Akeelah And The Bee Analysis

Akeelah and the Bee, a drama film written and directed by Doug Atchison, provides a glance into a predominately African-American middle school in South Los Angeles. The film follows a student named Akeelah, an eleven year old girl with a phenomenal spelling ability, and her journey to qualify for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Her family, school and community are all important factors in this story, capable of both aiding and hindering her path to success. Akeelah is very young, yet she has already experienced a lot of devastation and suffering in her life. Her father was killed when she was just six, and her mother has supported her and her siblings since then. This means that Akeelah’s mom is not heavily involved in her life. Thus, …show more content…
Her desire to fit in is emphasized when she visits Dr. Larabee for the first time and he demands she “leave the ghetto talk outside” and speak proper English. A study published by the Journal of Youth and Adolescence in 2011 stresses “the importance of fitting in with social norms for maintaining a high social status among a new set of peers in middle school” (Bellmore, Villarreal, Ho np). This addresses one of the film’s main themes which is the conflict culture can create, and in this case, the correlation the middle school students draw between Akeelah being smart and therefore thinking she is above everyone. Thus, Akeelah is used to shrinking her vocabulary to blend in with her peers. Although she does try to fit in, her intelligence naturally pushes her towards like-minded people that she meets at the district spelling bee, specifically a boy named Javier. Her best friend Georgia does her best to support Akeelah, but just as Akeelah feels out of place in her school, Georgia feels out of place in Akeelah’s new world. An instance occurs when they arrive at Javier’s birthday party, and after seeing his large home in a nice neighbourhood, Georgia decides not to go in with her. The feeling of not fitting in is …show more content…
A study examining the relationship between elementary-and middle school-age children and their parents revealed the strong positive influence involved parents can have on their child’s school attendance and performance (Mcclelland np). Although Akeelah is extremely intelligent, which is evident through her ability to spell, her environment at home does not allow her to reach her full potential. The effect of home life situations can also be seen in the characters Javier and Dylan, both of whom she meets at the district spelling bee. Javier lives with his mom and dad who seem very supportive of him, and this translates to his friendly and helpful demeanor towards Akeelah. In contrast, Dylan - who has come in second place at the Scripps National Spelling Bee two years in a row- has a father who puts an immense amount of pressure on him to do well, and this causes Dylan to be distant and rude to