“In Long Beach, it all comes down to what you look like, it’s all about colour.”[1]
Does the movie ‘Freedom Writers (2007, Richard LaGravenese, USA)’ reinforce common stereotypes of people from ethnic minority backgrounds?
It has almost become somewhat of a tradition, for ethnic minorities to always be represented within a circle of violent behaviour. The media constantly targets youths from different minorities in ways where hegemony uses culture to promote power. In this case it would be the ruling by cultural influence where white people have the power and dominant control over people from ethnic minorities.
Set in Long Beach, California, Freedom Writers (2007) puts forward this negative stereotype of people within the ethnic community belonging to a vicious crime filled environment. The characters within the movie belong to a segregated community, where each race is divided into separate tribes. The students are represented as a central point to the movie, and the way they struggle to break free from the chaotic atmosphere around them to emerge as one, putting away the elements of the ‘Other’, and accepting their classmates for who they are rather than their ethnic backgrounds.
The movie has been constructed in such a way that it promotes an ideology of how the community where the students live, is represented as a racially acceptable society. This could be seen as the key reason to why the action of the youths in this film was so demoralised based on all the segregation between them. Freedom Writers upholds strong stereotypes of people within the African-American, Latino, Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Caucasian race and therefore social realism is created as the text deals with issues the teens are associtaed with such as racism, violence, gun/gang crime and drugs. This has therefore resulted in people believing in these given stereotypes.
“Racism is like a poor kid who grew up needing someone to hurt.”[2] With reference to this quote, the fact that the movie depicts how racism is accepted in the community where all characters are from is shown in detail through the different use of media language. The costume, props and setting of the movie are all referred to as the ‘urbanised’ look, where people from this area are usually categorised in belonging to a social class of C2/D/E. The quote puts out the impression of how ‘people who have grown up rough, tend to end up rough’ which relates to the Freedom Writers narrative very well.
Freedom Writers focuses on a true story in 1994 where a first time teacher played by (Hilary Swank) faces a group of students who have been considered by the government as “un-teachable, at-risk” teenagers. The movie represents street kids who have all witnessed fights out breaking in front of them as well as murders of their own friends and family. Stuart Hall (1977) talks about the way black people are characterized in the media; “…their ‘locations’ are the familiar real-life settings of ghetto, street, police station and drug-bust.”[3]This justifys how the characters in the movie fall within a categorisation of what Stuart Hall refers to as influencing the representation of ‘black people within movies’ and how “headlines and stories have a great impact on their readers and can promote certain negative stereotypes,”[4] supporting how people from ethnic minorities are used as tools of racial objectification.
‘Viacom’ now knows as ‘CBS Corporation’[5] is a large media corporation which owns both ‘Paramount Pictures’ and ‘MTV Films.’ The movie had a domestic total gross of $36,605,602[6], which supports that it was a very successful movie. As Paramount pictures are such a successful establishment, it shows that the movie was used as a mainstream distributor where many people would have watched the movie regardless of its advertising.
People in society who have grow under a continous influence of TV, are referred to as “The MTV Generation”[7]. This label catergorises the audience for this particular text as it has a wide influence from the ‘Pop Culture’ by the use of soundtracks such as Keep Ya Head Up’[8] and the soundtrack ‘I have a dream.’[9] Through adapting the MTV generation lifestyle of these audiences, the text creates awareness of issues such as racial profiling and helps engage the audience with the protagonist. The movie does not fail to offer its audience a “Narrative of reassurance” which helps meet their expectations.
A theorist, Richard Dyer, talks about how ‘stars are important[10]’ Freedom Writers has used this approach in attracting their audiences to view the movie. Mario – a famous R‘n’B artist, plays one of the lead characters in the movie as ‘Andre Bryant’ who is represented as one of the teenagers who has just lost hope. The movie has positive values as it educates and informs its target audience through the charcaters lives, so that social change can be encouraged and there are no dominant races. The movie promotes the ideaolgy of equality, which is achieved at the narratives-disclosure.
