The film, Freedom Writers, directed by Richard LaGravenese in 2007, demonstrates an abundance of emotions, such as bravery and sorrow. The author, Erin Gruwell, shares the stories of her students who have experienced things from gun violence to emotional abuse, to show that the students will unite if they are understood, respected, and given an opportunity. The movie Freedom Writers is an empowering film as it shows that by taking advantage of the opportunities in one’s life, they can achieve many things. The film, Freedom Writers, took place in Long Beach, California, in the 1990’s. For most of the production, the setting was in room 203, at Woodrow Wilson High School. At the beginning of the film, the director uses horrifying scenes of building surrounded by flames, and multiple people being murdered. The tone then switches over to a serene atmosphere where Erin Gruwell is receiving a job teaching English to the freshmen and sophomores at Woodrow Wilson High School. However, there is a feeling of exasperation as the school's administration is continuously turning down Erin’s optimistic ideas. When Erin began her job, she grew overwhelmed because of the constant fighting and racism that became overbearing in the classroom. One day, in particular, Erin saw a racist drawing of her student Jamal. This caused her to relate the constant fighting and discrimination to the Holocaust. This was a turning point in the film as the student took an interest in the topic. A cause and
The films “Freedom Writers” and “The Great Debaters” tell inspirational success stories of students fighting racism on their way to the top. Freedom Writers tells a story of a school filled with gang violence. One class, led by teacher Erin Gruwell, is taught to overlook their differences and unite. The Great Debaters accounts Wiley College’s debate team and how they had to fight extreme racism, on top of becoming a successful team. In both movies, discrimination based on race is clear. A group in power is looking down and taking advantage of people, based on their race. A strong teacher figure, in Erin Gruwell and Melvin Tolson, is present to push the students to their potential. Although there is racial tension and discrimination in both stories, they are between different races. The school setting is also different, as Wiley College in The Great Debaters is segregated, and Woodrow Wilson
In the 1920s, when movies were a brand new concept, people went to see the pictures in order to escape from their lives. In these movies, everything worked out in the end and they depicted happy, perfect lives. As the Depression raged on, movies were a distraction from the wear and tear of normal life. With the movie Freedom Writers, however, that is not the case. Freedom Writers tells the impossibly true story of a first-year teacher, Erin Gruwell, and the difficulties she faced in her classroom of supposed hopeless cases. In Long Beach, California, her students dealt with gang violence, drugs, and racism in their everyday lives. They lived in constant fear. The movie emphasizes how Gruwell wrestles with the public school system, motivates her students to learn, and changes their lives in the process. Directed by Richard LaGravenese, it came out in 2007 with stars such as Hilary Swank, Patrick Dempsey, and April Hernandez gracing the screen (IMDb). In contrast to the early movies, Freedom Writers deals with issues that are still a problem today, such as a focus on the majority instead of helping students who need extra assistance or encouragement.
Freedom Writers is a movie based on the book The Freedom Writers Diary by teacher Erin Gruwell. The movie was directed by Richard LaGravenese and it was released in 2007. This movie discusses significant themes such as stereotyping and racial discrimination but most important the power of tolerance and understanding. The purpose of this movie is to promote the message that knowledge is power and in a world filled with disparities where hundreds of ethnic groups convey and interact humans are obliged to accept and tolerate the differences that define each person. This film is a perfect example of how these rhetorical components are used to create an effective argument. The director of the movie as well as the characters build their
The Freedom Writers is an emotional story about a classroom of students. These students all come from different backgrounds; most of them are in gangs or grew up around gang violence. They fear for their lives every single day and do not care whatsoever about getting their education in high school. That is until one teacher, Mrs. Erin Gruwell, comes along. Mrs. Gruwell teaches them that they are not so different at all. She treats them with respect, which is much more than any other teacher has ever given them. She brings them together through her teaching and through literature. In the end, the class is one big family. The story depicts stereotyping, prejudice, and racism in their most common forms. As seen in The Freedom Writers, racism
The film “Freedom Writers” by Richard LaGravenese has been successful in terms of expressing the emotions of students through their diaries but also engaging the audience emotions through the characters’ gang experiences. The character of Mrs Gruwell(Mrs G) is a teacher of low performing students trying to achieve their goals against all odds. Techniques the director used to show this include flashbacks, non-diegetic sound, spot light and pan shots which are all important in sending the message to the audience that family problems and violence have a big impact on the students lives.
