Last term and all of this recent term we have been learning about the Freedom Writers. The Freedom Writers, in summary, are a class (Students + teacher) which objected the more-or-less racist system by writing their experiences in diaries and publishing them to the public. We learnt about them, dissected the characters, then analysed their traits and relations.
The class had to do 2 (+ 1) things. Firstly we had to analyse the film and find a life lesson which the film taught. We then had to write about a character and how they were or were not a role model.
Here are the excerpts:
An important lesson that I have found from the movie is how you will never truly solve something by doing it alone. If you try to advance through life’s issues alone you will never come out as a happy person, having someone else help you along the way will make your experience infinitely better. Almost every single main character in the movie was struggling with issues in their life: Mrs Gruwell struggling to follow in her father’s steps, Alejandro’s homelessness and how the class gave him hope, the students and their now-not endless battle in their respective wars. After Mrs Gruwell became the teacher of room 203 everything changed, all of their lives became better, if slightly. Mrs Gruwell was able to follow her father’s footsteps, Alejandro was able to find his true home and each individual student came together and reconciled with each other. With that as proof it is shown that having someone to help in your issues is important to successfully overcome them. Without someone else you’ll suffer alone, don’t try to do everything by yourself because in most cases you can’t. Perhaps you can, there’s no harm in getting help though. We’re all guilty of trying something we realistically can’t; I’m especially at fault for trying something by myself. I try it a lot. This taught me not to try everything by myself and instead get help… I’m not going to stop though.
Now a character who I found was a positive role model from the film was Marcus. Marcus, at first, seems like a very unlikely role model due to how quiet he is. He’s the kind of character that sits in the background, not giving his opinion and not participating in unnecessary conflict. In the movie, at first, he is depicted as so. Only engaging during conflicts against Mrs Gruwell, clearly situations where he feels most offended in. As the story progresses Marcus slowly shows himself.
Now this character is a role model due to how collected he is along with how much he actually cares, in contrast to this picture he paints. In various situations it shows how Marcus cares. When the picture is being passed around he objects, when the class starts pressuring Mrs Gruwell he presses further. When the person who sheltered Anne Frank visited he gave her his utmost respect and gratitude. When that student was made over how Anne Frank ended up dying Marcus gave her his perspective. Marcus is a role model because he cares, even if it doesn’t look like it. He does sit in the background but he stands up for anyone in trouble, watching with a careful eye in the background. He isn’t the ideal role model, the best role model is a person who can stand out in a crowd and lead. The best role model is a role model you can actually notice. Marcus on the other hand is a background character, just sitting there watching. He doesn’t have to lead to be a role model. A role model doesn’t have to be bright to be a good example.
Marcus, in summary, doesn’t necessarily act at all. He’s just there. At first I thought he was just in the background until he began to show himself later on in the movie. After watching the film again I began to notice what he really was doing.
He’s a good role model due to how much he cares. There sure are better role models, like Eva for example, but he’s a role model nonetheless. A role model I like at least.
Thanks for reading :b
