Coach Carter is an iconic basketball movie that many life lessons can be taken from. Coach Carter returns to his former high school to coach the basketball team in hopes of getting these kids’ lives together. Back at home, these kids are 
doing drugs, having kids, and getting into legal trouble. When Carter takes over, the team starts winning and the kids finally begin working as a unit until Coach decides to cut their season short because of their failing grades. The kids and their families become frustrated but Carter is looking at the bigger picture trying to teach the kids that there is a life beyond the basketball court and they need to get the stuff together if they want to do something with their lives. The biggest conflict within the story is Coach Carter vs. the team and this creates a strong connection to the master-slave dialectic.
The future of their basketball season depended on the actions and decisions of Coach Carter. But aside from their season, their literal lives depended on the motivation and lessons taught from Coach Carter. In the master-slave dialectic, the master is controlling of the slave but whether it’s known at the time, or not, both groups are working towards the same end goal. The master, in this case, Coach Carter, wants the team, the “slaves”, to succeed in and off the court. Coach is controlling in the way that he enforces the rules and directions for the players that no basketball activities will be held until the students are focused and their school work is back on track. In the same way that the slave must obey the master, the basketball team obeyed, and even looked up to, Coach Carter. The only contradiction to the dialectic and the message in the movie is that Coach Carter never disrespects the team and honors their work as students and players.