Preview

Freedom Writers Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
841 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Freedom Writers Analysis
An Inspiring and Meaningful Movie
Freedom Writers

Freedom Writers is a drama movie based on the book “The Freedom Writers Diary” written by The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell. The movie was first released on January 5th 2007 in the USA, and on May 18th 2007 in Norway. The director of the movie is Richard LaGravenese and the screenwriters are the Freedom Writers, Erin Gruwell and Richard LaGravenese. The Music is made by Mark Isham, will.i.am, Talib Kweli and other various artists. The main actors are Hilary Swank as Erin Gruwell, Patrick Dempsey as Scott Casey, Imelda Staunton as Margaret Campbell, April L. Hernandez as Eva Benitez, Mario as Andre Bryant, Jason Finn as Marcus and Jaclyn Ngan as Sindy.

The Freedom Writers is about the young, novice teacher Erin Gruwell and the students in classroom 203 at Woodrow Wilson High School, Long Beach, California. The story takes place from year 1992 to 1995 and it is a true story.
Ms Gruwell was very excited for her first day. She had big plans for how she was going to get the students to line up outside the classroom door, instead of not showing up to class or quit before the first semester was finished. This was how the schools’ reputation had turned out to be after the integration program was suggested at Woodrow Wilson. To teach the street kids, was a lot easier said than done. To get the students’ attention, Ms Gruwell had to call them Nazis and count how many of them who had lost friends to gang violence.

The students comes from many different societies. In room 203 there are blacks, whites, Latinos and Cambodians. For many of these kids, death, violence, gangs, and fighting for territories, are daily events. They come from broken families and have had a very difficult and challenging childhood. They are happy if they make it to the end of the day. One of the students, Eva, said to Ms Gruwell during class; “what are you doing in here that makes a god damn difference to my life?” This wakes Ms

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    In 1964, the author, Jonathan Kozol, is a young man who works as a teacher. Like many others at the time, the grade school where he teaches is segregated (teaching only non-white students), understaffed, and in poor physical condition. Kozol loses his first job as a teacher because he introduces students to some African American poetry that questions the conditions of blacks in America. Years later, after holding many other jobs, Kozol misses working with children. He decides to visit schools across America to see what has changed. What he learns is saddening; many schools have student bodies that are still separate and unequal.…

    • 2307 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    For example, ¨ You would have to tell those boys who did this, thank you.¨ Grandma India teaches Melba to say thank you instead of being a victim so Melba learns to smile and meet every outrageous abuse with a polite “ Thank you.” In addition Melba was concerned about taking part of the integration “ I was living with concern - preparing to take part in the integration of Central High School.” Melba did not know for sure if she wanted to go through with the integration process but overall to the black community Central High had symbolized a place of better education but also all the barriers the little rock nine would break if they were to attend an all white school. Central High School was more than just getting nine black kids into an all white school, it was about giving black people as a whole the same opportunities whites…

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Fremont, students are forced to deal with squalor conditions and absurd rules. The staff, students, and even Kozol see no reason as to why it should be this way. The reason is brought to light with a discussion between students, which Kozol instigated. Mireya, a bright young girl at Fremont, confessed to Kozol that she did not want to go to the factory to sew like her mother but wants to go to college. A student named Fortino chimed in telling Mireya that the factory needs people to sew. He tells her that because she's "ghetto" she is already destined to sew at the factory. His words are crude but truthful. Fremont has twenty fewer school days than other schools and sometimes students need to take on part-time jobs just because they need the school credits. The school has more substitute teachers than actual teachers one substitute even saying “Just yesterday I was subbing [for] a substitute who was subbing for a teacher who never shows up,” (721). Many teachers want to teach interesting classes, such as women's studies, but can't because of the classroom shortage. Kozol shows a school that is not designed to help these children learn it's made to make them serve. The inequality in Fremont is appalling. Kozol is not showing the reader a school but an X-Acto knife designed to cut away at a child's passion until they conform and…

