Finding Forrester
Discovering Jamal
Jessica Micallef
Finding Forrester was directed by Gus Van Sant and released in 2000. The film was interesting. It showed you that anything is possible; you just need to put in hard work and effort. Gus Van Sant shows us that it does not matter where you are from, anything is possible. Jamal Wallace is an African-American boy from the Bronx who is secretly highly intelligent but he does not want anybody knowing because it will ruin his reputation at school, an example of this is when Jamal’s teacher asks him to recite a famous poem that he knows, Jamal lies and says he does not know it. William Forrester is an old, Caucasian man who is an alcoholic and has written a famous book. Forrester spends his days in his apartment because he is scared of the public and society.
The film focuses on the theme of stereotyping. A stereotype is “a widely held but fixed and over simplified image or idea of a particular type of person/thing.” –Oxford Dictionary. Stereotyping is shown throughout the film, some examples of stereotyping in the film are when Jamal is at his new school and writes an amazing paper. His teacher, Crawford, does not believe Jamal wrote the paper because he is a black boy from the Bronx who is a fantastic basketball player. There is a stereotype about African Americans being good at sports (especially basketball), but here the black character is also very smart and interested in things besides sports. In fact, Jamal throws a basketball game so no one thinks he is just another black boy only good for basketball. Another example of stereotyping in Finding Forrester is Claire. Claire is Jamal’s first friend at his new school and we see right away that she does not discriminate but is a victim of stereotyping herself. Claire’s father is the man responsible for making the school for boys and girls so students see her as spoiled and think the only reason she got accepted to school is because of her father but she is actually a very
Jessica Micallef
Finding Forrester was directed by Gus Van Sant and released in 2000. The film was interesting. It showed you that anything is possible; you just need to put in hard work and effort. Gus Van Sant shows us that it does not matter where you are from, anything is possible. Jamal Wallace is an African-American boy from the Bronx who is secretly highly intelligent but he does not want anybody knowing because it will ruin his reputation at school, an example of this is when Jamal’s teacher asks him to recite a famous poem that he knows, Jamal lies and says he does not know it. William Forrester is an old, Caucasian man who is an alcoholic and has written a famous book. Forrester spends his days in his apartment because he is scared of the public and society.
The film focuses on the theme of stereotyping. A stereotype is “a widely held but fixed and over simplified image or idea of a particular type of person/thing.” –Oxford Dictionary. Stereotyping is shown throughout the film, some examples of stereotyping in the film are when Jamal is at his new school and writes an amazing paper. His teacher, Crawford, does not believe Jamal wrote the paper because he is a black boy from the Bronx who is a fantastic basketball player. There is a stereotype about African Americans being good at sports (especially basketball), but here the black character is also very smart and interested in things besides sports. In fact, Jamal throws a basketball game so no one thinks he is just another black boy only good for basketball. Another example of stereotyping in Finding Forrester is Claire. Claire is Jamal’s first friend at his new school and we see right away that she does not discriminate but is a victim of stereotyping herself. Claire’s father is the man responsible for making the school for boys and girls so students see her as spoiled and think the only reason she got accepted to school is because of her father but she is actually a very