Hilary Swank who plays Erin, is represented as determined to change the lifestyle of these students and therefore personally buys books for them. She learns that the students have no knowledge about the Holocaust, and makes them study ‘The diary of Anne Frank.’ “When I write I can shake off all my cares, My sorrow disappears, my spirits are revived!”[11] The quote creates meaning in helping the students understand the obstacles Anne and her family would have to face during their time. This helps the students as they are given an opportunity to keep a diary. Their life, written on paper felt as if they had personally accomplished a goal in their minds casuing them to begin changing their lives around. This narrative moment changes the common stereotypes which are given to these characters as the students are prepared to leave the gang crime and swap it for books. This portrays how knowledge is something which acts like a tool in the movie, where all these negative stereotyped students needed was someone to pay attention and not ‘dumb them down’ and classify them as ‘dangerous’ and ‘useless,’ which are the dominant ideologies being promoted through being forced upon the audience and characters using hegemony.
“Racial stereotypes are among the most readily employed in the media.”[12] It is right to say that the stereotypes within contemporary society are supported with what is actually a representation of something which has been ‘constructed’ in the media. The media continuously reinforces stereotypes given to people from ethnic minorities, such as black people are always associated with drugs[13] and gun crime. The “Oriental stereotype” of the people from the East being chaotically violent[14] and of Asians being regarded as the ‘Other’ due to them lacking the qualities any average – in fact an average White man would have.
However, although these negative stereotypes have been put forward in the media continuously, movies such as “Coach Carter (2005)”[15], “Honey (2003)”[16] and Freedom Writers challenge these assumptions. These movies all contain the Proppian Hero/Heroine who depicts the grimy scenes of the ghetto which are based at the centre of these characters hearts and then learn to interact with them in such a way that they are able to change everything around to favour these rebellious teenagers. The thing in common in all three movies is how we as an audience get a fairly accurate representation of street life. The way the characters go in their every day-to-day lives and struggles of not having money as they are from the ‘hood’, the neglect they face from people outside their race and social status.
The text contains elements of bullet theory as the audience absorb the dominant ideolgies proposed to them from the text in a passive way. The audience relate to this through recognising how one race is inferior to another. In this case it would be the dominant race in society relating to wht is being represented to them on screen. “Representation, and for that matter, stereotypes, is the making of someone into something unreal – good or bad.”[17]Freedom Writers reinforces the stereotypes given to the characters within the movie which is created through the usage of props and characters clothing. The way the characters dress is in loose and street wise clothing. The male teenagers all wear hooded tops, which itself has a negative connotation stuck to it, as well as baggy jeans falling half way down their waists and loose baggy t-shirts, which look more like dresses! These are the representative clothes a teenager would wear; however, they are specifically worn by teenagers within the ethnic community and less likely to be worn by a white boy, within the same age range and perhaps even same society. The characters are seen holding weapons like knives and guns in some scenes, which strengthens the negative views of people, on the individuals that are being categorized here as the ‘Other’ with reference to the text as they are not represented as the dominant white race.
The way the representation of the female lead has changed overtime is clearly represented in ‘Freedom Writers.’ First time teacher, Hilary swank, is represented as what Mulvey refers to as the pure Madonna[18], who wants to implement a change in these students lives through making them aware of the outside world. The movie constructs the teacher as a ‘gate to freedom. Her determination is what leads the students to reinforce the stereotypes which have been given to them which reflects on the Zeitgeist and how women have been given strong roles of where they can change something so big, as in the past thier roles were simply to fulfil the ‘household roles’[19] making the women feel “symbolically annihilated”[20] as if they have no independent life of their own.
“Violence only begets violence”’[21] It is always vital to remember how a person’s actions are always based upon something they may have come across in the past. Similarly, in Freedom Writers, the reason why these students are so out of control could be as they have seen one another as the ‘Other’, because they are not like them. They are different to them, they do not act and behave the way their specific ‘people’ act and behave, causing the segregation among one another.
Colonialism played a major hand because it had become aceptable to be racist in society. It was used to justify oppression and was seen as socially acceptable, which formed from the Post-colonial theory, exploring the experiences of “race gender and representation[22]” to name a few. This reflects on the way that as well as colonialism, the way that some historical issues prevailed was also a reason why it still remains suitable to categorise people from ethnic minorities. The movie creates many meanings which depends on the audience’s social, cultural and educational background; however it has a purpose of challenging the assumptions made of the stereotypes the movie holds.
