Cross Cultural Understanding

Nur Chaulani Yunus (4516101027)

Multicultural in the Film “Freedom Writers”

The film Freedom Writers tells about how a teacher in a high school in the United States
of America is able to handle and can provide a form of unity or unification of group integration
regardless of the variety of ethnic groups and races present in the class group. This movie takes up
a subject that is at the heart of American culture, namely the economics of race and gender.

In the American context, these disparities are skewered in favor of white Americans,
especially the White Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASP) group. The whites generally have a
headstart in terms of standard of living they are born into, career opportunities they can avail of,
neighborhoods they can inhabit, etc. Also, on average, whites earn more income than other
minority groups.

In the film “Freedom Writers”, which departs from a real event, tells the story of a high
school teacher, Erin Gruwell, who teaches English for a special class of children victims of racial
gang fights. The film based in Los Angeles underscores the differences between white people with
high levels of education and good social life and immigrant communities of color such as Asian -
American, Latino, and African - American, marginal communities with low levels of education
and social life which is inseparable from war between gangs.

The main character in this film is Erin Gruwell, a teacher from an educated family and a
high education background. The education of his father who is a reliable lawyer and also the
teaching obtained at a well-known university in Newport Beach made him in the status of highly-
white people. Other figures are students in 203 grade Woodrow Wilson Classical High School on
Eastside, Long Beach which is a mix of Asian, African and Mexican immigrants.