Freedom Writers
Self-concept is the entirety of one's beliefs and attitudes towards their personal existence. Many people, depending on life experience, feel they have superiority or are at a disadvantage because of the group they fall into. This is seen in the movie Freedom Writers, each and every student has their own perspective on their own self-concept. These students end up finding similarities between each other because they have some sort of connection but only find it once they learn and open up about their struggles. There are many concepts of the self that can be found throughout the entire film.
Empathy is one of the major concepts of The Freedom Writers. Empathy is the ability to put yourself into another person’s experience and to completely understand the other’s thoughts, feelings and way of being. (P.78) An example of empathy is when Mrs. G reads the journals and can really put herself into their shoes and really understand their individual experiences. If Mrs. G didn’t have a strong sense of empathy for the students, she never would have been able to help them conquer their personal demons. Mrs. G used a strategy called identity management to connect with the students. Identity management is when communicators use certain strategies to influence the way others view them. (P.81) An example of this is when Mrs. G plays Tupac in an effort to relate to the kids in the class. She hopes to have them see that they may have something in common and to open up to her. Reflected appraisal is the influence of others on one’s self-concept. (P.62) A good example of reflected appraisal is how Eva’s gang gets her to lie on the stand and participate in gang activities. The gang makes Eva believe that she is like them and needs to be doing what they do when she is really a good person. Luckily, Eva sees the gang for what they really are and separates herself from them so that they no longer influence her self-concept. This is a problem for the majority of the students in Mrs. G’s class.
With many examples of face, which is defined as the socially approved identity that a communicator tries to present (P.82), there are also other examples besides the ones that Mrs. G and the students present. Margaret Campbell, the Department Chair, has a face to present for her colleagues such as Mr. Gelford that are also at a disagreement with the integrated school system they are trying to push into the school. Mrs. Campbell doesn’t help Mrs. G or have any sympathy for the students and their progress. A specific example would be when Mrs. Campbell doesn’t allow Mrs. G to take The Diary of Anne Frank books for the students to read.
Another concept that can be seen in Freedom Writers is perceived self. Perceived Self is the person we believe ourselves to be in moments of candor which may or may not be identical to the presenting or ideal self. (P.81) A great example is seen when Miep Gies comes to speak to the students. Marcus is very open and wants to express his gratitude to her and says that he’s never had a hero before and that she was his. In return Miep calls the students heroes, she raises their perception of themselves and their own perceived self. In the beginning Marcus felt he would be lucky making it to age eighteen and he has grown a lot at the end of the movie.
Self Esteem, which is the part of the self-concept that involves evaluations of the self-worth (P.62), plays a big role in the movie and everyone has a different and better feeling of self-worth of themselves. A good example in which they really evaluate their self-esteem would be when they are at the Museum of Tolerance. One specific instance is when they get to the two brick arched paths that each person would have to take, those who would survive and those who wouldn’t, they look and see that it wasn’t right. Those who wouldn’t have survived believed they were better than that. Another instance was when they received the card of the child they got. Seeing the child’s story made them take a step back and evaluate the fact that they were still alive and realized their perception and struggles were nothing compared to them.
Selection is the perceptual act of attending to some stimuli in the environment and ignoring others. (P.69) A clear example of selection in the movie Freedom Writers is Mrs. G decision. At the beginning her father doesn’t support her and explains to her why she shouldn’t continue with her job. She decides to ignore the negative comments and advices and continues teaching her students because she knows what she is capable of achieving.
A person whose opinion is important enough to affect one’s self-concept strongly is called a significant other. (P.62) A clear example is when she talks to Andre outside of classroom asking why he gave himself an F. She makes him notice that he is doing something wrong and he has to change that. Mrs. G’s opinion is so important that he cries because he realizes she is right. Mrs. G becomes their significant other.
Another concept that can be found in the movie is sympathy. Sympathy is known as showing compassion for another’s situation. (P.78) Eva gives a great example of sympathy at the trial. She was going to protect her friend Paco. After seeing the family and friends of the guy who got killed, she realizes that if she was in their position, she would like to receive justice. She decides to tell the truth and declares that Paco was the one who killed the guy at the store.
Attribution- The process of attaching meaning. (P.72) Attaching meaning with attribution had its moment of clarity when Jamal is the target of Tito’s racist picture. “Jews and blacks were more like animals. And because they were just like animals it didn't matter if they lived or died. In fact, life would be a whole lot better if they were all dead. That's how a holocaust happens. And that's what you all think of each other”. Mrs. Gruwell wanted to be clear that there were circumstances far worse than their very own.
Narrative- The stories people create and use to make sense of their personal worlds. (P.71) The scene where Erin Gruwell is so excited to give them each a journal to write in and the pain in their faces upon hearing the news. Then she states that she will have a cabinet that they could leave their journals in if they wanted her to read what had been written, being locked each night. The next day, when she opened the cabinet, it was filled with their journals. This was an incredible breakthrough moment in the movie.
Self-Concept- The relatively stable set of perceptions each individual holds of himself or herself. (P.61) Andre did his self evaluation and gave himself an F. “You know what this is? This is a Fuck You to me and everyone in this class. I don't want excuses. I know what you're up against. We're all of us up against something. So you better make up your mind, because until you have the balls to look me straight in the eye and tell me this is all you deserve, I am not letting you fail. Even if that means coming to your house every night until you finish the work. I see who you are. Do you understand me? I can see you. And you are not failing”. Mrs. Gruwell had such an amazing belief in each of them and no matter the cost, including the demise of her own marriage, she would be there to support them in ways that they had never known.
Ethnocentrism is the attitude that one’s culture is superior to another. (P.77) For example in the film, Erin Gruwell showed up to Woodrow Wilson Classical High School with great hopes of teaching an eager to learn class but instead was greeted with unwilling gang members and students know as “unteachables” that expressed to her how she didn’t understand their way of life.
Presenting Self is the image a person presents to others. It may be identical to or different from the perceived and ideal selves. (P. 82) This took a strong place in the beginning of the movie because each student thought that they were superior to each other and they never thought they would all come together as a unit and become successful.
Stereotyping is the perceptual process of applying exaggerated beliefs associated with a categorizing system. (P.72) A significant example of stereotyping presented in the movie is when Eva bluntly tells Mrs. Gruwell to her face that she hates her simply because she’s white. Eva then goes on to tell the story of how white cops shot her friend simply because he reached into his pockets. She also claims that her father was arrested by white cops for no reason. The tragic events that took place in Eva’s life have caused her to wrongly stereotype all white people as bad.
In conclusion, Freedom Writers is a movement. A group of despondent students that felt their race, lives, and circumstances were far superior or inferior to every other human. When one person believes in you, the circumstances can change. The finger pointing, the blame game, the hatred can all begin to cease, and the process of being able to truly understand the self-concepts that we have learned about can open any door and create ties that are binding.