Introduction
‘Freedom Writers’ is an American film, directed by Richard Granvense and based on a true story, which is dedicated and idealistic teacher Erin Gruwell. Mrs Gruwell inspires and teaches her class of belligerent and aggressive students that there are a positivity and hope for a life outside rather than gang violence and death. This is because students were divided into groups based on race, believed that they had no future and convinced that they had nothing to learn from other races who had never experienced violence, discrimination and hatred that was part of their everyday lives at the beginning of the movie. However, this was changed through unconventional teaching methods of Ms Gruwell and eventually teaches them to
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Due to her past experiences, she is scared inside and excludes herself from socialising and interacting with students from different backgrounds. According to her, she has no future and people surrounded around her are unable to help her. Furthermore, Eva is disinterested in attending school and believes everyone is racist.
Nevertheless, she starts to transform herself when Mrs Gruwell comes into her life and participates in class activities and attend all her lectures daily because she started getting interested in school. As a result, she starts to feel belonging when the teacher questions her about her and everyone’s lives, where they have to step up to a line and face each other. From this activity, students realise that everyone has faced the same difficulties in their life because of their race and background.
Another incident that changes her and others’ lives is when Mrs Gruwell instructed them to write their personal stories and experiences in a journal. From this, Mrs Gruwell gets to understand more about them and their feelings, such as what they are feeling inside that no one knows. This journal allows them to express their feelings. Due to this activity, Eva becomes gentle, starts sharing her feelings in her journal and caring about her and others’ futures similar to Mrs Gruwell. Therefore, Eva experiences success in her life and understands that she is only responsible for her own life, not anyone else. Furthermore, she finds her true
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
2a) There are many themes present in this which are isolation, immigration and identity. The series of parallel events that happen throughout the story help reinforce these themes as the boy is trying to fit in and find acceptance within the school that he is attending. Being an immigrant from Italy and not knowing
Gruwell taught her class about the Holocaust, the genocide of Jews. While learning about this major event in class the students were able to see how another person’s hatred affected someone’s life. They saw that many of the victims did not survive and were killed simply because of their race. This drew a parallel for the students to see how their hatred and violence against each other was senseless. In the same way Hitler killed Jews because of their race, they were killing each other. From learning about the Holocaust the students were able to step outside from their own personal norms, and examine a situation from a new or different
Recognizing her daughter’s ignorance, Cofer’s mother warns her by stating: “‘You are forgetting who you are, Niña. I have seen you staring down at that boy’s house. You are heading for humiliation and pain’” (972). Her awareness of racial prejudice leads her to warn Cofer of visiting Eugene’s house because she does not want this pain to inflict on her daughter. It is necessary for Cofer to be able to acknowledge the truth about of her culture, race, and class because people will discriminate others based off their identity, hence why her mother warns Cofer of visiting Eugene’s house. Not only does her mother warns her of the humiliation and pain that she will face, but she did not stop Cofer from leaving the house. Cofer needs to understand the circumstances that comes from her identity because it is essential to her coming of age. Instead, Cofer is walking into a reality, the true pain and humiliation, blinded after ignoring her mother’s warning.
Even, when the students seem careless and do not tolerate the professor, Gruwell guided by her ideals and big heart refuses to allow her students to be incompetent and gave her students a chance to overcome the limitations imposed on them by society and themselves. She encouraged them to do something remarkable and memorable and assign them a journal where they could feel free to express their emotions and feeling and essentially tell the stories that define them. Gruwell draws students’ attention by assigning them The Diary of Anne Frank, a book that promptly become a guide for the students and open their minds and eyes against intolerance and misunderstanding. Inspired by this book, the students raised funds to bring Miep Gies, the woman who sheltered the Frank family, to visit them in California where she declared that the students are the real heroes.
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.
School by Peter Cowan School by Peter Cowan is a passage that explores the idea of alienation. The main character in this piece is faced with the restricting environment at school, but daydreams about a more familiar life working in the fields. The boy seems to be more at ease working on a farm, rather than being in school, where he . While the others were working, he feels alienated and enters his own world, fantasising about a different life. The work he sees in front of him “made no pattern”.
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.
Eva is a girl who was taken away from her family by Nazis. She was sent to be taught the rules and languages of a German girl. After she was trained she was sent to live
People are heavily influenced by the pressures of different environments. These pressures often act as a driving force that causes people to change and adapt to their given situation. In “The Metaphor,” Charlotte meets Miss Hancock, her English teacher, in junior high school. At first, she loves Miss Hancock and greatly appreciates her class. However, in high school Charlotte has Miss Hancock once again, and Charlotte’s treatment towards her changes significantly. Budge Wilson’s short story suggests that the pressures of social environments can lead to a change in one’s behaviour.
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
A perfect example of a movie that demonstrates how poverty and feelings of oppression affect school violence is “Freedom Writers.” In this movie a 23 year old teacher named Erin Gruwell (Hilary swank) takes on the challenge of teaching at a school full of students brought up in gangs. These students had been written off by their school as hopeless cases but she tried to change that and get through to them by buying them new books such as Anne Frank and believing in them.
Erin Gruwell is just starting her first teaching job, as an English teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School. She does not prepare at all for the students in her classroom. These students all believe in the same thing “Protecting their own people” whatever the cost. Most of these students are in gangs, because they want to protect themselves. Each group does not accept each other because of skin colour and their ethnic backgrounds. They all have different types of characteristics. If one is seen in another’s territory it causes a battle and tension. In the beginning no one gives out any emotions to Erin due to the fact that she is white and she lives a perfect life. Halfway into the film, the students started to like Erin because she mentioned about the Holocaust which touched them. The students realised that what they were doing was not something new to the world, it had already occurred before. Towards the end of the film, Erin introduces an activity which she calls “The Line Game”. During the game Erin asks questions so she could get to know
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
The thorough presentation of a well researched context in the film provided the environment for priming the viewers on the concept of belonging which was highlighted in the film. This grounded the film and prepared the viewers on the film’s main focus. Through the brief but meaningful snippets of what happened during the trial of Rodney King, the viewers were introduced to the conflict used in the film that surfaced and distinctly placed attention on the concept of belonging.