[The course essays of the public elective course "Interpretation of British and American Film Thoughts", I feel that the entry is small, the length is appropriate, and the writing is good. Basically expressed my understanding and reflection on the American liberal racial equality policy. ] Hollywood has made a lot of movies about school education, and there are also many movies about racial issues, but it is rare that the two are organically linked, and there are few that can be discussed in depth like "Free Writer". Less. Although from a political standpoint, "Free Writers" advocates multiculturalism, and promotes racial equality and racial reconciliation-it does not deviate from the framework of American orthodox liberalism, but it uses education as an entry point, and it has a strong impact on the ethnic minority communities in Los Angeles. The straightforward display of the gang phenomenon without evasiveness makes this film extremely realistic. The facts revealed in the film show that the process of racial integration that began with the black civil rights movement in the 1960s is still struggling. The living environment of minorities is still harsh, and vendettas caused by inter-ethnic prejudice are widespread. Then, what is the reason? Where is the solution? The plot of "Free Writer" provides the audience with a unique analytical perspective. 1. Speaking of the "father" who "participated in the civil rights movement", the film has an interesting setting, the protagonist Erin In her first conversation with the female minister, Gruwell mentioned that her father was a person who "participated in the civil rights movement." This "father" role also implies to a certain extent the starting point of contemporary Americans regarding racial issues: after the turbulent black civil rights movement in the 1960s, the liberal and Democratic government introduced a series of racial affirmative measures to forcefully protect minorities. Ethnicity’s right to education, equal participation in national public life, and access to various benefits, the United States, which had a serious tendency to racial discrimination and an institutionalized segregation policy, no longer exists. Correspondingly, racist groups such as the KKK, which has been rampant in the southern region of the United States for many years, have been marginalized. Spreading any racist speech will seriously damage a person's reputation and lose the opportunity to hold public office in the country. It can be said that, after the civil rights movement, in the United States today, racial equality has basically become a consensus of the mainstream society, and has even been internalized as a rigid standard for judging whether a person is "politically correct" or not. Policy discrimination is basically non-existent. But the disappearance of discrimination in legal provisions and government documents does not mean the disappearance of discrimination in reality. Although a small number of blacks can gain social class promotion through guaranteed educational channels, they are still a minority. The education and poverty levels of most blacks are still far higher than those of whites. Economic inequality other than political inequality is relatively solidified. Yes, and there is no way to improve in a short time. As the black teenager said in the film, the blacks he knows are all impoverished unless they can sing or play ball. At the same time, the old racism based on "biological racism" has disappeared, but the "new racism" based on cultural prejudice is still in the ascendant. However, some white people also think that they have given enough financial compensation to the minorities. If the minorities have any further requirements, they will be able to make an inch. Some people even think that the white people have been discriminated against. ; Minorities are still confined to the economic class and cannot improve, and continue to endure the cultural prejudices that always exist among whites. Twenty or thirty years after the Civil Rights Movement, the 1992 black riots in Los Angeles signaled that the once-closed national divide was once again widening. On the other hand, the immigration trend of the second half of the twentieth century has greatly increased the number of ethnic minorities other than African Americans, changed the racial structure of the United States, and made gang conflicts of different ethnicities a new problem in American society. Therefore, at the moment, the spiritual and political heritage of the civil rights movement still exists, but it is no longer enough to solve various new racial problems, and the solution of new problems urgently requires mainstream white society to examine decades of racial affirmation measures with a new perspective. Gains and lessons. The story described in the film took place from 1994 to 1995. It is precisely Los Angeles, the representative of American multiculturalism, rethinking the past era of racial integration policies after the riots. 2. Whose America is? ——The Dilemma of Race Integration "Free Writer" begins with a video about the 1992 Los Angeles riots and an excerpt from Eva's diary, which presents two pairs of contradictions throughout the film to the audience in just three minutes: The contradiction between whites and minorities, and the contradiction between different minorities. The real reflection of the former is economic inequality and police violence. The cause of the Los Angeles riots was triggered by the acquittal of American policeman Rodney King who killed a black driver; the real reflection of the latter is the lower level of Los Angeles where gangs are rampant. Block. Several confessions of Eva contain very important information. In the first paragraph, when she accused the white policeman, she said, "They call our people a gangster because we are fighting for our America." Living in a unitary and Han-dominant China, we may not think about the question of "Whose China", but in the United States, which has an intricate ethnic structure, "Whose America" is undoubtedly a powerful torture. At the beginning of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the "We American The phrase "I know what you can do" when Gruwell said-just as national power requires decentralization, when immense power is concentrated in the hands of one ethnic group, pure "ability" itself constitutes a kind of danger. The hatred between ethnic minorities is more like a derivative of the former. Because of the discrimination and mutual hatred of whites who occupy a dominant position in society, minority youths cannot get high-quality education. And education is recognized as the only way to complete class promotion in modern society. Without a good education, without a basic training in history and thinking, young people will not be able to reflect on their own situation correctly. For them who have been in a "war" environment since they were young, death is the only way to gain glory-this is unimaginable in the eyes of white people. In Class 203, the director placed a white