However, movies such as ‘Get Rich Or Die Trying (2005)’, continuously reinforce the stereotype given to people from ethnic minorities. This is due to the way the characters are represented. Marcus (Curtis Jackson) the lead role, is represented as a street gangster, his job is to kill. When black people are portrayed like this is in the media, the representation is always degraded, as it helps fulfil the present stereotypes, and movies like these gangster films, do not really help the representation of these black males in the media. However, the changing point in the movie of when he finds his hidden talent of being able to sing and become a singer is a point of change for him and shows how he himself has now seen the light and wants to put it away, but just like in Freedom Writers, when the students are constantly faced with struggles he is also unable to do so straight away.
Movies such as “Get Rich or Die Trying (2005)” are seen as films belonging to a gangster genre. “Films repeat themselves in different ways”[23] so, they therefore follow the typical generic codes associated within this genre. These movies also use a repertoire of different props which aim in helping the genre fall in place . Weapons such as guns and knives are used within gangster films; similarly these props are also used in Freedom Writers. This does not mean that this movie falls within this genre however, it does follow some of the typical codes and conventions of a gangster film. “The contemporary gangster film best embodies the ambivalence of film-makers towards ethnicity and race.”'[24] Winokur refers to how numerous contemporary movies are based within the gangster genre, which draw film makers towards ethnicity and race. This potrays how the media is putting out new entertainment through issues such as racial profiling and racism to become acceptable when the outcome is only just to viewing it, rather than using it as something to perpetrate in reality. As the media is such a powerful tool, it acts as manipulating us into believing what we see on screen is a “re-presentation”[25] of what is happening in the real world, and it goes to show how as a naive and passive audience we are also injected with these thoughts, making ourselves believe the negative assumptions made against people from ethnic minorities. This automatically relates to the Hypordemic model how the media is injecting us with the dominant ideologies within society.
A theorist, ‘Stanley Cohen (1972)’ talks about ‘folk devils’ and ‘moral panics’[26] and the way they affect the society. These moral panics consist of information which has been ‘mediated and constructed’ by the media and then published, which then creates a communal panic. The moral panics are associated with a certain group of people; in this case, the way the students are behaving in the movie has resulted in continuous segregation between them all. This goes to show how the students are all neglecting the ‘norms and values’ which have been put forward by the dominant classes.
There are many different social issues which have also been an influence to the way people have been represented from ethnic minorities. “Racist behaviour is based on centuries of economic exploitation and has been deeply embedded in European culture.”[27] An issue such as Black Slavery in the 1800’s is perhaps a main real reason to why the black people are shown as being subordinate to the whites. “Stereotypes of people of colour, Blacks foremost, have become the building blocks of pathological white ego-structures.”[28]
There is always a representation of the white being the rich and elite and blacks being second priority and not as good. A well known hegemonic theorist, Marcuse says how the media ‘indoctrinates and manipulates’ us. Similarly, with issues such as black slavery and Martin Luther King’s plans of liberation, the idea of the blacks rising above these specified stereotypes of the blacks just not being good enough are confirmed to be mistaken. This goes to show how “to expose these stereotypes as nothing but constructions could be liberating.”[29]
The Blaxploitation genre came forward in the early 1970’s where the movie ‘Shaft (1971)’[30] was the first movie belonging to this genre. This genre is specifically targeted at Black people where the films within it take place in urbanised settings referred to as ‘the ghetto’. Blaxploitation films contain negative stereotypes of black people, which certain characters are portrayed in as being associated with drugs, gun crime, and violence. Similarly, Freedom Writers also contains elements of this specific genre. The characters are all represented to be involved with crime as they have this hatred and ethnic grudge towards one another. The fact that characters behave in such a racial way towards one another, it represntes the idea of how they themselves do not care about the issues of racial profiling and discrimination towards one another, as that is the way they have been brought up. Binary Oppositions[31] have been used in the text where Cambodians are against the Latino’s, depicted as Good vs. Evil. Although the characters are all represented as innocent, the only guilt which they all withold is figting for an individual place, in ‘their America.’