Freedom Writers is a film based on a true story about a young teacher, Erin Gruwell, who faces racial barriers at an integrated high school in Long Beach California. The article displays the teaching methods used by Gruwell in order to help her students face their academic struggles that are obstructed by their everyday lives. Choi divides Gruwell’s methods of teaching into four main categories. Such as, rewriting curriculum, treating student’s creators of knowledge, creating a classroom community, and teaching self realization. Once Gruwell knew what type of students she was managing she immediately knew that she would have to modify her teaching methods. Choi insists that Gruwell and her revolutionary pedagogy began when she changed the school curriculum according to the interests of her class. “This decision
Every movie has a message that it is trying to convey. Whether it be a horror movie trying to show you how deranged people can be. Action movies that show what a hero had to go through to finally be deamed of the title. Documentaries, that want to teach about history and past event and how that we can learn from them and not make the same mistakes. With these lessons that we learn, we have to take the initiative to apply this to our day to day life. The world is like our “classroom,” the lessons that we learn in one part of life, we must take and apply to others. The main message within The Freedom Writers is that even though people may have many differences with those around themselves, individuals will always have similarities with them that
The movie “Freedom Writers” is based on a true story. Hilary Swank as Erin Gruwell plays an inspirational teacher at Wilson High School. She is ready to take on the teaching world as she steps inside Wilson High School for her first day. Her class, varied with teenagers of different ethnic backgrounds, wants nothing more than to just get through the day. African Americans, Latinos, Asians, gang members, and much more are from poor neighborhoods, that all share a similar hatred for each other. On the first day of teaching she is very scared and unsure, but she knows she has to stop the racism in the class as well as their attitude towards life. Despite her students' persistent refusal to participate
“Everybody thinks you should be happy just because you’re young. They don’t see the wars that we fight every single day”. Brandy Ross, one of the students in the movie Freedom Writers once said. This is the predicament that the students in Woodrow Wilson High School faced every day. There are dead bodies on the street, the students have to protect themselves from other gangs, and most of them didn’t finish high school. It might not be a big issue for us because we didn’t face it by ourselves, but after watching this movie you will know that it is a significant thing to look at. The differences among race caused all of these problems, to deal with this is not easy at all. Freedom Writers show us that we can live our life with distinction because it shows us how to understand and accept dissimilarity that we have and also to
In the movie, The Freedom Writers Mrs. Erin Gruwell (Hillary Swank) plays a role of a dedicated teacher who did all she could, to help her students learn to respect themselves and each other. She has little idea of what she's getting into when she volunteers to be an English teacher at a newly integrated high school in Long Beach, California. Her students were divided along racial lines and had few aspirations beyond basic survival. Mrs. Gruwell was faced with a big challenge when a group of freshmen students showed her nothing but disrespect which made it hard for her to communicate, teach and understand them. However, Erin Gruwell was determined that no matter the cost she would teach her students not only
The film Freedom Writers directed by Richard La Gravenese is an American film based on the story of a dedicated and idealistic teacher named Erin Gruwell, who inspires and teaches her class of belligerent students that there is hope for a life outside gang violence and death. Through unconventional teaching methods and devotion, Erin eventually teaches her pupils to appreciate and desire a proper education. The film itself inquiries into several concepts regarding significant and polemical matters, such as: acceptance, racial conflict, bravery, trust and respect. Perhaps one of the more concentrated concepts of the film, which is not listed above, is the importance and worth of education. This notion is
Eva’s soliloquy- “you can’t go against you own people, your own blood.” - Symbolism of conformity.
In the film, the Freedom Writers were made following the Rodney King trial in 1992 and the OJ Simpson murder case in 1994. These trials brought out the sensitive issues about injustices
She thought that it was the right thing to do. yes, because it was the honest thing to do. her friends are mad at her because she could have lied and their buddy wouldn’t have gone to prison. And her dad doesn’t even want to talk to her.
The movie Freedom Writers is about Erin Gruwell who is starting her first year as an English teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School. This school is racially divided with many gangs and violence erupting at any time. Ms. Gruwell was the students main subject of hate too. After having a discussion with her students about what they were feeling about their lives and situations, she took the responsibility of educating the students no matter what the cost was. She would eventually get through to the teens by passing out journals for them to write their personal life stories in. As the year went on, the students started to trust Ms.Gruwell. The next academic year, she had the students getting along with one another and reading The Diary of Ann Frank. She faced many critics within the school, but she ultimately succeeded.