Freedom

After one of Erin’s students is witness to a racially motivated gang shooting and after finding a stereotypical racial drawing being passed around in her class of one of her students, Erin’s idealistic outlook starts to come down and she has the students write down journal entries every day to better understand the daily struggles these teens face and to help connect with them. She brings in music and literature that she believes they can relate to like The Diary of Anne Frank to show them the outcome of intolerance throughout the world. After hearing each other’s stories they realize they struggle with the same issues and begin to relate with one another and the class becomes a safe haven for the teens. They become like a family and realize they have more opportunities than just living beyond the age of eighteen.
There are many themes portrayed in the movie “Freedom Writers”, but the main two focus points are overcoming adversity and believing in yourself to succeed. The first and most important theme of the movie is that you shouldn’t judge or go against another group of people just for the color of their skin or who they’re affiliated with. By the end of the film the teens realized they are more similar than they are different and they struggle all the same. It also has another amazing message that no matter what the odds, or no matter however many people tell you you’re not good enough, you can do anything you put your mind to and succeed. It took just one teacher to unite these teens and help them want to do more in life than just survive.
Erin Gruwell’s class in itself is a major use of symbolism. The movie starts out by showing different events and movements throughout history that were caused by adversity and segregation, and when first introduced to Erin’s class, the students are divided into groups and they hate anyone who is “different” from themselves. This symbolizes the entire world and the intolerance different races and countries have for each