character who is committed and frightened all day long. The strong sense of incongruity shows the huge gap between the mainstream white society in the United States and the lower-level minorities. As for us bystanders, the prejudice of white people has caused this "ignorant" state of minority youths, and only the consciousness of white people can arouse the consciousness of minority ethnic groups. Therefore, this film shows the audience a dilemma of racial integration from a given background of the times: on the one hand, racial coexistence has indeed brought many changes to American society. Different ethnic groups listen to the same hip-hop and rap music and eat Wearing similar clothing with foods of different national flavors. But on the other hand, discrimination and conflict have never gone far. Various affirmative laws, plans, and foundations cannot eliminate inherent prejudices and barriers. True integration must stimulate the willingness and actions of different ethnic groups to actively participate in integration— —The best way to provide this willingness is through education. But when the education system is surrounded by prejudice, to break through the barriers of this race, a reckless intruder is needed, and Erin Gruwell happens to take the role of this intruder. 3. The role of education and the meaning of "freedom" Erin Gruwell is a teacher, and the teacher's job is to teach knowledge. But the students in front of her are not interested in knowledge, so her initial puzzle is how to make her students "interested in these books." She herself did not expect that her simple original intention and maternal love-like nature could support her in doing so many things that others would not even dare to think of. So how does Erin act? First, after discovering the cruel reality of the school as just a reduced version of the city, she started with a mocking cartoon and put the school's racial discrimination problem that the school tried to use discipline and order to cover up. Although her preaching to the students and the questioning about the meaning of death made the students hate herself, the deterrence of this speech was no longer a thing of the students. In her later conversation with Dr. Cohn, Erin mentioned that "other than they hate each other, it is me who hates the most." Cohn also half-jokingly replied, "You have united them. This is also an improvement." Although this is a joke, it can be regarded as a fact: hatred of white people is indeed the biggest common denominator of ethnic minorities. The next thing to do is to let students understand the teacher and strive to gain the trust of the students. In the second stage, Erin used the painful lesson of the whites themselves-the Nazi Holocaust to warn students of the dangers of racial discrimination, encourage students to go out of Long Beach, visit the Holocaust Museum in the outside world, and use reading to broaden students’ horizons and improve at the same time. Their level of learning. After several times of fundraising and inviting Miep Gies from the Netherlands to give lectures to his classmates, Erin finally gained the trust of the students and made Class 203 condense into a united group. Erin's third phase of action is a fight against bureaucracy and racial prejudice hidden in the school education system. This is also a very important link. After the students in Class 203 received education and achieved integration in small groups through their own efforts, they finally had a unanimous willingness to fight for their rights. This connotation makes this struggle not only gives Erin and the students real rights, but also has a symbolic meaning, just like the Freedom Riders who drove across the United States from north to south regardless of race. The name Erin gave to the student's diary collection is actually a concept that is worth thinking about. The word "freedom" (freedom or liberty) has many levels of meaning in the context of Western political science, and there are many different opinions on its connotation, but it is generally believed that it can be roughly divided into negative freedom and positive freedom. Negative freedom means "the right to do anything harmless to others" , This is a "given" state. In this state, after the black civil rights movement in the United States, ethnic minorities have actually been in this kind of "freedom." However, they still live outside the real "freedom", which is positive freedom. For this kind of "positive freedom", the author believes that the first condition is not the state of the outside world, but the most important is a kind of inner will (will), which drives people to constantly change their disadvantages and strive for progress. Second, positive freedom is not only individual freedom, but should be coordinated with collective freedom. Achieving this state of freedom is, for the Los Angeles society, a complete state of the integration of multi-ethnic and multi-cultural. The emergence of this "will" is inseparable from the existence of educators like Erin. Therefore, education like Erin that truly fights racial discrimination is the only way for contemporary American society to overcome racial contradictions and achieve racial integration. Relying only on the legacy of the civil rights movement, relying on rigid policies and large amounts of funds at a loss for what to do, it is impossible to finally break the barriers between various ethnic groups. But in any case, the fight against racism cannot be won by the struggle of several generations. The American civil rights movement has not yet ended, and it will not end soon in the future. But the road ahead is long, and as long as there is a right direction, there will always be a day to reach the end. 4. The previous article described many advantages of the film "Free Writer", but according to the author's above analysis, the Hollywood-style happy ending of the film seems to be the biggest regret of the whole film: Erin's final stay, in fact Keeping herself in the position of being a student's "nanny". As the female minister of the villain said, if Erin is confident that her teaching is successful, then there is no need to worry that the 203 group will collapse after having a new teacher. Although it may be because the director considers the biopic nature of the film and needs to be faithful to the reality, but too much follow reality in this key plot may lead to a lower level of thought in the film. At this time, proper adaptation and artistic processing of reality can be "loyal to reality" on a higher level. Therefore, the author believes that if Erin is finally allowed to leave and encourage students to use their own efforts to prove that her education is successful, it may be a better ending. Reference movie: Freedom Writers, 2007 Crash, 2004 Bibliography: [English] Anthony Giddens: "Sociology (4th Edition)", Beijing: Peking University Press, 2005 Qian Mansu: "American Liberalism" Historical Changes", Beijing: Life•Reading•Xinzhi Sanlian Bookstore, 2006
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