Freedom Writers Analysis Paper
Freedom Writers Analysis Over the years, I had heard many positive things said about this movie, but yet I had never taken the time to rent the movie and watch it myself. That is why I am so glad that this movie was our assignment. Freedom writers far exceeded my expectations. It truly was touching to see an adaptation of real live stories come to play. Watching a young woman, a teacher, who was completely out of her element and her comfort zone, grow to actually take an interest in these kids that society gave up on, was truly inspiring to me.
Something that stood out to me in this movie was the recurring theme of racial tension.
There was a constant recurrence of these people vs. these people. In the beginning of the film, the subcultures of the students were clearly defined. Many of these kids decided to not care about school, grades, and their future because just surviving one day to the next was success in their minds.
Their self-concept constantly made them believe that because of where they were born and what they didn’t have, that what they did in life really didn’t matter. As the story progresses you can definitely see how this affects the students’ self-esteem.
Yet, despite all the years of a negative self-concept they find sympathy in Mrs. Gruwell. It’s within this young teacher’s heart that she grows beyond herself and her accustomed lifestyle, to develop a strong sense of empathy.
She literally puts herself in her students’ place and gets herself into their mindset, when the kids finally open up to her in their journals. As the semester continues, she reads about their unsatisfying home life and learns that these kids aren’t just bad to be bad. She learns that these are young people that are hurting and are just adapting who they are to survive in their toxic environments.
It’s from that point on that she makes it her mission to show these kids that they are worth something and they are important. One example of how Erin Gruwell fought for her students to have better was in one of the scenes where Erin and Margaret Campbell (the school’s representative) are in the school’s storage supply room and Erin sees numerous unused books. She gets very excited over the idea of being able to take advantage of such great resources, but Ms.
Campbell consistently shuts her down and makes it known that she doesn’t believe Mrs. Gruwell’s students are even worthy of taking advantage of such fine materials.
The exchange between the two women becomes heated, and the end result is Mrs. Gruwell apologizing for “overstepping her boundaries” but that apology is only to suffice Ms. Campbell.
It’s later shown that Erin goes up the educational hierarchy and approaches the man that started the Integration Initiative. Erin slightly offends Dr. Carl Cohn when she states that although his concept and intention of the Integration Program was admirable; his program is failing because these students are unable to connect and disregard the racial and social tension that exists between them.
Dr. Carl Cohn realizes Erin’s intentions are good and decides to lend Erin all the support she needs.
After learning what Erin Gruwell has done, Ms. Campbell becomes very upset but is unable to really doing anything about it. With Mrs. Gruwell’s endless dedication to her students, she sacrifices her personal time by getting two jobs, as a saleswoman for a lingerie department and as a check-in lobby consultant at the Marriot Hotel. In addition, her marriage becomes intensely strained.
Yet, despite all the resistance and obstacles she faces; she is determined to make a difference in her student’s lives.
Therefore, it was with the support of Dr. Cohn and with her extended resources (her two side jobs) that she was able to finally afford to take her freshman class to the Holocaust Museum. This visit was a clear product of what had happened weeks prior, when a racist picture of one of her students circulated her classroom. In an attempt to put a silence to the cruel stereotyping and negative perceptions; the visit to the Holocaust Museum proves to be a true success.
Her students witness accounts of trials and tribulations that are greater than their own, when they get to sit down and have dinner with real Holocaust survivors, at the hotel that their teacher works at.
By the end of the day, all of the students take something separate and internally deep with them. The field trip proves to be a true success and definitely becomes the foundation for building trust and breaking down the walls of segregation between one another.
