Freedom Writers

FREEDOM WRITERS MOVIE REVIEW The movie Freedom Writers (directed by Richard LaGravenese , starring Hilary Swank as Erin Gruwell an excited new teacher, Scott Glenn as Steve Gruwell (Erins father), Imelda Staunton as Margaret Vail (department head), Patrick Dempsey as Scott Casey (Erins husband), Mario as Andre (student), and April Lee Hernandez as Eva (Student)) gave me the impression of sending a hidden message. In that message it said a lot to me about how anyone no matter who they are, have the right to do anything if they are willing to stand up for it.We watch as an up and coming teacher teaches a classroom of students who come and go to juvenile detention centers, homeless, and for some jail, to work together and not against. It has also been inspirational to me because it teaches people not to discriminate or stereotype others just because of their ethnic background. Set in Long Beach, California (1994–1996), Freedom Writers, based on a true story, puts into play this n egative stereotype of people within an ethnic community belonging to a crime filled environment.The high school students within the movie belong to a segregated community, where each race is divided into separate tribes. The students are represented as a central point to the movie, and the way they struggle to break free from the chaotic atmosphere around them to emerge as one, putting away the elements of the ‘separate/extra’ and accepting their classmates for who they are rather than the color of their skin or ethnicity. On her first day teaching, Erin Gruwell encounters an empty classroom and has to wait till a school officer drags the students into class.The students separate into racial groups in the classroom, fights break out, and eventually most of the high school students stop attending class. Not only does Gruwell feel hostility from her high school students, but she also clashes with her department head, who refuses to let her teach her high school students w ith books in case they get damaged and lost, and instead tells her to focus on training them discipline and obedience.As time passes on she slowly but eventually begins to earn their trust and buys them composition books to record their diaries, in which they talk about their experiences of being evicted, abused, and seeing their friends die. I believe Hilary Swank fulfilled her part as a teacher for her students because she made it seem as if she was really going above and beyond for the students. I believe Imelda Staunton who played as Margaret Vail, fulfilled the expectations but at the same time, I feel hers could have been more out there.April Lee Hernandez as Eva, was perfect for the role because she gave her character a hostile and tough demeanor. I think that made her more exciting to listen to because of what she has come from to achieve her perception of others in the movie. I was excited by this movie and would watch it again for the characters backgrounds and seeing them achieve their goals. The actors gave what was asked of them. Freedom Writers There is an obvious discrimination shown in the movie â€Å"Freedom Writers†, where everybody hates everybody and they got no choice but to live in a world full of pandemonium. Random cultural implications are shown in the movie. Where one has to accept his/her society since birth, or someone has to really join a gang to keep up and belong to a hood. In the case of the students in the movie, they are just simply hopeless and what they all just do is to keep raging flames in their hearts. Until one tough and undeniably smart professor came on their way to take action – Ms.Gruwell. As Ms. Gruwell came into the movie, I just thought that there will really be one person who will unexpectedly cross one’s life and lead you towards impunity. Same with the world or certain country where there is rampant chaos and a peacemaker leads to fight for the right. At first, Ms. Gruwell had dismay that she wasn’t able to understand everything. And because she thinks and con siders the factors she sees in her current endeavor, she came up with a very unique plan that a usual professor wouldn’t think about. FREEDOM WRITING. I guess, the maker of the movie wanted to disseminate how the therapy of writing one’s feelings comes into such a relief to those whose minds are insane and broken. This is a very good twist in the movie, where in cultural liberalism takes place. Series of difficulties are shown in the movie, and how brave Ms. Gruwell and the students faced it together. Regardless of race, nationality and status, they all worked it out and despite Ms. Gruwell’s dispute in school, everything worked out the way it is supposed to be.I felt bad because I know that the movie really happens in reality, and I have this hope in my heart that there will be more people who will understand and become more like Ms. Gruwell. The line â€Å"Everyday I worry when will I be free. † is poignant. Same as in our daily lives when we encounter suffering, we ask ourselves and feels like we’re being trapped. All we have to do is sigh, pray and breathe; There we will find peace. We shall be always open for changes for it is