Freedom Writers is a movie based on the true story and diaries of students in Ms. Gruwell's class which takes place in Los Angeles, California in 1992. Erin Gruwell, a first time teacher, is hired to teach a lower level academic class at Woodrow Wilson High School. Erin was excited to try and make improvements in her classroom, because having been around her father in the courtroom, she believed that by the time juveniles are fighting battles in the court it is too late, but the real fighting needs to happen in the classroom. Her first assignment, which would carry over the course of the year, was to write daily in a journal she had purchased herself for each student. In these journals the student could write anything whether it is happy or sad entries, and she would only grade by their participation unless an individual wanted her to read their entries, which ended up being the case.

 

  By the end of the year, Ms. Gruwell had transformed her disrespectful and culturally isolated class into a family; a family that actually got excited about going to school, writing journal entries, participating in class, and working together on projects like fundraising to meet Miep Gies. In the end, their journal entries from that entire year were compiled together in a book called the Freedom Writers, which was published in 1999, and was the basis for the movie.

 

  The ideals in the movie are still prevalent today such as the idea of gangs in a school setting, how teachers treat the less privileged students, and the unity derived from struggles. The effects of the freedom writers are living today because of the founding of the Freedom Writer’s Foundation which alters the future of many kids for the better. The foundation actively inspire the kids to reach their full academic potential, decrease high school dropout rate, instill values in the kids, teaches them to respect and accept diversity, and helps them to recognize their role in their community. The movie also represents our generation today as it portrays the all too serious presence of gangs in a school setting. Making the connection to Dwight Conquergood’s ethnography research “The Heart broken in Half,” we see that gangs were threatening to those on the streets and were culturally intermixed, whereas in “Freedom Writers” the movie, gangs are in a somewhat controlled environment and culturally defined. One major transformation that evolved from the time of Dwight’s research to the time the movie takes place is that gangs are differentiated by culture. From the time period the movie is set in, 1992, to now, 2013, gangs have for the most part remained static. Gang communication and establishment are still applicable today, as well as the issue of how to handle the presents of gangs in school and education. Mrs. Gruwell made the mistake of asking her students to admit if they were in a gang and if so to distinguish which one. She quickly corrected herself by apologizing for breaking school policy since they are not allowed to discuss gangs or affiliation in school. This policy is still in effect today in efforts to avoid any unnecessary conflict in the classroom. There are many teachers who are passionate about their job and go above and beyond to reach out to children like Mrs. Gruwell did, but there are also those teachers who could care less and are just working for a pay check. It’s those teachers who we need to work with and be concerned about because they are not instilling hope into their student’s lives. The film is a perfect representation of our generation. This film told the story of many different races and backgrounds of many different youth groups. Everyone has those struggles in life and not everyone can see that from the way you act or express yourself. The struggle is real in the lives of many teenagers and especially college students. Out of our past or present struggles we view this film as an inspiration to make the right choice that betters your life as a whole. No one belong to street violence or gang affiliations based off your color or ethnicity. This film was based in a classroom but it in reality it is possible for the same unity that took place in the film to exist on the streets, our churches and even in our homes. Freedom Writers presented unity that many didn’t believe could exist and that represents our possibilities of our generation today.

 

  The movie was directed and produced in such a way that teenagers are still raving about it today on social media. Freedom writers, produced by Danny DeVito, Stacy Sher, and Michael Shamberg and directed by Richard LaGravenese, earned itself countless positive reviews with the expected couple of negative evaluations and criticism. Prominent actors who played roles in this influential movie are Hillary Swank who acted as Mrs. Gruwell’s character, Patrick Dempsey who plays Erin Gruwell’s husband, and April Le Hernandez who plays the role of Eva, one of the main characters.

 

  To create our virtual museum of our analysis of the movie, our team chose to use wix.com a free website builder. This website tool offered various templates, and looking back, we almost wish we would’ve saved ourselves some time and used a template, but instead we created it from scratch. We chose to make connections to articles and ethnographies we have studied in Darlene’s class to hold a stronger argument and illustrate the relevance of gangs in society. On our plot summary page we added two videos that for the most part hit on the key concepts of the movie providing a brief overview for those who are unfamiliar with the movie. In addition to the professional reviews and critics, we thought it was beneficial to offer our personal opinions and thoughts about the movie to wrap up our virtual museum.  We are proud of our completed website and feel that this website builder was one of the easier ones to work with as every tool had instructions and was fairly simple to use. The only drawback in making this website was the fact that we chose to create our virtual museum from scratch instead of using a premade template that would help guide us in a layout and offer design ideas.