Justice in context The freedom writers
Characters
Eva is a teen student enrolled in Mrs Gruwell English class,
she has been brought up in and around the gang life having her father run the gang up until he was wrongly convicted of a crime he didn’t commit, this took a tole on Eve mental health so she got deeper in the gang life so her father would be proud.
Marcus is another teen attending Mrs Gruwell English class. Just like Eve Marcus is deep in the gang life which his family didn’t approve of so his mother kicked him out of home leaving him homeless. Marcus lost his best friend at a very young age and got put away for his death which wasn’t his fault.
Mrs Gruwell is young English teacher who decided to come to Woodrow Wilson high school to be part of their integration program, she saw the hurt and anger of the students but didn’t really know much about the wars they face everyday so she had made it her mission to get them so involved in their schooling and was there for each of her students.
Context
A dedicated teacher in a racially divided Los Angeles school has a class of at-risk teenagers deemed incapable of learning. Instead of giving up, she inspires her students to take an interest in their education and planning their future. She assigns reading material that relates to their lives and encourages them all to keep journals.
Racial segregation is the systemic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, such as schools and hospitals by people of different races
Integration is the act of bringing together smaller components into a single system that functions as one.
The 1992 Los Angeles riots, sometimes called the 1992 Los Angeles uprising, were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County in April and May 1992. After a trial jury acquitted four officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for usage of excessive force in the arrest and beating of Rodney King, which had been videotaped and widely viewed in TV broadcasts.
Ideas about justice/injustice
The injustice of gang violence
Eve let’s her fellow gang members who is also Latino into the school to start a fight with another gang of African-American appearance.
During this scene the sound scape changes to loud thumping with music in the background mimicking a heart beat when Eve sets out to let her fellow gang members into the school to start a fight
Everyone experience injustice
An explanation of this is a visual antidote for both students along with the rest of the class right in these journals that are given to them about their injustices they face in their life, Eve and Marcus A prime example as they both use this to their advantage to share their deepest thoughts and how they experience in justice in their life.
Throughout the movie Marcus makes it very clear that he has experience injustice from a young age as he tells his story of the first time he lost someone, the first time he went to juvenile hall and how it he got there even being innocent using the rule of 3 “a dead body, a gun and a nigger”. He was found guilty of a crime that wasn’t even committed and his voice wasn’t heard because of the colour of his skin
The injustice of the education system
Woodrow Wilson high school is facing the consequences of an involuntary integration program. As a result, they privilege the white students over coloured students who are extremely disadvantaged.
Students move into the classroom in a manner that conveys they attitude towards their learning this is demonstrated with close up shots of bags being dropped , tables being moved and ankle monitors showing that they are a product of their environment.
Images about the film
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“The schools like a prison”
“A dead body, a gun and a nigger”
“We were like a fire triangle, he was the oxygen, I was the flame, and together we made the fuel. All mixed together we were a fire.”
The juxtaposed high angle shots of Mrs Gruwell classroom being compared to the honour roll class that host mainly white students it’s clean and well decorated with the newest technology and Academic posters while Mr Gruwell class is untidy has Graffiti, broken blinds and host a variety of mix students.
Eva is a female student who is in a gang and has been brought up around the gang environment because her dad, he was a very high up and respected man in the gang till he get convicted of a crime he didn’t commit because of this Eva doesn’t trust the justice system and doesn’t under the war she is fighting in the street from, this is represented with low modality language “I don’t even know how this war started”.
While the fights are breaking out a close up shot of a peace sign with Mrs Gruwell standing in front of it is shown, revealing what the students find more important and that the respect they receive off their gang and others for standing their ground and fighting back to show off that they are more superior and the better more violent gang so they shouldn’t be messed with, instead of putting all that aside and focusing on the school and respecting the rules.