Cinematic Analysis: Theories of prejudice in "Freedom Writers"

Thèmes abordés

Considéré comme le chef-d'oeuvre de Pierre Corneille, Le Cid est une pièce de théâtre tragi-comédie basée sur une légende d'un soldat espagnol. Le comte, jaloux que le roi préfère le vieux don Diègue pour le poste de gouverneur du prince, offense ce dernier en lui donnant un soufflet. Don Diègue, affaibli par l'âge est trop vieux pour se venger lui-même, et remet sa vengeance entre les mains de son fils, Rodrigue. Rodrigue, déchiré entre son amour et son devoir, finit par choisir le sang et tue le père de Chimène en duel. L'attaque du royaume par les mores, donne à Rodrigue l'occasion de prouver sa valeur et d'obtenir le pardon du roi.

Résumé du document

Prejudice is prevalent in many aspects of the society. At some point in our lives, we will all come in contact with some sort of prejudice whether it is only witnessed or perhaps even a personal act. The movie "Freedom Writers" perfectly exemplifies the effects prejudice can have and how difficult it is to avoid these negative effects. Throughout the analysis, we examine the main theories of prejudice that are illustrated in the film and discuss how they apply to the students, the school, and society as a whole and how these effects were reduced by a motivated teacher.
The movie "Freedom Writers" is based on a true story about a young teacher who goes above and beyond her call of duty to motivate her students to learn and excel in a society filled with prejudices. Erin Gruwell is the new English teacher at a recently integrated high school in Long Beach, California. Her students are divided along racial lines and have few aspirations beyond basic survival. Surviving to the age of eighteen is seen as an accomplishment in a society filled with gangs and racial prejudices. When Gruwell discovers how much of her students' day to day lives are engulfed by racial prejudices she introduces them to books like the Diary of Anne Frank. Using the story of Anne Frank, she opens her students' eyes. She encourages her students to start a journal, like Anne, and to write in it their innermost thoughts. After sharing these stories with each other, the students learn more about their classmates and the racial barriers begin to reduce.

Extraits

[...] It seems to have a therapeutic effect on the students. The students get a sense of personal power when doing so, and begin to realize that they have more control over their decisions than they may have thought. Prejudice and stereotyping are still problems we are faced with in society today. Freedom Writers a great example of several of the theories we discussed in class. It exemplifies recategorization as the students begin to relate to each other; it shows obvious examples of racism within the school system as well as society; and it employs contact theory as a route to reducing prejudice, stereotypes, and racism as a whole among others. [...]

[...] Cinematic Analysis: Theories of Prejudice in Freedom Writers Cinematic Analysis- “Freedom Writers” Prejudice is prevalent in many aspects of society. At some point in our lives, we will all come in contact with some sort of prejudice whether it is only witnessed or perhaps even a personal act. The movie Freedom Writers perfectly exemplifies the effects prejudice can have and how difficult it is to avoid these negative effects. Throughout the analysis we examine the main theories of prejudice that are illustrated in the film and discuss how they apply to the students, the school, and society as a whole and how these effects were reduced by a motivated teacher. [...]

[...] Many theories discussed in class were presented throughout this movie. As a group, we decided to focus on the theory of prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping. Stereotyping, the belief about social groups because of traits or characteristics that they are believed to share, is a cause for discrimination (usually negative behaviour towards a person) and prejudice. Stereotypes can be based on different things, such as age, gender, race, religion, etc. Researchers believe that there are different techniques to reduce the amount of prejudice and stereotypes. [...]

[...] We kill each other over race, pride and respect. We fight for what is ours.” As described in the movie, gang violence is when tribe drifts quietly into another's territory without respect, as if to claim what isn't theirs.” This form of gang violence can be attributed to realistic conflict theories, in that the reason these gangs fight is to secure territory and resources. These youth are robbed of a childhood. They are exposed to things at an early age that no human should be subjected to at any point in their lives. [...]

[...] These students were perceived as being the minority group, incapable of achieving success and thus other teachers held low expectations of their potential, feeling that it was invaluable to spend time, money and resources on students they felt did not want to learn and were incapable of doing so. These students experienced discrimination and prejudice from other teachers, but Mrs. Gruwell felt that they had just as much potential as anyone else and fought for the resources these students deserved, even if it meant paying for them herself. [...]