# “The Great Debaters” film – what style of debate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 5, 2007, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-debaters-film-what-style-of-debate/428907 "2007-12-05T15:29:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-debaters-film-what-style-of-debate/428907/1 "2007-12-05T15:29:03Z")
There’s a New York Times [article](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/education/05wiley.html?hp) about an upcoming [film](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427309/) called The Great Debaters. Wow, a _debate_ movie?! Granted, it looks like another cog in the teacher-inspires-students-to-accomplish-great-things cash machine, and I fear it pretty much craps on its own good intentions. (Sorry guys, you didn’t _really_ accomplish all that much. We need to make it seem more important; maybe by substituting Harvard for USC.[sup]\*\*[/sup]) Ah, well, sure, but it’s a _debate_ movie! Given the nature of the Dope, I’m pretty sure there’s a few others here who were on their college teams. (I did Parliamentary at Columbia in the late nineties. Wasn’t all that successful; I was in it more for rhetorical fun than winning – I thought the wonks whose main strategy was goving as tight a case as possible were, well, dicks – though I did break at Worlds in ’97. If anyone else did Parli I’d love to share your favorite cases.) Does anyone know what style the _actual_ Wiley College team competed in? [sup]\*\*[/sup]I added “In the film, the role of USC is played by Harvard University” to its [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Debaters) page. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-debaters-film-what-style-of-debate/428907/2 "2007-12-05T15:40:58Z")
Well, it had to be some form of 2 on 2 policy debate. NDT didn’t come into existance until 1947, and CEDA is a lot more recent than that. If we don’t get an answer by this evening, I’ll call my uncle, whe debated in Texas around that time. ---
**Author:** ![WoodenTaco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/45deac/32.png) [@WoodenTaco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WoodenTaco)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-debaters-film-what-style-of-debate/428907/3 "2007-12-05T18:11:48Z")
Probably policy; if I’m not mistaken LD is relatively recent, appearing after the 60s at least. Could be Parli, though. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-debaters-film-what-style-of-debate/428907/4 "2007-12-05T22:56:10Z")
Actually, I think there is another debate movie coming out soon called _Rocket Science_, I think. I sure hope debate isn’t becoming trendy. I don’t know if I can handle that. And who can ever forget that classic Kirk Cameron debate movie from about '92. No wait, I have have forgotten it. What was the name of that painful thing? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-debaters-film-what-style-of-debate/428907/5 "2007-12-05T23:04:28Z")
That would be “Listen To Me.” Ick. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-debaters-film-what-style-of-debate/428907/6 "2007-12-05T23:12:00Z")
Egad… I know it’s not a true oxymoron, but Kirk Cameron debating makes my banana cry. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-debaters-film-what-style-of-debate/428907/7 "2007-12-05T23:24:21Z")
Do you remember the scene near the end of the film where Cameron’s partner is going through her little card box looking for evidence and Cameron stops her saying something to the effect of, “The evidence isn’t in there (\* then pointing at his heart\*), it’s in here.” Ah, now I have to go out and get very drunk and wash the image from my mind.