Racism is as relevant an issue today as it ever was. Old wounds have opened, and the dark side of America is being brought to light. Freedom Writers, a 2007 movie adaptation of the 1999 book The Freedom Writers Diary (Freedom Writers), illustrates just how large an issue racism is in society. Freedom Writers was directed by Richard LaGravenese and stars Hilary Swank, Scott Glenn, Patrick Dempsey, and Imelda Staunton (Freedom Writers). Set in Long Beach, California, a first-time teacher educates her at-first unmotivated students in English while giving them life lessons and showing them the larger world around them. Those students live in an area that is a battlefield, many of them embroiled in the ongoing gang wars. Freedom Writers deals with racism by showing the students that they are all very similar and deal with the same problems, regardless of their race. The movie opens with footage of the 1994 Los Angeles riots, then transitions to the childhood of the narrator of the film, a Mexican-American girl named Eva. It shows how racism and gang violence has shaped her life, with her father being arrested for a crime he didn’t commit and being shot at and beat up among the various examples. We then meet Erin Gruwell, an enthusiastic young teacher, whose class is comprised of Eva and other “at risk” teens. Gruwell has difficulty getting through to her students, who self-segregate into racial groups within the classroom. Many students stop attending class when she forces them
This movie Directed by Paul Haggis who also directed Academy Award Winning "Million Dollar Baby" and had also won an Academy Award for this movie as well puts a twisted story in this film. This movie is trying to symbolize what goes on in the world today in regards to racism and stereotypes. He tries to make a point on how societies view themselves and others in the world based on there ethnicities. This movie intertwines several different people's lives, all different races, with different types of beliefs. Such ethnicities include Caucasians, African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Middle Eastern. This movie includes conflicts on both sides of the picture from cops and criminals as well
Within the first few minutes, the film summarized the church bombing that killed four innocent young girls and explained how it affected the Civil Rights Movement all through a historic song. The first scene of the movie, each victim’s family described their daughters’ childhood and how segregation affect their family. One interesting fact was the father of Denise McClair, one of victims, actually went to school in Tuskegee. The second victim, Carole Roberston, was confused why whites and blacks could not share the same water fountain, restaurant and bathroom. She did
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.
In these lines from Derek Walcott’s “A Far Cry from Africa,” the speaker emphasizes the natural human tendencies to “inflict pain.” Similarly, in his poem, “Sympathy,” Paul Dunbar explores pain from the point of view of a bird being trapped in a cage. It flaps its wings and tries to escape but it cannot. The bird symbolizes an African American bound by slavery and unable to escape. On the other hand, in Claude McKay’s poem “The Harlem Dancer,” the dancer feels as if
The freedom writers diary is a beautiful piece of writing written by a group of young teenagers struggling with finding themselves. Many argue that the award winning book “The freedom writers diary”written by the freedom writers themselves should be strictly for those of mature audiences.That the book should not be allowed for reading till a certain age limit. The freedom writers diary is based on a group of exciting students who have experienced unfortunate events in their past, present and future. Each student honored and recognized of the achievements. There are entry topics ranging from family members deaths to student concerns such as dyslexia. The book the freedom writers diary should be allowed for kinds of all ages to read at school and home bounds.
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
This is a true story based on inner city kids that whom live in the projects living the most difficult lives. These kids struggle every single day… living in poverty/homelessness, lack of educational skills, and were a part of gang and domestic violence. They were taught that all police and white people were bad because they were the people who arrested them or their family (people of their same kind). They didn’t believe in giving respect to teacher because she was white. They wanted respect and in order to gain respect it was more than just the color of your skin.
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
In the beginning of the movie Freedom Writers, Ms. Gruwell’s students have trouble communicated with each other. This is because the characters are unwilling to associate with anyone outside their ethnic/racial groups. There could be multiple reasons to why the students would act this way but one of the main reasons is that they have been taught since birth that people will judge them based on their race or ethnicity. Because of this they have always been separate and grew up to be defensive and aggressive and they choose their groups or “gangs” who are within their racial groups. These “friends” also influence why the students are so afraid to associate with anyone outside that group by threatening to hurt them or beat them up. While with
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
Freedom writers was produce in 2007. The areas of diversity that are addressed in this movie are racial, cultural and ethnicity. This movie is about Woodrow Wilson High School which has some difficulties with ethnic and racial diversity. A passionate young teacher named Erin Gruwell was enrolled to the High School to be an instructor to a sophomore class, her job was really challenging when she realize that the students in the class was composed of racial groups. The racial group was not a problem only in the classroom, although it was an issue about the entire High School. There were a lot of gang fight in the class and also most of her students stopped attending to class. The teacher challenges were not only about gaining the trust of the students personal lives and academic levels, but she was also having challenges with the school department head and professional peers.
The storyline of the movie takes place between 1992-1995. Beginning with scenes from the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. Hilary Swank plays the role of Erin Gruwell, a new, excited schoolteacher who leaves the safety of her hometown, Newport Beach, to teach at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, a formerly high achieving school which has recently had an integration program put in place. Her enthusiasm is quickly challenged when she realizes that her classes are all "at-risk" students, also known as "un-teachable", and not the eager students she was expecting. The students segregate themselves into racial groups in the classroom, fights break out, and eventually most
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.