In this film we see how an array of emotions, including, conflict, counterfeit emotions, mixed emotions, self-concept, self-esteem, debilitative emotions, facilitative emotions, reflected appraisal, self-fulfilling prophecy, non-listening, and social exchange theory affect a football team.

As we see early on in this film coach Gary Gaines preaches to his team about being a perfect team and bringing home the

state championship. We will endure an array of emotions from Coach Gaines five star players starting with an extremely cocky running back James “Boobie’ Miles, who has the highest self-esteem of any member of the team.

Boobie’s reflective appraisal reflects one thing; that he’s the best. Unlike, quarterback Mike Winchell whose life is full of mixed emotions, full back Don Billingsley who has an enormous amount of conflict surrounding him, and running back Chris Comer’s debilitative emotions over getting hurt. Safety Brian Chavez’s self-concept and facilitative emotions are exactly the type of positive reinforcement the team needs.

The Permian High School Panthers were supported by the entire Odessa community including a non-listening booster club whose social exchange theory truly only benefited one side, keeping Coach Gaines in constant turmoil, not only with the town and boosters but with his team as well. While overusing Boobie in the first game, where Permian had a large lead on the opposing team Boobie gets hurt. With a torn ACL and out for the season, Coach Gaines and the entire community’s self-fulfilling prophecy that the team cannot win without Boobie, starts to unfold. In the second game, Winchell struggles with mixed emotions and conflict preventing him from holding his team together ultimately leading to a loss. Coach

Gaines realizes that Winchell is struggling with a combination of emotions including, conflict, mixed, and debilitative emotions, so he goes to see Winchell at home. Coach ultimately tells Winchell he has to make a decision on what he wants for himself and his team. Following the loss of the second game, Chavez, Billingsley and Winchell are out shooting rocks when Chavez puts his facilitative emotions to work. Chavez tells the guys to lighten up that they are only seventeen, but what Chavez is really saying is that they are letting their debilitating emotions get in the way. They tease Chavez, but inside they know that Chavez is right and his positivity is just what they need. Down by fourteen in second quarter of the third game against Cooper, Winchell makes a toss to Comer who makes an eighty-five yard Mojo touchdown to turn all of the team’s debilitative emotions into facilitative emotions leading to their first post Boobie win. This win is the turning point for team and all of its players and changes the self-concept of not just one player but, the entire team. The team goes on to have a five game winning streak without Boobie. With their biggest rival game rapidly approaching; an anxious Boobie travels to Midland for an MRI of his knee. The doctor in Midland confirms what Boobie and his uncle LV already know, that Boobie has a torn ACL and cannot play football anymore. Full of anger and mixed emotions Boobie returns to Odessa to play football anyway. Prior to the start of the Midland Lee game Boobie and uncle LV approach Coach Gaines and tell him the doctor in Midland has cleared Boobie to play football stating there was no tear of his ACL. Coach already knows this is a lie due to the information he received form the athletic trainer immediately following Boobie’s injury in the first game. Although, Coach Gaines has mixed emotions about letting Boobie play he tells Boobie to go dress out for the game.

With the Permian – Midland Lee game underway conflict arises with Billingsley as the ball is stripped out of his hands and intercepted. A conflicted Billingsley clothes lines a Midland Lee player resulting in him being pulled from the game. Coach Gaines confronts Billingsley about his aggressiveness, not fully understanding that all of his conflicted feelings are coming from Billingsley’s need to impress his abusive father in the stands. Down fourteen to seven with less than five minutes left in the game Coach Gaines puts Boobie on the game. On the second play upon Boobie’s return he gets hit and goes down with a fresh knee injury. On second down, with one minute twenty-seconds left in the game the Permian panthers pull their team together with a series of completions that move them towards the goal line, unfortunately, a final incompletion in the last seconds of the game leads to loss. Back in the locker room the team is full of emotion, with Winchell crying out apologies to his teammates for his role in their loss, while Coach Gaines is enduring his own criticism from the fans outside. In an emotional ride home, we see conflict arise between Billingsley and his

father which results in Billingsley’s father throwing his own state championship ring out the window, leading a frantic Billingsley to pull over to search for it. Meanwhile, Coach Gaines and Winchell are engaged in their own emotional conversation during their ride home about how Winchell feels like he’s cursed. Winchell conveys to Gaines that no matter whether they win or lose he feels cursed on the inside. Coach Gaines replies to Winchell, there’s really no difference between winning and losing, it’s all in how the outside world perceives you. He goes on to say that there are no curses, that we all dig our own holes. Although, Permian lost to Midland Lee they are still in a three way tie with Midland Lee and Cooper for a spot I the playoffs that will be decided via coin toss. As the three teams are preparing for the coin toss Coach Gaines looks at Winchell and says “there are no curses.” Midland Lee and Permian come away with a win of the coin toss and both teams proceed to the playoffs. Finally a conflicted Billingsley’s father apologizes to him admitting that his life has been a failure and all he ever wanted was more for his son and Billingsley gives him his championship ring back. As a Boobie watches the garbage men pick up the trash he realizes that all his dreams are now gone, thus, forcing mixed emotions to rise to the surface changing Boobie’s entire self-concept. Boobie puts on counterfeit emotions in front of team while he’s cleaning out his locker, but breaks down in tears once he’s back in the car with his uncle LV.
With Boobie’s support, the Permian Panthers fight their way from one win to another in a long hard battle to the final seat in the state championship against Dallas Carter Cowboys. After a devastating first half ending in a twenty-six to seven lead for Dallas Carter, both teams endure an emotional half-time with tensions running high. In the Permian locker room a normally quite teammate Ivory Christian bursting with mixed emotions instructs his team that Dallas Carter is no better than they are, he says they do the same things we do, this is our team let’s go get this thing, furthermore, prompting Coach Gaines to give his speech on perfection and what his interpretation is on perfection. Coach Gaines says that perfection is not about the scoreboard or winning, it’s about your self-concept and interpersonal relationship with your friends and family and being able to look them in the eye and know that you didn’t let them down by telling the truth that you did everything you could. If you can look at them with joy in your heart and love in your eyes, then you’re perfect. These facilitative emotions led the panthers back out to a dominating second half to close the gap to thirty-four to twenty-eight lead. With a minute-forty seconds and seventy-five yards left in the game the panthers drive all the way down to the goal line where Dallas Carter shuts them down, ultimately costing them the championship. Without all the different emotions and communication that erupted as a result of them, this panther team would not have made it as far as they did.