Freedom Writers

Yahkeira Readon
January 30, 2009
Blog #2
Freedom Writers
Freedom writers, is a true story about a teacher, by the name of Erin Gruwell, and her very diverse class in Long Beach, California in 1994. Erin chose to teach at Woodrow Wilson High School for the exact reason that those who were currently teaching there no longer wanted to be there, diversity. Erin was assigned to teach a classroom full of students from every race and nationality, students who had been labeled un-teachable and expected to drop out before the eleventh grade. The students sectioned themselves off in their respective areas in the classroom, sitting according to their gang affiliation. This arrangement, in which the students sat, reflected the war the students were fighting in against each other outside of the classroom. However the students were not the only one battling. Their teacher, whom they called Mrs. G was also fighting a war. The opening scenes of freedom writers foreshadow the events that take place throughout the movie, the teacher being a protector, the students coming together, becoming writers, and their dreams coming true.
The soundtrack, which is played throughout the movie and significantly in the beginning of the movie, is a song by artists Common and Will.i.am, “Dream.” The entire song is not played, only the part that contains the words that pertain to the movie “I have a dream...And one day… it’s going to work out.” In the opening of the movie, this one part of the song replays over and over, there is a big picture of the teacher, the main students, and behind the teacher is a notebook with writing and blotches of ink on the notebook. The song “Dream” is significant in that it foreshadows that although these kids are facing tough times, they should continue to dream because one day everything will work out. The teacher is shown so big in the opening credits, because she plays a big part in protecting the kids and fighting for them and their rights, the notebook with the writing and the ink blotches foreshadows the students in the movie writing about their dreams, which in the end come true. However, seconds after this freeze framed shot, you hear police sirens, screaming, news reporters, and you see pictures of a riot in Los Angeles.
The riot is used to foreshadow a war that takes place in the movie; however the riot was not the tool to use, it was not affective. The riot is very out of place and throws off the affect of the foreshadowing; it was something that took place years before the teacher began to teach. The riot was about the people in the city turning against and standing up to the authority which was abusing its power. So, they looted and damaged the city. The riot was used to foreshadow the wars that were fought by the students and the teacher, but the war in which the students and the teacher faced was very different from a riot. They fought in wars with their families, in their neighborhoods, with each other, and members of other gangs. And the teacher fought in a war at home with her father, who did not want her to teach, and her husband who felt that teaching had become her life instead of him. The best way to foreshadow this war in the beginning, and keep the strong and significant foreshadowing theme going was to show clips of a few of the wars in which the characters fought throughout the movie, and keep the soundtrack playing as the clips are just being flashed. The riot scene did not add to the movie, because it was not significant to the wars in which the students and the teachers fought. It was not authority the students were at war with, they were at war with themselves, and in the end they stood up and came together, and rose above the label that was placed on them. They proved to be competent and able to learn, and they learned a great deal from their teacher. Mrs. G taught them how to come together, tolerate, and respect each other.