Crash begins, with a Muslim man going into a store to buy a gun from a white store owner. The white store owner views the man negatively because of his Muslim background. The white store owner’s preconceived attitudes towards the man are largely based on the September 11th terror attacks on the United States by a group of Muslim terrorists. This particular scene provides an example of stereotyping. According to the book Multicultural Law Enforcement, stereotyping is when people classify someone based on a particular pattern, but do not recognize their individuality. The white store owner believes that the Muslim man in his store is going to commit some type of criminal act, because of what little knowledge he has of Muslims. This lack of knowledge about Muslims, and the terrorist attacks completed by Muslims on US soil lead him to exhibit some form of stereotyping against all Muslims. The reality of stereotyping is that it has existed in humanity for centuries and still plays a major role in the lives of so many people around the world. I think that the only way to reduce stereotyping is by increasing education about what makes us different and embracing our uniqueness. Matt Dillon’s character John Ryan is vividly engrained into my imagination. John Ryan and his partner receive a call of a car- jacking involving a black Navigator. Ryan and his partner see a black Navigator in passing, run the plates and his partner advises him that, it is not the vehicle they are looking for. Ryan then proceeds to pull the car over and once stopped, notices it is being driven by a black couple. When he approaches the car he gets upset by the giddiness of the couple and suggests that they were involved in a sexual act. Ryan, a bitter racist LAPD officer, proceeds to explicitly sexually assault the women outside of the vehicle in front of her husband. This scene in the move Crash, depict the topics prejudice and sexual assault. Prejudice is defined as, “an adverse opinion or learning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge” (www.dictionary.com, 2011). Ryan’s action of pulling over the couple without a direct cause, and proceeding to verbally degrade them only exemplifies his prejudice toward blacks. In this scene that prejudice only magnifies in his actions toward the black woman. Ryan feels like he can degrade her by sexually molesting her because he is a law enforcement officers and his engrained prejudice in his mind makes it perfectly acceptable. Prejudice can become very threatening to society when it evolves into other extreme forms. Acting on inner hatred for a specific group can lead to behavior that borderlines hate crimes. I feel like the only way to reduce prejudice and bridge the gap is through education and communication. This scene was actually very upsetting to me, because law enforcement officers are supposed to be professional and protect, in situations like this it is very unsettling that they would abuse their authority in this way. Sandra Bullock plays the wife of the L.A. District Attorney. After her and her husband are car-jacked on their way to the car, by two young black males (Ludacris and Lorenz Tate). When they arrive home she request that the locks of their home be changed. The locksmith who is changing their locks is a young Mexican male, with a bald head, goal tee, tattoos and his pants sagging. Upset by the appearance of the locksmith she request to her husband that the locks be changed the next morning. In the exchange between her and her husband she yells that the guy is a gang banger who has prison tattoos and will probably take a copy of their key and give it to his home boys. This scene also examples stereotyping and prejudice. Bullock’s character based her views of the locksmith totally on his outward appearance. She thought because he was a young Mexican male with tattoos and sagging pants that he was part of a gang. It is inaccurate perceptions like this that make the world the chaotic place that we live in today. So many times law enforcement and others have misconceptions about a particular ethnicity because of an issue that may not particularly be their own but what they have seen or heard. It is this ignorance that limits the ability of law enforcement and their effectiveness in communities. There is one last scene that really sticks out in my mind in the movie Crash. It is when Terrance Howard character is sitting at the stoplight and Ludacris and Lawrence Tate’s characters attempt to car-jack his car. Howard jumps out of the car refusing to let them take his car and starts fighting Ludacris’s character. The police see the altercation and Howard jumps into the car and drives off with one of the car-jackers in the passenger seat. With police chasing them Howard stops his car and gets out visibly upset by being stopped. One of the police officers recognizes him from the event with his wife being molested and attempts to calm him down. The officer then persuades the officers on the scene to let him go. I think from this scene Ryan Phillippe who plays the police officer feels like he owes Howard a favor for not intervening when he and his wife were stopped. This scene definitely examples a break down in cross-cultural communication. According to the text this occurs when law enforcement officers who have traditionally used certain styles of language or communication that was at some point deemed acceptable. When there is a breakdown in cross cultural communication there is a tremendous disconnect with the behavior and responses of the citizens they are interacting with. I think that if officers were to improve their communication with citizens this would result in a safer interaction for all involved. In conclusion, I think the movie Crash does an excellent job of depicting and telling the story of how multi-cultural communities are affected by racial conflict, biases, stereotypes and discrimination. The film provides a layout of how we are faced with life changing decisions and how families might experience some form of cultural division. The dark topics of violence, racism and sexual assault may cause tension among those viewing the film that have a difference in opinion concerning those issues. It is important for the film to peel back those layers so that it can be used as an effective learning tool for anyone. After watching the movie Crash I personally learned a lesson about life’s experiences and the challenges that many people face on a daily basis. I learned the impact of dealing with hate whose underlying foundation is racism and discrimination and no matter how faint, prejudice is a destruction that can affect anyone. References
Harris, Philip; Levine, Deena; Olson, Aaron; Shusta, Robert and Wong, Herbert. (1995). Multicultural Law Enforcement. 28-110
Online dictionary. http://dictionary.reference.com/. Retrieved on November 26, 201.