The movie, Freedom Writers was set in Long Beach, California. The star, Hilary Swank is a two-time Academy Award Winner stars as Erin Gruwell. She is a freshman English teacher at Wilson High School which happens to be her initial teaching employment out of university. The Freedom Writers movie setting for is only 20 miles from Los Angeles, though its time frame is set only two years after the ill-famed L.A. unrests. Earlier on, the school had better results but the Voluntary Integration brought about a 75% of great achievers shifting to other schools. The movie plot is that one is required to have a white suburban teacher going into an inner-city school and trying to be prosperous in training troubled teens. A big percentage of Gruwell’s schoolchildren are of an ethnicity other than white, with a higher number of them being gang participants or have done time in Juvenile Detention Centers. If you think you’ve heard of this plot before, then it is because you have. Freedom Writers is comparable in numerous means to the 1995 Michelle Pfeiffer movie “Dangerous Minds.” The similarities that exist between the two movies are both Pfeiffer and Swank playing white teachers in poor areas of California. Both movies cast the majority of the teacher’s students as being primarily Black or Hispanic. The last similarity between these two movies is that both teachers try unique teaching methods to reach their students (Gruwell, 2007).
Introduction
“Freedom Writers” is a movie founded on a true story, of a teacher named Erin Gruwell who efforts in motivating a set of scholars who have been branded by other tutors as not being of well-meaning. The writers explore the story of a young educator who is dedicated to bringing a positive transformation in society by instilling ethical morals and ideologies in students. It is of great gratitude of principled, ethnic and economic confines that be in existent within the society, and a plea to bridge the gaps implanted by those confines, gaps which deter the progress of a society. Following Mrs. Gruwell story as she starts her new teaching job at a high school that’s lately been introduced to an incorporation program. Gruwell sacrifices her all to try to inspire and motivate her scholars, to rise above the stereotypes and take change into their own hands. Entrenched in this film are the subjects and concepts of class, education, race inequality, gender roles, and deviance.
Thesis
The class has a substantial part in each person’s lifetime. The chief emphasis in this movie is on the lower class and you’re capable to see the power class has on one’s life. The scholars that inhabit school desk in room 203 are described as underprivileged and unqualified, abilities that are commonly connected with those of junior class. All through the movie, the boys and girls are revealed wearing school outfits that are from the prior year, projects living, dealing with drugs, and attending the juvenile hall, having no homes to stay and being introduced into a bunch of criminals. Due to their class, the teachers at Woodrow Wilson High School inevitably accept that they were reluctant to adjust and would be incapable of making advancement like the other scholars. In the movie, there was an endless scuffle that happened to be between the instructors and scholars of a racial minority. The manner in which the students were treated only boosted their tribal humiliation. Woodrow Wilson High School principal denied Mrs. Gruwell any new evaluation material since she didn’t contemplate that they deserved it due to their class, demanding they weren’t smart enough and will destroy the books. There was such a stereotypical observation on her students that the teachers lost their motivation to give a grounding in teaching, they put no effort into it. The word hidden curriculum, in schooling, is referred to what is being taught in addition to the formal curriculum. “The teachers in inner city schools – who know where their students are headed- allow ethnic and street language in the classroom. Each type of school is helping to reproduce the social class structure.” This careless behavior of the teachers stems from a poor educational system that continues the social reproduction, like what would have happened with these students in this film if it wasn’t for Mrs. Gruwell.
Compelling progress in the film, it can be valued that the important to lessening labeling in society is by refuting it’s rooting in the younger age group. Mentality and reasoning change of the generation is possible to be spread and replicated in the societies from which they originate. It similarly demonstrates that one should be prepared to stand by their values and to guard them. Certainly, Gruwell was able to astound a marriage separation and was able to effectively challenge decision against her teaching junior and senior students. Certainly, her position saw many support numerous high school scholars to effectively advance and join colleges from a school where dropout rates were very upsetting (Gruwell, The Freedom Writers Diary Themes, n.d.).
A persons background transformations is what styles one exceptional, it keeps them from being average and mediocre. The film is made clear that we are different from our own set of difficulties. Culture frequently affects the way we live and respond to most situations. At the beginning of the film, students were more ignorant of the values other than their own and only stuck together. The movie denotes the position of intercultural associations and cultural understanding as well as the identity persons are related to.