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Study Hall was Mark's first negative impression of Cushing Academy. He thought this was done in order to keep the students in silence and restrain them from having freedom. After he experienced Study Hall at Cushing for over two months, he could really see the changes and results it produced on him. He realized that he didn't have to worry about having enough time for his studies. Also, he could see his grades improve every week. One day Mark received a phone call from his mother. Before picking up the phone, the only thought he had in his mind was that he was going to get grounded for his grades or performance at school. He answered the phone and there was his proud mother congratulating him for his wonderful grades he had. But how did he do it, she asked. His answer was only a simple phrase. "Study Hall mom, I thought this was a torture but it ended up helping me to organize my studies". As Mark was very satisfied with his results, many other students also express to their parents how helpful was Study Hall in Cushing Academy.…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    MsGruwell decided on a different strategy, to which came directly from the students, known as ‘unteachables’ class-room 203, in twoways – gang life(to which they were accustomed too) andthe word holocaust(a word they never heard, except for one student).One night, there was a gang shooting, in which Eva’s (a student of a Latina gang)boyfriend, shot and killed a Cambodian. Eva was witnessed to the shooting and is now expected to testify in court. Living by generations of strict moral codes of protecting your own at all cost, Eva thinks she has no choice but to do just that when testifying. At school one day Ms. ‘G’ interrupted a racist drawing of one of the students andused this as another strategy to teach them. She seeks to explain what is a holocaust and to tell the story about the holocaust that took place centuries ago.…

    • 1186 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Social issues were touched upon making the story extremely controversial and yet somehow important for all teenagers to see. It touches mainly on racial discrimination and how at that school, African-American, Mexican and Asian students in gangs do not get a voice. As Mrs. Gruwell develops relationships with each and every one of her students, she learns that all they truly want is for somebody to hear them, for somebody to remember them if they die. By giving the students their diaries, Erin attempts to get them in touch with who they truly are, and what they do with such a quiet voice shocks her. The movie shows viewers that together, they can move mountains. The viewer will explore touching diary entries, teaching them that everything that is said will make a difference to somebody. It doesn’t matter what is spoken, or what is written, what matters will always be the moments when somebody hears the author. Hears them not by reading what is written, but by understanding that everybody has a story to tell and everybody’s story is important. The viewer will grasp a new found respect for everybody that they meet because, as learned though the movie, everybody has a voice, they just need to learn how to use…

    • 1346 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    They went into depth when they wrote about the different situations they encountered everyday inside and outside of the school. In one entry a student explained that one of their close friends died in a drive by shooting. The student wrote about the occurrence as if it happens often. “I’ve lost many friends, friends who have died in an undeclared war. A way that has been here for years, but has never been recognized”.…

    • 1410 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Toni Cade Bambara’s short story “The Lesson” is told from the perspective of a young girl named Sylvia. Sylvia is not the most reliable reliable narrator as a result of her age and upbringing- she forms opinions of others based on how they relate to her life; if a completely innocent person happens to affect her life in a way that inconveniences her, he or she will be portrayed only in a negative light whether or not this is deserved. Throughout the story, she frames her Miss Moore, who is her neighbor as well as a major protagonist of the story, as an enemy. Miss Moore, who is fairly new to the block, considers it her duty as a college-educated woman to be responsible for the education of the underprivileged children in the area, “and…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Freedom, by definition, is the power to act, speak, or think as one wants. However, the meaning of freedom can vary greatly from person to person depending on the society in which they live. The novel Audacity by Melanie Crowder follows the life and hardships of Clara Lemlich, a young Jewish girl who moved from her home in Russia to America in order to escape prejudice against the Jews. Despite this, their family found further hardships both while traveling and upon arriving at the new world. To Clara, freedom is equality for her, her family, and the other young immigrant girls working under substandard conditions.…

    • 148 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What exactly is freedom? Is it the ability to think for yourself, to speak without the fear of consequences, to be able to vote in federal elections or is it something much more? Ambrose Flask attempts to unravel the true meaning of freedom in his short story “The Strangers That Came to Town.” This story outlines the journey of the Duvitch family as they rise from the depths of oppression to obtain a sense of equality and acceptance from their society. In his short story, “The Strangers that Came to Town”, Ambrose Flack is showing that true freedom is about being accepted. First of all, the Duvitches’ dark, mysterious past helps bring a deeper meaning to their tale and highlights their longtime struggle for freedom. Additionally, their treatment from the townspeople truly exemplifies the meaning and Euphoria granted by freedom. Finally, the character development of other characters in the story shows that freedom is received when it is given. In “The Strangers That Came to Town,” it is proven that the true meaning of freedom is being accepted through the Duvitches’ dark past, the Duvitches’ treatment from the townspeople, and the character development shown from characters in the story.…

