![]() “People who are making comments don’t know the true story. People associated with Woodrow High lamented that the film portrayed the school as dangerous.Įrin argued that from 1993 to 1998, Woodrow High wasn’t the exemplary school that it was when the film debuted. However, a significant group protested the film’s depiction of Woodrow Wilson High School and some of its teaching staff. The movie faced criticism for its depiction of the school and other teachersįew contested that Freedom Writers was an inspiring film. It took writer and director Richard LaGravenese six years to craft a narrative from The Freedom Writers Diary’s entries. From that story, he created the inspiring film Freedom Writers. And you will become the authority of your authentic story.’ We were going to go to DC as the original Freedom Riders did in the ‘60s to change segregation.” “So my pitch to my students was, ‘Could you imagine someday that there’s going to be a kid who was homeless just lke you? There’s going to be a kid who lost her dad just like you. Excerpts from the journals feature in The Freedom Writers Diary. Erin talked to PBS SoCal about how she got her students to share their journal entries: They also learned of the destructive potential of racial stereotypes and the ruin racial wars had brought upon the world.Įrin encouraged her students to journal their experiences, bringing them closer together. Gruwell’s approach worked as the students learned of the power of personal storytelling. They listened to Miep Gies, the woman who hid Anne Frank from the Nazis. Gruwell’s pupils read The Diary of Anne Frank and Zlata’s Diary instead of Shakespeare and the classics. So, Gruwell modified her syllabus to educate her students on the history of racial feuds in the world. She compared the racist remark to Nazi propaganda and was surprised to learn that only one of her students knew of the Holocaust. Gruwell’s desire to effect change sparked after she found several students ridiculing their classmate’s race. I was basically this new teacher given the students that nobody else wanted.” It happened to the kids I ended up teaching because I had all the kids who were busted, kids who had learning disabilities and kids had trouble with the law. “What I found, because I was brand new and I didn’t live in the city, was that there was a lot of intrinsic separation and masked racism. Erin talked to PBS SoCal about her group of students: She taught a diverse group of students, many of whom came from supportive families and a few who’d endured sexual abuse, domestic violence, and homelessness. ![]() But the movie, which Swank helped produce by using her clout as a two-time Oscar winner, gets to you.Erin Gruwell arrived at Woodrow Wilson High School in 1994 as a student-teacher. ![]() And worse when the plot veers into the glitz of a Dangerous Minds and the sappiness of a TV After School Special. McDreamy, plays the whiny husband - but ted young lives on a whole new course. Erin’s dedication helped end her marriage - Patrick Dempsey, a.k.a. These journals were published in 1999 as The Freedom Writers Diary, which writer-director Richard LaGravenese ( Living Out Loud) used as his source material. But Erin’s most notable accomplishment was to persuade her students to write their own stories of persecution. Miep’s visit to Erin’s classroom is the film’s emotional highlight. Erin must learn their ghetto reality before she can reach them, which she does by assigning The Diary of Anne Frank and getting them to write letters to Miep Gies (Pat Carroll), the woman who helped the Frank family hide from the Nazis. The school authorities, repped by a ramrod Imelda Staunton, merely expect Erin to warehouse these alleged no-hopers, played with feeling by a cast of newcomers, who move their desks to segregate themselves into racial groups. ![]() But Erin, inexperienced and hopelessly naive, thinks she really can teach English to a class of blacks, whites, Latinos and Asians, most of whom are involved with gangs. The time is just after the Rodney King riots. Erin Gruwell (Swank), wearing pearls, yet, seems helplessly ill-equipped on her first day at Wilson High School in Long Beach. Even when her film’s pace lags behind its cliches, she sparks this true story, about a California teacher who sparks her students, with the passion the subject demands.
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