indispensible and constant. We shall all be brave and continue life as it is by fighting for the truth.We shall always voice out our thoughts and prevent misjudges because of races and kinds. We must be united despite the challenges in life. We shall not condemn one but ourselves too when society has its crisis and it breaks dow. And when WE break down, we shall stand UP – one by one. The book „Outliers? is basically are success stories wherein Malcolm Gladwell, a renowned writer, gives practical explanations of how extraordinary people gain success. The stories situated in the book always involve different aspects of success such as the environment, patience and hard work, coincidences and other things happening around.Basically, the ideas give „common-sense? answer to the quest ion. These people have succeeded because of the things that surrounds them and not just only by themselves. As stated â€Å"It makes a difference where and when we grew up†, this clearly explains that a person don? t achieve success not only by himself but it matters on the situations and opportunities that lies around him. Gladwell investigates place, time and culture of these success stories in order to come up with practical explanations behind it.This also includes the relevant events that happened in certain period of time where these people are part and been to these events. So in other words, these people have been to certain event in their lives that made them succeed. Gladwell thought of these idea to see the logic about being successful or not, in this case is by asking where these people came from. One way Gladwell explains it is by determining the important events in certain period of time which are based on patterns of birthdates of a group of people such as the Canadian hockey team, Czechoslovakian National Junior Soccer team and the people behind today? technology, MAC and PC. There are many different stories that Gladwell shared in order to produce one perspective of defining success. And, this all comes to one conclusion what? s behind success. 10,000 Hour Rule The 10,000 hour rule is my most favorite part of the book, where it explains patience and hard work. These are the most important things that I believe about success. Practically, we need practices in order to make things perfect and in order. It? s a universal idea of how things became successful with more practices you do to be closer to perfection and success.There are thousands of stories behind success that involves practicing and perseverance. From the „Outliers? , especially with the musicians in the stories, it will take a lot of practices and experiences to produce series of great performances. The Beatles – Lennon and McCartney started playing in 1957 but b ecame known in the U. S. in 1964, which they took seven years to succeed. To compare it with other genre, Smashing Pumpkins started playing in 1988 in Chicago, Illinois; they succeeded in the U. S. in 1992 and entered the international music industry in 1995.Charice Pempengco started to join singing contests at the age of 7, and joined hundreds of it before she performed in Star King in Korea at the age of 14 where Ellen DeGeneres discovered her in YouTube, and she started her international career with David Foster at the age of 15. Her success became unstoppable, but it took years of experiences in order to gain her continuous success. You can actually compare a lot of stories to 10,000 hour rule, this is very common to every success stories around the world. That? why this is the idea I believe and appreciated most. Decoded Numbers Gladwell presented many arguments regarding years, birth-dates, numbers and patterns. And basically, this numbers does show something and it’s a bout success. But what I am trying to figure out is if there are millions of numbers of combinations that can be presented by anyone and Gladwell actually showed only about 10 or 20 sets of numbers and dates in tables to prove this logic, and basically this can just occasional and coincidences in my opinion.I do actually believe in his investigations as presented in the book, but it was actually rare and likely can be occurred in just some point in time. In other way, if we compare other set of numbers in the same procedure, these are just a few samples and would be good as basis for success. For example, the birth dates of Chicago Bulls in NBA during the time of Michael Jordan where they became phenomenal and very famous because of winning six championships in 8 years during the 1990? s and they also won the finals over Utah Jazz in 1998 which is the one of the most popular game in NBA.Below are the rosters for Chicago Bulls in 1997-1998. Technically, you cannot see any pattern exc ept that all of them are born between 1961 to 1974 and above 90% went to college. And also the hall of famer trio, Jordan, Pippen and Rodman do not have anything in common with their birthdates and where they studied. Gladwell actually showed patterns in certain stories but there? s still a lot of success that does not have any methodological patterns. In my opinion, this can still be considered but not a good perspective for success