Akeelah And The Bee Analysis

In today’s society, people often find difficulty setting and achieving goals due to setbacks and hardships. However, in Akeelah and the Bee, a young girl works toward her goal of winning the national spelling bee. Her persistence and heartwarming story entertain the audience while providing an inspiration for achieving goals. Thus, Akeelah and the Bee has a central theme of goal setting because it focuses on the achievement of Akeelah’s goals and how others affect her both positively and negatively.
The 2006 film, Akeelah and the Bee, is directed by Doug Atchison and features Keke Palmer as Akeelah Anderson, the protagonist. Akeelah is an eleven year old girl who attends Crenshaw Middle School, a predominantly black school in South Los Angeles. She is often bullied and mistreated due to her studious nature, but she gains respect when she wins a spelling bee at school. Dr. Joshua Larabee (played by actor Laurence Fishburne) approaches Akeelah afterwards to ask her to spell more challenging words before deciding that she has the potential to compete in the National Spelling Bee. When she decides to pursue this goal, Dr. Larabee decides not to coach her at first because of her attitude. Nevertheless, she qualifies in the Regional tournament and befriends Javier Mendez, a fellow speller played by J.R. Villarreal. Dr. Larabee finally agrees to coach Akeelah after her qualification at Regionals and a bit of persuasion. After months of working with Dr. Larabee, friends,