The movie Shaft does not contain specific indication to racism yet some of the characters behaviour involves them being prejudice. A scene where Shaft puts his hand out for the taxi, and the driver stops ahead of him where the other passenger is a white man. Similarly, in ‘Kidulthood 2006[32]’ Moony says to the cab driver ‘Black Cab not stop for Black man’ representing the cabbie not stopping for the characters based on their race. This portrays how there is a ‘fear of the black man’ which is also reflected in ‘Freedom Writers’ where in one scene, Erin makes the students swap their seats so they ar divided from the tribes they always associate with, she asks Ben (the only white boy in the class) to go to the back (where all the black people are seated) and he instantly says ‘I can’t go back there.’[33] This shows the strong stereotype black people hold of being socially unaccepted within people from another society.
In conclusion, stereotypes exist within contemporary society and those given to ethnic minorities are negative representations, as the peoplr are constantly categorised and targeted by the media. “The media use stereotypes of people as a kind of shorthand for getting their messages across.”[34] This portrays how the media acts as a source which controls the stereotypes given, making the stereotyped feel out of place and pushing them to the edge. This categorisation of people from ethnic minorities only represents how we are living in a white dominated society, where ethnic minorities do not have as much respect in society as much as an ordinary man would have. The stereotypes are used to label specific people from a different culture to our own. This label is stuck to them and affects the way they carry out their normal lives as a continuous reason for the media to target them. Freedom Writers does reinforce these common stereotypes, however only to a certain extent. By the end of the movie, the students once labelled as ‘un-teachable’ students are represented as intelligent and wise. This represents that although the negative stereotypes are given to people from ethnic minorities, the media also aims to change them by introducing movies such as Freedom Writers. Most importantly, although the media does change the stereotypes of these people, it is essential to remember that if there were no stereotypes in the first place, then there would be nothing to change within movies like these. Although the movies are purely made for entertainment purposes, people do reflect on them and compare them to what they see in reality.
Word count: 3,350
References
Books
Works Cited
Benjamin, I. (1995). Black Press in Britain. Staffordshire: Trentham Books.
Clarke, J., Critcher, C., Hall, S., Jefferson, T., & Robert, B. (1978). Policing the Crisis (Critical Social Studies). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cohen, S. (1972). “Folk Devils and Moral Panic: Thirtieth Anniversary Edition.
New York: Routledge.
Dutton, B., O'Sullivan, T., & Rayner, P. (2003). Studying the Media: An Introduction (Hodder Arnold Publication). London: A Hodder Arnold Publication.
Frank, A. (1993). Anne Frank : The Diary of a Young Girl By Anne Frank. New York: Bantam Books.
Friedman, L. (1991). Unspeakable Images: Ethnicity and the American Cinema. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Gauntlett, D. (2007). Media, Gender and Identity: An Introduction. New York: Routledge
Hall, S. (1977). Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices. London, New Delhi: SAGE Publications .
Malik, S. (2002). Representing Black Britian: Black and Asian Images on Television (Culture, Representation and Identity series). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Ltd.
Munford, C. (1996). Race and Reparations: A Black Perspective for the 21st Century. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Probert, D. (2005). As/A Level Media Studies Essential Word Dictionary (Essential Word Dictionaries). Unknown: Philip Allan Updates.
Sardar, Z. (2000). Introducing Media Studies, (Introducing). Thriplow, Cambridge, UK: Totem Books.
Shohat, E. (1994). Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media (Sightlines). New York: Routledge.
Strinati, D. (2000). An Introduction to Studying Popular Culture. New York: Routledge.
Works consulted
Denzin, N. K. (2002). Reading Race: Hollywood and the Cinema of Racial Violence (Published in association with Theory, Culture & Society). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Ltd.
Dyer, R. (1998). Stars: New Edition. London: British Film Institute.
Lacey, N. (1998). Image & Representation: Key Concepts in Media Studies. New York: St. Martin's.
Levi-Strauss, C. (1969). The Elementary Structures of Kinship. Boston: Beacon Press.
Movies
(Ii), T. (Director). (2005). Coach Carter (Widescreen Edition) [Motion Picture]. United States: Paramount.
