...Movie Analysis John J. Sullivan Rasmussen College Author Note This research is being submitted on, September 19, 2014, for Heidi Croatt’s G141/COM1002 Section 01 Introduction to Communication - 2014 Summer Quarter. John Sullivan [Final Draft] September 19, 2014 The movie CRASH covers thirty-six hours of encounters between people of different races. Within that thirty six-hour period, interactions between strangers turn into heated racial arguments, full of hatred, fear, compassion and understanding. The movie portrays interactions between people of different races and some of the same race, causing tension and racial slurs. The movie illustrates that whenever race is an issue conflict in communication is inevitable. Communication through facial expressions/gestures is the only form that does not seem to have a racial barrier. Communication is an important factor in everyday life. However, in the movie, crash communication between the individuals created misunderstanding aggravated by racial differences. This is displayed right away in the first seen where two cars crash. Ria, a Puerto Rican detective who was driving her car, was rear-ended by an Asian woman. The following argument ensued, (Haggis, 2004) Motorcycle Cop: Calm down, ma'am. Kim Lee: I am calm. Motorcycle Cop: I need to see your registration and insurance. Kim Lee: Why? Not my fault! It's her fault! She do this! Ria: [approaching] My fault? Motorcycle Cop: Ma'am, you really need to wait in your...
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...Crash Movie Analysis Anjelica McCartney HUM/150 January 18, 2016 Victor Armenta Crash Movie Analysis Discrimination, racism, classism, prejudice and more plague today’s society. These horrible issues do not affect one race, sexes, class, ethnicity, or age group; these issues affect all races, both genders, all ethnicities, and all age groups. For this film analysis, I have chosen to discuss the racism portrayed throughout a three-time Oscar award winning movie called Crash. Summary Paul Haggis wrote, directed and produced the film Crash in 2004. The movie Crash interweaves several individuals in Los Angeles over a two-day period. The film shows how a variety of different ethnic characters crosses paths during this period, and it displays their personal experiences involving racism. The movie shows how some are victims of racism as well as how some are guilty of racism against others as well as themselves. ‘Some movies, though, are told very much from the protagonist’s point of view, and the audience needs to go inside of the character’s head, to see the world of the story as the character sees it and feel what they feel’ (Diamond, 2012). Crash will take you there. Characters The movie Crash does not have simply one or two main characters but several. The casting directors, Sarah Finn, and Randi Hiller, carefully selected a magnificent cast to portray the characters in this film. The main characters in this movie include; an African American detective named Graham...
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...Final Film Critique: Crash (2004) Jay Dennis ENG 225 Introduction to Film Instructor: Cicely Young April 13, 2014 Final Film Critique Draft: Crash (2004) There are many different critical elements and artistic aspects to examine when analyzing and critiquing any film. In 2004 Paul Haggis wrote and directed the award winning drama Crash about various intertwining experiences involving racial relations and the socioeconomic status levels of the diverse cast of characters. This film addresses how humans being deal with real life circumstances and addresses how racial stereotypes and prejudices impact our society by causing a separation of customs, ignoring human and civil rights, and demonstrating how racism can cause moral, cultural and economical suffering. This detailed essay will address the cinematic elements employed throughout the movie, and provide a critical analysis on the various components and techniques used to create this compelling and powerful film. Crash is a movie that involves several different stories and plots that all manage to somehow connect the characters to each other in a series of events that take place during two days in California. America’s ever-growing melting pot is distinctly represented in the film as the audience is introduced to a black LAPD detective, two black mischievous car thieves, a white district attorney and his prejudice wife, a white racist beat cop and his neophyte partner, a black Hollywood director and his wife, an...
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...Symbolic Interactionist Perspective Media Analysis SOC/100 Introduction to Sociology 06/07/2012 Mrs. Christina Oberste Symbolic Interactionist Perspective Media Analysis In today’s society, all human beings have their very own distinctive, customizable features such as body composition, hair length, attire, and style. At the same token, they all have genetic-based features such as color, height, facial features, and gender. While these features are quite commonly used to identify all human beings, they also give way to categorizing, mislabeling, and stereotyping another individual. Categorizing society by means of race, social class, and gender, is very common in today’s society; almost too common as it may seem. In this paper, the Academy Award-winning picture “Crash,” will be used to display some of the social injustices in today’s society. Crash, Oscar-winner for best picture, best original screenplay, and best editing at the 2005 Academy Awards, was co-written, produced, and directed by Paul Higgins in 2004. Crash was inspired by a real-life event in which Higgins’ Porsche was hi-jacked outside a video store in Los Angeles California. Crash touches up on a lot of different topics such as stereotyping, racism, classism, sexism, and exposure to different forms of racial discrimination such as racial stereotyping and racial profiling all from the non-verbal, symbolic perspective of an outsider. The first scene of the movie takes the viewers on-scene of a motor vehicle...
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...Title of Assignment – Move Analysis Paper - CRASH Student’s Name – Emmanuel Rweyemamu Professor/Institute – Dr. Lisa McDonnell Course, Date – SOC 1101 Analysis of Movie, Crash Introduction and Thesis: Written and directed by Paul Haggis, “Crash” was released in 2004. The movie highlights the trials and tribulations experienced by a various racial ethnical groups from varied geographical locations. Acculturation is not easy for these several Racial Groups such as Hispanics, Asians, or Africans, as the incidents in the film covering a time span of 36 hours, reveal. The characters are portrayed in the context of several ethnic stereotypes in prevalence, even in the 21st century due to ethnic differences. To illustrate, “The predominant modern stereotypes are the violent, brutish African-American male and the dominant, lazy African-American female - the Welfare Mother (Green, 1998-1999, p. 1).” Set in a mixed society of different cultures the aim is to prompt the audience into ‘looking into themselves’ and acknowledge their own personal prejudices; they are overt or covert racists too. The 3 elements of cultures openly portrayed are the language used, the norms maintained by society, both formal and informal. As far as how many viewers actually have the courage to accept their faulty mindsets, is left to them. While at first glance, the movie appears to send out a passionate appeal about ending racism and discrimination, an in-depth probe reveals that the ‘wrongness’ of proclaiming...
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...Addiction Movie Analysis Rosario Scarzone SCI/100 3/13/2016 Deborah Mattheus The Addiction movie I chose to do is the movie Flight. Here is a very brief summary of the movie; Commercial airline pilot Whip Whitaker (Denzel Washington) has a problem with drugs and alcohol, though so far he's managed to complete his flights safely. His luck runs out when a disastrous mechanical malfunction sends his plane hurtling toward the ground. Whip pulls off a miraculous crash-landing that results in only six lives lost. Shaken to the core, Whip vows to get sober -- but when the crash investigation exposes his addiction, he finds himself in an even worse situation. There were two types of drugs addressed in this movie alcohol and drugs, cocaine to be more specific, in which the pilot was addicted to both. His addiction to alcohol came on at an early age due to the stress of his career. Then later on in life alcoholism is what lead him to cocaine, claiming it helps him focus and be alert. These two addiction greatly affected those around him friends and families. Just about all his close friends including the ones he worked with knew about his drinking, but either didn’t think it was a big deal or didn’t speak to him about it and just ignored it. When they started doing the investigation he was worried about what anyone of them would say, so he went around to the ones who knew he was drinking the day of the crash to plead with them not to say anything and even using blackmail...
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... Typically people in society are somewhat discreet about their racism and it is not something they openly admit to. The movie Crash, daringly tackles the issues of intercultural communication, and race in an unconventional way. It takes racism and makes it an open conversation amongst the characters to ensure the viewers can clearly identify each characters racial bias. As the characters in this movie communicate, there is frequent use of racial slurs, profanity, as well as racially driven insults and stereotypes, to further exaggerate the bigotry present in the film. Crash provides a series of examples that show just how powerful effective and ineffective communication can be when it comes to social relations. This film touches on various communication theories and concepts, in which many of the scenarios presented in Crash can be explained. These theories and concepts include: symbolic interaction theory (self concept), assumptions of communication accommodation theory (indirect stereotyping), assumptions of expectancy violations theory (violation valence), and cultural communication. Synopsis Director Paul Haggis’s, 2005 explosive film, Crash, tells a very provocative story of how absolute strangers can impact each others lives in both negative and positive ways. In a seemingly coincidental chain of events the multicultural characters of this movie are in one way or another connected. Within a thirty – six hour period in Los Angeles California, about eight main characters...
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...A relieving day dream passes through her unconscious thoughts that tend to stay in the back of most of our brains when we find ourselves involved in mundane or routine tasks. Our arms put on our jackets and our feet find their ways into our shoes, dishes and trash appears without any effort concentrated to land scattered about, following us around wherever we have been. Without telling our legs to carry us over close enough for our arms to bring our hands to tidy up. We all do it. We are taught that we should do it and when life becomes more complicated, our bodies help us along, taking up the slack of our minds. I was guiding my car down the highway, mezmorizing at the yellow center lines against the swirling grey. My auto-pilot knows how important it is to keep the wheels of my car between those white lines on either side of the road. Its amazing how to mind works and what it is capable for doing byits own decision to so so. A well trained brain is a nice comfort to have to get throught those hectic days safely and without crashing things into things. My brain made an image develop behind my eyes. How smart to not block my vision. My mind had me lay down and rest in a clean hospital bed. There was the security of the bed rails and a call light near. A tv hung on the wall, mind didn’t want me to get anxious and bored. Just to rest and sleep would be a welcome activity, but no way would they allow me to stop. I would get into hot water if I missed the appointments, the court dates...
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...CRASHING IN OUR OWN ZONE The film Crash (2005) directed by Paul Haggis takes place in the city of Los Angeles’ and focuses on the ethnically diverse population of the city. It puts a spotlight on the high degree of alienation amongst the groups where meaningful human contact only occurs if individuals literally ‘crash’ into one another. The Los Angeles metropolitan area has a population of 3.8 million (Census, 2005); it is home to more poor people than any other urban area in the US. Approximately 20% of residents, including one of every three children, live in poverty (Census, 2005). The city is home as well to extravagant displays of wealth, mainly associated with the entertainment industry, making income inequality the most disheartening part of the Los Angeles region today. In addition to this vast social polarization there is a large immigrant population that struggles with integration, poverty and alienation. The movie is filmed as a series of vignettes focusing on the lives of several characters over a two-day period in post-9/11 America. Haggis’ characters exemplify various substantive birth cohorts and vast differences in gender, age, and class relations. These include characters of Caucasian, African American, Persian, Mexican, Korean, and Hispanic decent. He depicts these characters as forming harmful prejudices from a combination of impressions and individual beliefs toward each other as well as using stereotypes to define each other. The concepts and theoretical...
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...Classism and Racism A Narrative Analysis of Paul Haggis’s Film: Crash By: Alexis Couillard Introduction: In 2004, Paul Haggis directed the Oscar winning film crash, a drama about race and class and its effects on those residing in Los Angeles, California. This film paints a vivid picture of the harsh reality that classism has and will always exist and it is intertwined with racism in this film and in our realities. This film promotes racial awareness which is a topic not typically seen on the big screen and it demands a close inspection. Haggis wanted us to understand each character and to see them as real flesh bleeding humans that make mistakes and aren’t perfect. We see different races involved in the film such as African American, Persian, Hispanic, white and several Asians. Each scene intertwines with the next and we find out that all the characters are connected in some way or another. This technique of the characters being connected keeps the viewers on their toes. The audience is not stuck on one story or scene for too long. An idea or event is presented from the perspective of one person or family, and then the same event is expanded on by another characters connection to that particular event. Different ethnic stereotypes and racial prejudices are presented within the film such as the so called “gangbanger” who has tattoos and is Hispanic, and the black man who steals cars Anthony aka “Ludacris”. The director delivers and promotes this awareness but...
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...Addiction Movie Analysis Ashley Mcfarland SCI/163 Monday August 23, 2015 DENNY MELINE Addictions of a Pilot (Flight) Imagine this being your first time on a plane. You’re already nervous and uncomfortable. You hear babies crying, people having small arguments, and the last thing you need to know is the Pilot is drunk and high off of cocaine. Imagine not knowing that the pilot of the plane could seriously put your life in danger due to his selfishness. Would you believe that it was the pilots fault or a technical issue? All of these things will prance your mind as you glide through the air with a closed conscious. Addiction can get the best of people even when they mean good. Captain Whip Suffered from 3 different addictions. He was an alcoholic, a drug addict and he also smoked weed. He had been getting by for many years and never had an incident this tremendous. In the movie he had a couple of buddies that knew him for a very long time. They talked about his drinking from back in the day and he seemed to have a failed marriage due to his addictions. These addictions affected his family leading him to a divorce and he had no stable relationship with his son. He also couldn’t keep a girlfriend around. He got so caught up with his addictions that he only was for himself. He was selfish about how everyone else’s could feelings that it hurt him in the end. His addictions seemed as if it helped him go throughout his time period of flying...