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The main character was a English teacher went by the name of Mrs. Gruwell or Mrs. G received the at risk sophomore students for her first teaching job. Students who were consider incapable of learning, a waste in the educational system before the arrival of Mrs. G, no one in the school had any hope for that specific group of students to be successful in any aspect. while classes were co-ed with racial diversity. the entire school was divided by street and racial gangs which hindered the opportunity for teachers to develop a positive and healthy student teacher relationship. as Mrs. G was named the new teacher on campus she had barriers to overcome with the group abused by society because the entire class was affected by gang violence in some way either it be personally or to a friend or family member which caused the at risk sophomore to develop trust issues to temporary figures in their life. because in the movie freedom writers on the very first day of school after Mrs.G attempts to politely address the class and introduce herself she soon after entered an altercation with her students who explained to Mrs.G that she doesn't know anything about how they are living, the pain they have to deal with and how it is all about the color of your skin that dictates everything in their life, not what they learn in grammar class. After taking the first few days to breaking the ice between the teacher and the students they became more comfortable with Mrs.G expressing their feelings and life experiences through their diaries given to them by Mrs.G, opening a healthy link of communication between both roles. one day in class one of the students complained about how uninteresting the stories were which made it difficult to retain the appropriate information to succeed because the educational system hasn't been updated for centuries. As the…

    • 1056 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Freedom Writers Belonging

    • 1322 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The film Freedom Writers tells a tale of a high school class that broke a cycle of violence and failure in their inner city school. This film is based around the race riots during the early 1990s in Los Angeles. In this film, the school is divided by race and clearly shows the influence of culture on a person’s sense of belonging. This indicates how their cultural identity acts as a barrier between them and other cultures, resulting in a sense of displacement and dislocation. This film shows the struggles and hardships faced by people of ethic culture to integrate into the society of a dominant culture.…

    • 1322 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Freedom to women means to be treated as an equal to their spouse, to avoid being controlled with every aspect of their lives. In Kate Chopin’s “The Story of and Hour and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper, both have a setting in the same era of men being dominant over their spouse. In “The Story of an Hour”, the protagonist Mrs. Mallard kept whispering to herself upon hearing the passing of her husband; “…she said it over and over under her breath: Free, free, free!” (Chopin 2) and “Free! Body and soul free!” (Chopin 3). In my point of view those feelings that Mrs. Mallard felt at that moment was finally being let go from her husband’s grasp and the shackles of marriage which was an imprisonment to her. In “The Yellow Wallpaper”, the narrator of the story was remained nameless is confined in a room with eccentric wallpaper, which I think seems to symbolize the complexity and confusion in her life. The narrator’s freedom in this case would be writing, which did not sit well with her husband based on this quote; “There comes John, and I must put this away – he hates to have me write a word” (Gilman 57). For those moments the narrator writes in her journal she feels to have freedom and to express herself from reality, but in secret. The way the narrator describes her room as; “it is a big, airy room, the whole floor nearly, with windows that look all ways, and air and sunshine galore…I should judge, for the windows, are…

    • 1159 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Change is a difficult process for several people in Freedom Writers because their decision to change could mean death. As they go on certain decisions are life threatening, but they decided to take the high road. Gangs aren’t in favor of high roads, but in the end the writers find that it doesn't matter what they think. The Freedom Writers are starting to become a group against violence and this is stirring problems up between gangs. In the end they only know what's right for them, so they make this time a time for a…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Freedom Writers

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages

    For the most part yes youth are respectful to each other’s differences. No there are not similar problems to those in Wilson High. But if there was then the steps I would take to initiate change would be to tell the teacher to maybe to a project were we learn about another person we don’t get along with so that by the end of the project the two could maybe see eye to eye and get along.…

    • 1633 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics