Abstract
The film, Freedom Writers, tells the story about a teacher in Long Beach, California that begins to understand that her students have been affected by gang violence for all of their lives. The teacher makes it her mission to prove to the students that they have a future available to them outside of gangs. The use of haptics is very important to the film. Haptic communication is used quite often throughout the entirety of the film. This communication helps to show the audience how both the teacher and the students grow from the beginning of Freshman English to the end Sophomore English. Haptic Communication helps to show how the students grew to respect their other classmates and their teacher throughout their time together. Overall, while haptic communication can be abundantly found in the film, it is very helpful in portraying the emotion and the message of the film.
Introductions/Literature Review In the film Freedom Writers, direct by Richard LaGravenese, Erin Gruwell is a teacher who has just started working at a school in Long Beach, California. In the movie, there is a war being fought between gangs and everything seems hopeless. On Erin’s first day at Wilson High, she sees firsthand how the students truly hate each other. Erin makes it her own mission to teach the students about respect, dignity, and what it really means to fight for your own. Through relatable subjects, such as Snoop Dogg and Tupac, she somehow breaks through to her students, and also learns just how much the students have been affected by gang violence. Overtime, the students begin to respect both Erin and each other. (LaGravenese, 2007). Through the use of diaries, Erin teaches the students that it doesn’t matter what is read, it matters what is written. Haptic communication, “communicates a unique message” and it “depends on environment and interpretations.” (in Communication, 2018). The use of haptics is very important to the characters’ growth in the movie. The use of haptics allows for the viewers to understand and see how the characters are changing from disrespectful, hopeless, and angry teenagers to teenagers that respect others and that see a future for themselves besides being in a gang.
Method Section I began by watching the film Freedom Writers. After watching the film, I picked out a few scenes where nonverbal and haptic communication were seen more clearly than others. I then picked the scenes apart to describe how you see the haptics used. I also began to describe how the use of the haptics helped portray the feelings of disrespect, anger, friendliness, or respect depending on the scene. I then began to evaluate whether I felt that the use of haptic communication was effective in communicating the emotion of the characters, and I also began to evaluate whether I felt that the use of haptic communication was beneficial to the film overall. After looking back over the evidence from the movie scenes, I decided that the use of haptic communication was both effective and beneficial in the film Freedom Writers. (LaGravenese, 2007).
Results Section There were multiple scenes where the use of haptic communication helped portray the emotion and growth of the characters in the film. In the beginning of the movie, the use of haptics helped to portray the feelings of disrespect, anger and hatred felt among all of the students towards each other and towards Erin, their teacher. As the movie progresses, the use of haptics helps portray how the emotions are changing and how the students are beginning to feel less angry and more respectful towards each other. Finally, at the end of the movie, the use of haptics portrays how all of the students are respectful of each other and Erin, and how the students even became friends instead of hating each other. It is also shown how the classroom became their home and they were very solemn about having to leave it and Erin behind when the students began their Junior year of highschool. Therefore, overall I came to the conclusion that the use of haptic communication was both effective and beneficial in helping portray the emotions and the growth of the characters to the audience.
Discussion Section In the film Freedom Writers, direct by Richard LaGravenese, Erin Grunwell is a teacher who has just started working at Wilson High School in Long Beach, California. In the film, it is made very clear that there is a war among the different gangs. The students in Erin’s class are all either apart of a gang or have been affected by gang violence. On her first day at work, Erin sees firsthand just how much the students hate their classmates just because they are all apart of different gangs. Through the use of relatable books, pop culture, and personal diaries, Erin tries to teach her students about respect and dignity. Overtime, she breaks through to the students, and the students begin to respect both her and each other. (LaGravenese, 2007). Through the use of haptic communication, the audience can clearly see how the characters’ grow to be more respectful towards each other and others. The use of haptic communication also shows how the relationship between Erin and her students changes from disrespectful and angry to respectful and friendly.
The first encounter we see between Erin and the students is on her first day at Wilson High School. Erin’s students consist of Hispanics, Asians, and African Americans. The students greet her with hostility and disrespect. Right at the beginning, it is easy to see how the students have no respect for Erin because they throw their backpacks on the floor and immediately begin moving the seats out of neat, organized rows and into their separate groups. Once the chairs are moved the students begin immediately talking and ignoring Erin Gruwell’s presence in the room. One student, an African American boy named Jamal, even asks Erin if she wants to “give him some fries with that shake,” referencing the chalk stains on her skirt. (Vall, 2016). Jamal later begins to portray body language that exudes anger and hate towards a fellow classmate, Andre, for calling Jamal dumb. Jamal immediately stands up and the other students begin to push their desks away from Jamal and Andre. Jamal then insults Andre, causing Andre to jump up too. Jamal and Andre begin to exchange words and invade each other’s personal space, cues that a fight is soon to break out. (Vall, 2016).