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...criminals in Rang de Basanti? I do not wholly agree with the message screened in Rang De Basanti. The movie, for all its comedy, drama and performances of the actors, suggests a very dangerous breed of patriotism. Simply put, you cannot assassinate the Defense Minister of the world’s largest democratic nation. It’s against one of the most fundamental ideals of the legalism India enjoys, that of due process, under which a convict is legally tried for his crime in the court of law. Similarly, the Defense Minister too should’ve been tried in the correct forum rather than being gunned down by a bunch of college students. Indeed, what the minister said and did in the movie was unbecoming and wrong, and undeniably, the movie gives a very strong base message (that the youth should make an effort to right the wrongs), however what Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra shows in the movie is drastic to say the least. Instead, if he had shown Aamir Khan and co. making an effort to rightfully convict the minister (Perhaps a sting operation? They could’ve sought access to the minister via Siddharth’s father), the movie would’ve made its mark much better. An analysis of the events transpiring before the assassination makes a rather strong case for Aamir Khan and his friends’ antipathy towards the minister. Amongst their best friend (an Indian Air Force officer) lays down his life in an aircraft crash to protect a town in Northern India, but rather than winning praises for his heroism, is subjected...
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...Yvonne Lara Professor Hall Sociology 101 20 April 2015 Content Analysis Essay: “Crash” The movie Crash is a sensational film that is as much thrilling as it is tragic. The film was released in 2004 as an ensemble drama, and ended up becoming a box-office hit in the spring of 2005. The producer, Paul Haggis, not only directed the film, but was a co-writer as well. It includes enough comedy, action, suspense, and emotion that it appeals to all types of film genre fans. Moreover, Crash had a very popular cast of various types of actors, actresses, rappers, and entertainers. Crash won Best Picture at the 78th annual Academy Awards. Crash is a narrative of many different life events that affect a group of individuals who are of different races, social classes, occupations, education levels, economic statuses, and gender. The film is attempting to portray the current social structure of race, social class, and gender in Los Angeles. Almost each character in “Crash” has a connection, whether direct or indirect, with every other character. Metaphorically speaking, the narrative of the film can be compared to the Domino Effect. One domino falls, and then a chain reaction starts, and one by one, the first domino brings all the rest of them down with it. The first scene opens with Detective Graham Walters speaking. He is a black man portrayed by Don Cheadle. He says, “It’s the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people; people bump into you....
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...ROSARIO, Gianna Lea V. Midterm paper- Film Analysis SALVADOR, Anna Christelle L. The characters, Bernie, Gayle and Bubber, had different perspective bias that their portrayed or showed in the movie. First, Bernie LaPlante, was not very traditional; he is more of a person who shows utilitarianism in his actions. When he found out that Bubber was acting as the person who helped the people in the plane crash, he did not ask him to tell everyone that it was him. He believed that it was the common good to let the people believe and still listen to the goodness of John Bubber. Second, Gayle Gayley, also portrayed consequentialism when someone was accusing Bubber of trying to steal from her while rescuing the people on the plane. She believed that even though Bubber tried to steal, his actions of saving her countered that. Lastly, John Bubber, showed the consequentialism in his actions, when he was showing unselfish acts of trying to reach out to the people. “The end justified the mean” shows that even though he lied acting as Mr. LaPlante, he was still showing acts of kindness showing his true intentions. For the autonomy of morality, the characters did not have to believe in God or the church to be able to show their morality. It was inherent in the characters for being considered as social beings. Mr. LaPlante used Morality as inner conviction, according to the five ways of looking at Morality, when he noticed that the kid needed his help. His inner peace of seeing...
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...SOC 322 All Discussions Forum Click Link Below To Buy: http://hwcampus.com/shop/soc-322-discussions-forum/ Discussion Forum 1 Discussion Forum 1: What is your cultural background, and what is it like where you live? In Discussion Forum 1, post your response to the following discussion questions. Reply to at least two classmates’ responses by the date indicated in the course Calendar. 1. What is your cultural background, and what is it like where you live? 2. Describe how you have encountered the strange in the familiar in your own neighborhood or in some other place and what reference groups do people use in your neighborhood to define what is culturally and socially appropriate habitus? 3. In your neighborhood, are there ways that the people create social distance to separate themselves from others unlike them even to the point of being ethnocentric? CO1, CO7 Discussion Forum 2 Discussion Forum 2: Cultural Experiences In Discussion Forum 2, post your response to the following discussion question. Reply to at least two classmates’ responses by the date indicated in the course Calendar. Using a blend of your own experiences, supported by your understanding of the course readings and key terms integrate the following questions into your discussion board posting. It should be three strong paragraphs of 4 – 5 sentences in each paragraph. Then respond to at least two colleagues with an antithesis question on their posting. 4. Culture defines social roles...
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