Themes Of Urban Students In The Film 'Dangerous Minds'

Throughout much of the film Dangerous Minds, urban students are portrayed in a negative manner. The film starts out by showing the neighborhood as poor, there is graffiti on most of the buildings nearby, and the high school is very run down. (Bruckheimer & Smith, 1995) This setting represents a stereotype of urban schools that is all too often depicted in films. Urban schools are portrayed as “graffiti-ridden, dilapidated buildings with welfare students of color who are vandals and thieves.” (Beyerbach, 2010, p. 282) Like many other schools depicting urban schools, the students are seen as unable to help themselves. They are mostly students of color, and in the beginning they are depicted as troublemakers who can not be taught in a traditional …show more content…
Beyerbach (2010), refers to this theme as ‘fast times’ (p.267). She also notes that there are two other common themes throughout these films, which she refers to as ‘dangerous minds’ and ‘stand on me’ (Beyerbach, 2010, p.267). All of these themes are shown in some manner throughout the film Dangerous Minds. Beyerbach explains the theme of dangerous minds as being: “Teachers and their students have been represented as having dangerous minds--- that is, ideas of reform. Frequently, teachers status is both devalued in the larger society and elevated in terms of their potential to change society.” (Beyerbach, 2010) Louanne Johnson and her students are a great depiction of the theme dangerous …show more content…
Dalton (2010) explains that, “in the Hollywood model, teachers frequently use everyday events to personalize the curriculum for their students” (p. 40), which is exactly what Louanne Johnson can be seen doing throughout the film. It seems that before Louanne came along with her unorthodox teaching methods, these kids were intelligent but could not be taught because they had not yet found a teacher that could get through to them. The lyrics in Coolio’s song “Gangsta’s Paradise” which is played many times throughout the film, is a good representation of the student’s life before she came along: “They say I gotta learn, but nobody 's here to teach me, if they can 't understand it, how can they reach me? I guess they can 't, I guess they won 't. I guess they front; that 's why I know my life is out of luck, fool” (Ivey, A., Sanders, L. Rasheed, D. Wonder, S. (1995) Gangsta’s Paradise (Recorded by Coolio with T.I.) On Dangerous Minds Soundtrack)