Huda, M. (Director). (2006). Kidulthood [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Great Britain ] [Motion Picture]. United Kingdom: Revolver Entertainment.
Lagravenese, R. (Director). (2007). Freedom Writers (Full Screen Edition) [Motion Picture]. United States: Paramount.
Sheridan, J. (Director). (2005). Get Rich or Die Tryin' (Full Screen Edition) [Motion Picture]. United States: Paramount pictures.
Woodruff, B. (Director). (2003). Honey (Full Screen Edition) [Motion Picture]. United States: Universal Studios.
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Websites
2007 Freedom Writers - Movie reviews, trailers, clips and stills. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2009, from http://www.celebritywonder.com/movie/2007_Freedom_Writers102.html.
Common- I have a dream(freedom writers soundtrack) - AOL Video. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2009, from http://video.aol.com/video-detail/common-i-have-a-dreamfreedom-writers-soundtrack/546801160.
Feminist Film Theory Examines Woman As Object. (n.d.). Retrieved June 30, 2007, from www.syl.com/articles/feministfilmtheoryexamineswomanasobject.html
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Keep Ya Head Up - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Ya_Head_Up.
Viacom - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved May 4, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viacom
Shot youth a convicted drug dealer Metro.co.uk. (n.d.). Retrieved May 4, 2009, from http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=155124&in_page_id=34&in_a_source
Created at www.bibme.org
[1] http://www.celebritywonder.com/movie/2007_Freedom_Writers102.html
[2] ROSE (1989) cited in SHOHAT, E. and STAM, R. 1994: ‘Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media’ , London: Routledge, p.21
[3]Hall, Stuart (1977): Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, (1977), London, New Delhi. Sage Publications, p.271
[4] Hall, Stuart. Critcher, Charles. Jefferson, Tony. Clarke, John: Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State and Law and Order, (1978), New York, Palgrave Macmillan
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viacom
[6] domestic total gross figure:http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=freedomwriters.htm
[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV_Generation
[8] Shakur, tupac:’keep ya head up’ – 1993 : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_Ya_Head_Up
[9] Common ft Will.i.am (2007): ‘I Have A Dream’, soundtrack Freedom Writers - http://video.aol.com/video-detail/common-i-have-a-dreamfreedom-writers-soundtrack/546801160
[10] DYER, Richard (1998) ‘Stars: New Edition’
[11] FRANK, Ann (1947) ‘The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank’
[12] ZIAUDDIN, Sardar (2000) ‘Introducing Media Studies’: p.79
[13] http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=155124&in_page_id=34&in_a_source
[14] Representation of the other handout. P13
[15] Coach Carter (2005)
[16] Honey (2003)
[17] Sarita Malik (2002): Representing Black Britain, Black and Asian Images on Television, Sage publications. P.176
[18] http://www.syl.com/articles/feministfilmtheoryexamineswomanasobject.html
[19] Gauntlett, David (2007) : “Media, Gender and Identity”: P. 59
[20] Tuchman, Gaye: (1978)
[21] ‘Get Rich Or Die Trying’ (2005)
[22] Representation of the Other; p.115
[23] Genre representation; p.24
[24] WINOKUR (1991) cited in STRINATI, Dominic (2000) : ‘An Introduction to Studying Popular culture’ p.61, London: Routledge
[25] Dyer, Richard : Dyers Typography, p.131
[26] Cohen, Stanley (1972) “Folk Devils and Moral Panics”
[27] Essential Word Dictionary: AS/A- level Media studies, p.125
[28] Munford, Clarence (1996): Race and Reparations: A Black Perspective for the 21st Century, Africa World Press. p.54
[29] FRIEDMAN, Lester D. (ed.) Unspeakable Images: Ethnicity and the American cinema. P.49
[30] ‘Shaft’ (1971)
[31] C.STRAUSS, Levi. The Elementary Structures of Kinship. Boston. Beacon Press
[32] ‘Kidulthood’ (2006)
[33] Freedom Writers; quote by Hunter Parrish
[34] Tim O'Sullivan, Brian Dutton, Philip Rayner (2003): Studying the Media (third Edition). London: Arnold Publications. P.181
