Putting my brain to work

During one of the intermission periods of the class, we had to choose a movie that explored issues of identity and discuss the challenges that were presented to the characters in the film, and if we could relate to the situation each character is facing in the movie. From the list of movies, I decided to choose Freedom Writers. Although I’ve seen the movie four times, I had to choose it again. When I watched the movies the first three times, I only watched it because it was just a movie, something that I could enjoy. I chose it again in that list because I thought to myself, “Ha, this should be easy to get full points in since I’ve seen the movie a million times.”

Well in this case I was wrong about it being easy to get full points. This assignment I actually had to analyze the film and watch it thoroughly, and try to find what makes a person an outsider in a community. While I was doing that though, a lot of things came into mind as I watched the movie the next couple of times. In ways, I felt that I could put myself in the characters shoes and it would feel like some experiences that I’ve had in the past. By doing that, I was able to give a get a good analysis of the main characters of the movies. After realizing what it meant to be an outsider, I came up with a conclusion that being an outsider to other people was to not share similar interests with those other people. Here’s a small snippet from that post I have made about why Erin Gruwell, the main character of Freedom Writers, was viewed as an outsider.

At one point during the movie, where Ms. Gruwell was talking to the assistant principal about the materials she needs for their class. The vice principal treated Ms. Gruwell's students as outsiders only because of the crimes they committed and because of their reading level; she casted them as outsiders because of that, even though she doesn't even know the students at all.

Although all of the other units had helped me realize what culture is all about, the identity unit and the first intermission made me realize the importance of identity, and helped me sort out who I am and what I am.