Freedom Writers

In the movie the Freedom Writers there were many of issues that we face in the world today that cause social problems. These issues are seen in almost in everyday life depending on where you live. In Intercultural Communication we covered many of these same topics. Some topics that stood out in the movie were workplace, language and othering. These stood out to me because they were the most relevant topics in the movie also because this is something that most of us deal with everyday. The workplace was a constant struggle for Erin Gruwell because she lacked the support of her co workers. She really didn't get the support that she felt that she deserved. No one felt that she should've been helping these "criminals" so that's why they didn't. There were constant struggles in the workplace and they really didn't get along that much because of what she was trying to do. I see the struggle with language between the students and Mrs. Gruwell because there was a constant communication barrier. They came from a completely different place than where their teacher came from. There was a constant struggle to understand each others situations. Also I also feel that there was a struggle within their department, even though it was a issue within the workplace it was also a issue with language once Erin took on the role to be the voice of her students. Othering is probably the biggest issue in this entire movie, singling out a group of people because they were different. One occasion that this happened was with the other faculty members when they would refuse to help these troubled kids because they felt they were up to no good. Also the kids did it amongst themselves because you were one race or another. This was a large part of their problems because this is one reason why they were in a war with each other. Lastly, people looked at them differently because they were white, black or Mexican. I can relate to most of this just by being black people do look at me different because I fit the description. Its not right but its the society we live and probably wont change no time soon.