Freedom Writers

Freedom writers

Expository opening/set up:

We are introduced to Eva and she introduces us to her life you hear her story, about her father being taken away and drive-by shootings.
Then we are introduced to Miss G, very tidy, confidence,
Rich and Perfect.
A new teacher first time teaching and she is in for a surprise.The classroom/school. Looks Poor and Messy.
The class is rude and make it clear that they are not interested. The class is mix of African-American, Cambodian, Asian, and a white student. The class is racially divide and everyone hates each other!
The Class doesn’t function & they break out into fights in class.
All the students are part of a gang.

Inciting event:

A boy is shot.
A racist picture of the dead boy circulated the classroom; Miss G saw the drawing and compared it to pictures of the Jews during the Holocaust. The students responded with puzzled looks. Miss G discovered that many of her students had never heard of the Holocaust and when she asked how many of the students in her class had been shot at all of the students raised their hands.
Line game.

Intensification/complication/development:
When Miss G buys journals and gives them out to the class.
When all the kids in the class write in their journals, and leave them for Miss G to read.
The kids are ready to tell their stories.
Every kid has a different story


Eva’s story
her growing up her dad being taken away even though he is innocent and gang related violence. In the end, telling the truth, that one of her gang members done it. She lost all trust within her gang.


The boy’s story
seeing his friend kill himself and getting sent to jail because he looked guilt. Getting kicked out of the house because of it, growing up on the streets. In the end asking to live back at home with his mum.



The class goes to the museum and they learn about the holocaust.
The class meet the Holocaust survivors.
The class Toast for Change
The class reads the Diary of Ann Frank. The kids want to meet the lady who knew Ann
They raise enough money to get the woman to come and talk to them.


Climax:
The class finds out that Miss G can’t be their teacher for junior and senior year.
Miss G gets some organisation to donate computers to the school and makes the class type their journals up on computers. Even though they may not get published the class does it anyway and share their stories with each other.


Epilogue:
Miss G puts all the diaries together into a book and called it The Freedom Writers Diary
Miss G meets with the board and is allowed to continue teacher her class through junior and senior year
Miss G goes to meet up with the class, they’re all are together even though its after school and gives them the news and everyone is happy.

Freedom Writers: Conflict Chart.
Ms. Gruwell walks through school. Looks in to Honors Class and then walks into her class. Close Up of her face showing her expression becoming gradually more disappointed.
Internal/external. Environment not being what she wanted it to be is causing the disappointment. This is introducing the environment of the film and that it’s not what she expected.


Ms Gruwell and her class are interrupted by an alarm bell going off. Everyone runs outside to watch fight between Paco and guy in orange jumper, then a massive brawl breaks out amongst other students.
External conflict: This is setting the tone of the film.

Ms Gruwell Shifts Jamal, and then shifts the entire class around. “Is everybody happy with the new borders?”
External conflict: this scene the teacher realizing things, what situation these kids are in, it shows the development the students make later on in the film. We go from it being so hard to sit next to one another to the students hanging out with one another outside of school.

When Paco attempts to shoot Grant Rice, but instead shoots Asian guy, Cindy’s friend, in the convenience store.
External conflict: The implications of this scene are huge for Eva later on in the film. It’s one of the main developments we see and the danger in which Eva faces later on, it creates a bond between her and the asians later on, this scene allows the final door to be shut for Eva and the gang life.

Eva looking in the mirror doing her make-up. Voiceover: “...only I saw Paco, the others were turned away. So when the police questioned me, I knew I had to protect him”.
Internal conflict :it’s her asking herself will she do the right thing or not? At this point in the film she thinks she knows what must happen, what she must do, it isn’t such a conflict for her right now and she turns everything about herself around to do the right thing. This scene is like the set up for the development she would go through later on in the film. It shows she knows what she needs to do, what she should, according to her life, do. She should protect her people. It shows everything is resting on her shoulders for Paco. Will she do the right thing, or do what she’s been brought up to do?

Racist drawing of Jamal is passed around the class. Ms Gruwell is horrified and makes a speech about it’s similarity to the propaganda of the Nazis.
Shifts to a discussion about respect and race.
Ms Gruwell: “You know what’s going to happen when you die? You’re going to rot in the ground and people are gonna go on living and they’re gonna forget all about you...and no body, no body is gonna wanna remember you because all you left behind was this” (holds up picture of Jamal).
She then discovers only one person in class knows what the Holocaust is and that everyone else had been shot at.
External conflict: Shes mad because of what’s been done. This scene is the inciting scene in the film after this scene the students and teacher understand one another much more, there is a mutual knowledge after this of what their lives are like. The implications of it is that the teacher is beginning to know what to do to get everyone on her side, which in turn turns all the kids’ lives around, changes them all.

Ms Gruwell visits Ms Campbell at school to get more advanced books for her students, but is told to use the condensed version of Romeo and Juliet or buy books herself.
“You can’t make someone want an education. The best you can do is getting them to obey...” – Ms Campbell.
External conflict: the teacher needs the board on her side. The implications of this scene is that the teacher goes and gets two more part time jobs to buy books for the kids, showing her commitment and probably leading to her divorce. We also see the students get these books, which we see change their perceiving things; we see them respect the books. Such a small thing, but the fact that the kids get these proper books shows the teachers faith in them, which tells them that someone cares, that they can hope to hope for themselves that perhaps school isn’t so bad.

Ms Gruwell plays ‘The Line Game’ – note the eye line shots between characters – then she hands out their journals.
Internal conflict: Students coming to terms with their classmates, with what’s happened to them and, mostly, remembering bad times. They don’t want to stand on the same line so close to one another, yet they’re realizing their bond, their connections and they’re seeing everyone else has the same thing going on. The implications of this scene is that it creates a connection between them all and they aren’t as different as they thought they were.

Ms Gruwell sits in class and reads through journal entries – interjected with montage of flashbacks, voiceovers and students saying their entries.
Internal conflict: it shows the teacher what the kids have gone through in their lives, all the things that have happened, explains why they are how they are.



Montage of students reading The Diary of Anne Frank, while reading it out in voiceover.
Internal: This scene shows the students the outside world that they aren’t the only victims. It’s telling the students how to understand their situation.

Eva storms into classroom “Why didn’t you tell me she dies” (talking about Anne Frank).
Internal conflict: This shows that they wanted this book to give them hope; instead it gave them an unexpected, unwanted truth.

Miep Gies visits and tells the class “You are the heroes. You are heroes every day” .
External conflict: This scene we see so much respect, so much want and need to be good, to do the right thing. This scene is ultimately a changing point. This is the reason Eva tells the truth in court. This is the reason that guy asks his mum if he can come home.



Ms Gruwell arrives home to her husband with his bags packed. Argue about her job.
This is an external conflict. The implications of this is she’s sacrificed her marriage, she cant give up now, it’s going to make her fight even more for her kids, now she knows pain, now she’s lost something to the gang life. She’s almost becoming one of them.