Later on in the film, Tito draws a picture of Jamal. The drawing is making fun of how big Jamal’s lips are, and is another example of how the students do not respect each other. Then, Erin calls on Gloria, who was reading a magazine during class, to read a sentence from the board. Gloria’s body language is tense and her facial expression shows a mixture between annoyance and anger because she does not want to read from the board. She then asks “Why me?” and throws up her hand as if dismissing the idea of her doing as she was told. When Gloria finally reads the sentence from the board, the tone she uses is very snarky. (Zero, 2018). This use of haptics in the movie helps to show how the students still have not begun to respect Erin as their teacher. After discovering the drawing of Jamal, Erin gets very angry that the other students are laughing at Jamal. Erin’s tone is very angry when she tells the students to close the workbooks. The use of her hands and her tone while speaking to the students about the drawing shows how upset she is at them. Erin even compares the drawing of Jamal to a drawing of a Jew in a museum. She then begins to tell the students about the Holocaust and Adolf Hitler and compares the Nazis to a gang. It can also be seen how angry the students are when Marcus throws his hands up and begins to shout at Erin about how she doesn’t know anything and even calls her “lady.” (Zero, 2018). All of the students then begin to erupt in outrage over who “was here first.” Erin then says that “it” starts with a drawing, like the one of Jamal, and it escalates to someone dying in a drive-by shooting. (Zero, 2018). This statement causes even more outrage from the students. For example, Eva tells Erin that she “don’t know nothing,” and that she hates Erin simply because Erin is white. (Zero, 2018). Eva’s tone is filled with hate and she begins to shake her head and throw her hands up to show how angry she is. She even begins to point at both Erin and the desk to emphasize her points of her speech about hating white people. This scene from the movie provides further support for how the use of haptic communication shows how the students have no respect for her or their fellow classmates. The students hate each other and are filled with anger.
Later on in the film, you can begin to see how the students are growing and are becoming friends rather than hating each other. For example, in the beginning of the film, Jamal and Andre hated each other and even almost began fighting, but in a later scene they are showed as doing a handshake and hugging as friends before class. (Stetter, 2012). You can also see how the students have changed from disrespecting and ahting Erin to respecting her. In the scene where the students make a toast in the classroom, instead of talking over her or just ignoring her presence, the students are quiet and are actively listening to her directions. The students then actually follow Erin’s directions and make toasts. During the toasts, the student share personal stories about themselves with their classmates and even begin to joke with each other. The students even raise their hands and politely ask before they begin speaking out in class. (Stetter, 2012). One student asks Erin if he can share a story from his diary as his toast, he even calls her “Mrs. G.” (Stetter, 2012). After the student gives his speech, all of his classmates begin to gather around him and give him a group-hug. This scene from the film is an example of just how much the characters have grown and changed together throughout the movie. They have begun to respect each other and are not as angry and hateful as they were at the beginning of the film.
Another scene from the film that shows the character’s growth, is when Erin pulls Andre out in the hall before class begins to confront him about an assignment where the students were supposed to grade themselves on their progress in the class. Andre gave himself an “F” which Erin found unacceptable. She said that the “F” is a “Fuck you” to her and to everyone else in the class. (Movieclips, 2011). She tells Andre that she doesn’t want excuses and that she will not let him fail unless he “has the balls” to look her straight in the eye and tell her that an “F” is what he deserves. (Movieclips, 2011). Erin even puts her hand against his cheek and tells him that she sees him and who he is. This scene shows how much respect their is between her and the students. It also shows just how much she actually cares for her students. The last example to show the use of haptic communication helps portray the growth of the characters in the film is from the scene where Erin tells the students that she cannot continue to be their teacher their Junior year. During this scene, the students are silent and the mood is very sombre. For two years, room 203 with Erin Gruwell has been their home, where they feel safe and loved; however, that time is over and they must move on. The students body language shows how they are visibly upset about having to leave Erin, but they are still respectful of her. Marcus even calls her “Ma,” which according to Eva, is a sign of respect towards Erin. (Movieclips, 2011).
Overall, haptic communication can be found throughout the entirety of the movie. The use of haptic communication in the film, Freedom Writers, helps to clearly portray to the audience how the characters grow together as people and learn to respect one another. The students change from hateful and disrespectful to hopeful and respectful. The students change from hating one another to being friends. There is also a change in Erin. The audience can visibly see how much she grows to care for the children. She went above and beyond to bond with the students, while other teachers just did the bare minimum. Therefore, I found the use of haptic communication to very beneficial to the film.
Works Cited
in Communication / General, Interpersonal Communication.
“Haptic Communication.” Communication Theory,
16 Nov. 2018, www.communicationtheory.org/haptic-communication/.
LaGravenese, Richard, director. Freedom Writers. Paramount Pictures, 2007.
Movieclips, director. YouTube. YouTube, YouTube, 22 Nov. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JauH_EKpaY.
Movieclips, director. YouTube. YouTube, YouTube, 22 Nov. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0rXUr-msX0.
Stetter, Joe, director. YouTube. YouTube, YouTube, 3 Nov. 2012,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu3RaoTPrgM.
Vall, Miky, director. YouTube. YouTube, YouTube, 29 June 2016,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bENwM8IiCsQ&list=
PLr9lItVcDnoQhQG9ZcMrXVhjs1V bdi5Ub&index=21.
Zero, Matrix, director. YouTube. YouTube, YouTube, 20 Apr. 2018,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkyhf4G0YMs&list=PLr9lItVcDnoQhQG9ZcMrXVhjs1Vb di5Ub.
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