erin gruwell - hero’s monomyth journey by shannon brits

Freedom Writers

Erin Gruwell - Hero’s Monomyth Journey

By Shannon Brits

Certain materials in this presentation are included under the fair use exemption of the U.S Copyright Law and have been prepared with the multimedia fair use guidelines and are

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Images from Freedom Writers are the property of Paramount Pictures.

All rights Reserved.

Music from the motion picture Freedom Writers (2007) composed by Common.

Separation:Call to Adventure

• Job opportunity at inner city school with known gang violence

• Warned about students lack of motivation

• Takes the job anyway

Villain / Witch

She was opposed to Gruwell’s way of teaching and did not allow her to use the resources available to the advanced placement classes at the high school.

Crossing the Threshold

• Students disrespect for her and

others

• Racial tension

• Fight breaks out

• Mrs. Gruwell realizes the

difficulty of the task

Student: White people wanting their respect like its for free. It's all about color, it's about people

deciding what you deserve, about people

wanting what they don't deserve. About whites thinking they own this world no matter what, you see, I hate white

people.

Tests and Ordeals

• School wont provide good materials for her class• Husband leaves her•Racial “war” continues for students•Kids witness and are part of gang shooting

Tests and Ordeals cont.

• Picture drawn of Jamal

“You know something? I saw a picture just like this once, in a museum. Only it wasn't a black man, it was a Jewish man. And instead of the big lips he had a really big nose, like a rat's nose. But he wasn't just one particular Jewish man. This was a drawing of all Jews. And these drawings were put in the newspapers by the most famous gang in history...This gang will put you all to shame. .they wiped out everybody they didn't like and everybody they blamed for their life being hard. And one of the ways they did it was by doing this: see, they print pictures like this in the newspapers, Jewish people with big, long noses... blacks with big, fat lips… Jews and blacks were more like animals. And because they were just like animals it didn't matter if they lived or died… That's how a holocaust happens. “

Apotheosis

• Erin realizes that her duty is to help the kids in the classroom overcome their prejudice and hardships

The Ultimate Boon / Apotheosis

• Starts freedom writers journal

• Teaches more on Holocaust • Kids want Miep Gies to

speak to the class

When we were studying Greek mythology…• Heroes made communities a better place• Mrs. Gruwell did that by bringing out the heroism in all her

students• Ben Daniels learned how to fit in even though he was the only white person in a class of all black people.• Eva Benitez witnessed gang shooting and even though it went against her gang, she told the court the truth because she changed in Mrs. Gruwell’s class.

Bibliography

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f8liieRepk• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjGIJPE8B8I• http://www.peninsula.wednet.edu/classroom/robisonp/uni

t%204%20trad%20archetype%20list.htm• Google images• The movie• Tumblr