An inconsequential part in the film, where Eva, a female who is one of the main characters and a gang associated Latino, finishes the book, “The Diary of Anne Frank”. She turns out to be distressed when found out that Anne passes away in the end. She screams at Mrs. Gruwell appealing, if she can’t make it, then what does that say about me? There’s exists a strong connection among the scholars of the lower class and Anne Frank. Anne was confined, frightened, and unsure whether she would make it to the following day alive. This is how the students felt being stuck in the lower class. They felt trapped and believed they could only make it by becoming a rapper or professional athlete. They’re afraid someone will take their lives and are trapped in a realm of uncertainty. Therefore, the book hits so hard with each one of Gruwell’s students. The class is not only a way to separate people in society, but it’s also a way to keep those individuals feeling inferior, so the hierarchy stays intact and the powerful stay on top.
Erin Gruwell is a strong-minded, vicious, intellectual woman who goes after what she wants and doesn’t stop until she flourishes. Her scholars turn out to be her family and she cares for them like they’re her offspring. She ends up getting two part-time jobs on top of her teaching profession, just to be able to take her class on learning expeditions, as well as, buy them new reading books. Her partner becomes daunted by the quantity of time she devotes with her scholars and presses for a separation. He tells her the underlying forces in their relationship aren’t working because he can’t be her wife. The fundamental hypothesis here is that women are thought to take on the household, custodian title role. From an early age, it is taught that men are the ones who are the breadwinners. This is one of the many reasons why gender inequality still exists in society.
My belief is that the movie “Freedom Writers” fits the perspective of the conflict. This philosophy states “society is composed of groups that compete with one another for scarce resources. The surface might show cooperation but scratch the surface and you will find a struggle for power.” (Henslin, n.d.). A persistent struggle for power exists between the teachers and students and between the white police officers and the racial minority. This film opens by presenting the hate that numerous races have for one another. Eva is full of antagonism and loath, predominantly for Caucasians. This is owing to her tormenting childhood, where her father was illegitimately imprisoned by white police captains for a manslaughter he did not commit. He was detained since he was too appreciated and looked up to by his people. Conflict philosophers advise that law is used as a form of oppression. “The power elite developed the legal system, which is used to stabilize the social order. They use it to control the poor, who pose a threat to the powerful. The poor hold the potential of rebelling as a group, which could dislodge the power elite from their place of privilege.” The battle between teachers and students is another example of a struggle for power. The conflict perspective suggests how schools continue the divide in society and aid members of the elite in sustaining their power and control. All the teachers, besides Mrs. Gruwell, were keeping the students stuck in their class, by not teaching them to be better and not guiding them to further their education.
In the encounters and the disagreements, Gruwell faced from her fellow coworkers, mostly with concerns to her schooling approaches is a suggestion that fight for amendment is never stress-free. It is also an expression by the trust of many is only gotten through outcomes as many of the colleagues later came to appreciate her accomplishments. In addition, the film explains that the secret to victory is openness. In this respect, it is seen that the young teacher inspires her students to scribble down their opinions and encounters in journals.
In conclusion, Freedom Writers is a film that emphases on the social creations that make up the society we live in. Race, class, deviance, education and gender roles are all groupings keeping us bound in a pecking order. The lower class are poorer, and the elite are superior. To overcome diversity like the classroom of 203 did, is not an easy task, particularly when you live in a world that’s built around frequently unraveling persons into diverse groupings. The film was a heart-warming tale of motivation and determination at its finest. I felt that the movie did a great job of presenting how diversity influences some inner city schools. I have always tried to understand the importance of diversity, this movie gave me a greater understanding of why diversity is important.
References
Gruwell, E. (2007). The Freedom Writers diary : teacher's guide. New York: Broadway Books.
Gruwell, E. (n.d.). The Freedom Writers Diary Themes. Retrieved from The Freedom Writers Diary Themes: https://www.enotes.com/topics/the-freedom-writers-diary/themes
Henslin. (n.d.). Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology. Retrieved from Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology: https://content.stg-openclass.com/eps/sanvan/api/item/b24b022b-f37a-4b3e-80f7-1cbe688c8b4b/1/file/henslin_writing_space_prod_test03302015/OPS/text/chapter-01/ch1_sec_04.xhtml
