Movie Comparison Essay

Movie Comparison Essay: Introduction

The movies that I selected from the movie list are Freedom Writers and The Breakfast Club. Firstly, these two movies are different from each other, and Freedom Writers includes more learning theories that I will be discussing in this paper. On the other hand, in The Breakfast Club, there are limited examples for discussing learning theories because the movie focuses on five different types of students, and their relationship with each other. More specifically, these students are learning to communicate with each other, and themselves because, during the punishment, their authorized teacher does try to teach them a lesson by giving them a writing assignment.

Body Paragraphs

In The Breakfast Club, constructivist learning theory is explicit because their teacher gives them punishment because of their action in the school. Also, the constructivist theory is clearly seen in The Breakfast Club because authorized teachers think that students will learn their lessons in their punishment, and according to this punishment, they will not do unwanted actions again in school.

Nevertheless, other learning theories in The Breakfast Club include attribution theory and social learning theory. In the attribution theory, learners are engaged in the learning environment due to a desire to develop causes of behaviours. In this sense, attribution theory can be seen in John's behaviours because he does not want to learn a lesson during their punishment, and he has not had any motivation or no desires to learn a lesson. Therefore, he behaves aggressively to his teacher and his friends during the punishment. In other words, John's personality is similar to Allison's personality because they both do not have any motivation for learning a lesson during the punishment.

Also, social learning theory includes that learners are learning from each other in the learning environment, and in The Breakfast Club, social learning theory can easily be seen because, during the punishment, students are sharing their personal experiences and their perspective with each other. More specifically, The Breakfast Club characters are learning much more information from each other, and their communication is more effective than their teacher’s communication because they are not willing to learn a lesson from their teacher, but they are learning their lessons from each other.

On the contrary, Freedom Writers is an extra-ordinary movie for analyzing learning theories because the movie is focused on the learning process of students. More specifically, these students usually feel excluded from society and authorize individuals. Also, at the beginning of Freedom Writers, students do not want to participate in class, but their teacher Erin finds ways to motivate them and improve their learning process during their lessons. In Freedom Writers, there are several learning theories, and these theories are social learning theory, cognitive theory of multimedia learning, information processing theory, cognitive theory, behaviourist theory, and constructivist theory.

Firstly, social learning theory seems to be an effective method in the movie because students start to learn from each other during the lesson, specifically; they become friends to each other despite their cultural differences, and their teacher Erin motivates them to become friends in the movie. Also, these students think that they are in a war with individuals who have different culture or race but eventually they become friends with each other.

Secondly, cognitive theory of multimedia learning helps students in their learning process because they are not willing to participate in class, but Erin uses different and creative materials during the lessons, and these materials make the lesson more interesting. Therefore, students start to participate in class, and they are improving themselves.

Thirdly, information processing theory can be seen in the movie; specifically, students were not willing to participate in class, but within two years they improve themselves, and they started to value Erin's feedbacks of their assignments. After all, students did an incredible project when they combined their journals into one diary, and this project can be an example of information theory. Also, cognitive theory, constructivist theory, and behaviourist theory are related to the movie.

The Breakfast and Freedom Writers are related to cognitive learning theory, constructivist theory, and behaviourist theory. Also, the teachers are different types of people in the movies. For example, in Breakfast Club, the teacher is portrayed as a rude, careless, and arrogant individual, specifically; he speaks rudely to his students, and he does not try to teach them a valuable lesson, he just tries to discipline his students in the movie.

On the other hand, in Freedom Writers teacher Erin is portrayed as hopeful, idealist, kind, and visioned individual, she tries to improve her student's skills, specifically, she is trying to change their lives for better. In this sense, Erin efforts her best skills in order to provide her students with a better education. For example, she works in three jobs just for providing them with student books and other materials during the class. More specifically, Erin’s efforts make a difference in her students’ learning process, and both Erin and her students become successful.

Movie Comparison Essay: Conclusion

In conclusion, watching these movies have changed my learning perspective, and according to my perspective, Freedom Writers is a good example of how to become successful with limited sources, and The Breakfast Club is a bad example of some teachers who are not successful at their jobs and are abusing their authority, and this affects both learning environment and learning process severely.