Étude imagologique des professeurs et des élèves dans The Freedom Writers et Entre les Murs

Abstract

This imagological research focalizes on the stereotypes that are present in two, almost contemporary, movies, namely: The Freedom Writers (2007), an American movie, and Entre les Murs(2008), a French movie. The study focuses on the portrayal of the teachers and students in the movie within a suburban school. The way the teachers are represented is discussed, particularly within the notion of the “White Savior Syndrome”. In The Freedom Writers, the students succeed at school because of their teacher who also allows them to change their perception of school and life itself. In Entre les Murs, the teacher acts as an example that permits the students to resist stigmatization. Whilst transmitting knowledge, like language and being aware of how to behave, in other words “the rules of society”, he tries to offer them access to a different social circle than their own. In both movies the students are relatively represented in a stereotypical way. The “shallowness” of the students knowledge is emphasized as well as their immature behaviour. A particular attention has been paid to language as a marker of identity. The mutual connections between language, identity, culture, stereotype and representation of “school” present in the two movies, are studied in this thesis.