...Written and directed by Paul Haggis, the 2005 film Crash displays a 36-hour period where multiple people’s lives tie together in Los Angeles, California. The main topic of this film is race relations. With the film being centered around such a heavy topic, it didn’t receive much media promotion. As time passed, Crash became a commercial success grossing 55 million dollars on a six and a half million-dollar budget. The film begins with Graham and Ria, two LAPD detectives, being involved in a car accident. Once that scene concludes, the film goes into past tense and introduces more characters that will have their own encounters battling with race relations. Crash makes the viewer think: Are race relations this bad? If they are, how am I perceived? Is this how others of different races are treated regularly? In one of the earlier scenes of the film, Anthony and Peter, argue over...
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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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...tekster fra 1.G 1. Literature/fiction and film analysis * http://so1.cphwest.dk/kulturelle_materialer/Engelsk_kulturelle.pdf * Working with Fiction (dokumenter): Read "The New Girl" * Litterature: 'My Son the Fanatic * Film analysis (oral): 'Crash' * Literary analysis of short stories relating to racial diversity, immigration and general social issues etc. * Texts: Aline's journey, The New Girl; The First Day (US society; Racism; Social class in the US); 'Little Things' by Raymond Carver; 'My Son the Fanatic' by Hanif Kureishi (UK Area Study); First Confession by Frank O'Connor (Ireland: an introduction-Religion). Film analysis. * Subjects related to sporting, social, political and economic themes. Films: Green Street Hooligans (Sport+UK society); Crash (US society); Bloody Sunday by Paul Greengrass (UK - Nothern Ireland); Bowling for Columbine (Guns in America). 2. UK: Area study * “Two Speed Britain” (s.54-s.63) fra bogen;” What’s up, Britain” * Tekster fra Current magazien "Margaret Thatcher", "The Rise of UKIP", "The Weird Foods Brits Love", "Jack the Ripper Stalks London" og "London's East End" * “My Son the fantastic” * Waterboys sang ”Old England” 3. USA: Political, Society and culture * "Mapping where English is not the language at home" By Dan Keating and Darla Cameron: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/us-language-map/ * Cadillac advert analysis: http://adage.com/article/news/cadillac-clears-misconceptions-poolside-ad/291925/...
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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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...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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...Ryan Peace Prof. Young Macro Econ Film Analysis on “Crash of 1929” Discuss 3 economic theories raised during the film. Economic Growth – positive. Spirits were high during the roaring 20s. New inventions and mass marketing encouraged people to spend and spend. Mass production made new technology affordable to middle class. New construction and automobiles were major factors causing the economic growth of the period. Price Level Stability – positive. The prices of stocks were easily manipulated by groups pooling together their money, or in some cases by just one man who managed a great amount of money and could single handedly drive the price of a stock up. Wealth without work – positive. People were paying just 10% of the price of a stock and borrowing the rest. If the stock went up like it had been during the earlier part of the decade they were able to pay their debt off with the increase, if it decreased however, they now owed the original 90% they borrowed, plus interest. And the original 10% was not worth anywhere near what they had first borrowed. What public policies did the government utilize during the 1920s that could have influenced the crash of 1929? Consumer credit. People were allowed to buy on margin. This was not such a terrible thing with tangible products, like appliances, but it was a disaster with the stock market. The value of a refrigerator is not going to decrease in an instant the way a stock could. Supply-side economics, the...
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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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...Crash. It is the perfect analogy of how we as a human race deal with life, people and our own experiences. Physical characteristics and racial differences may be interpreted as two distinguishing traits that separate us. I think it's what keeps us apart. That leaves several abstract questions that the film Crash illustrates. What are the origins of personal prejudice? Do individual experiences fuel standing stereotypes? Is it easier to perpetuate existing stereotypes because "things will never change?" Can people battle internal struggles within their own ethnic group? What prohibits us from overcoming these prejudices? The writers of the Crash managed to extend my viewing experience beyond the 90 minute film, thus forcing me to analyze my own prejudices and racial stereotypes towards others. I always thought that racism occurred as a result of a person's upbringing. If your parents were racist, there is a good chance that you will be a racist too. At first glance, Matt Dillon's character exhibits characteristics typical of this theory. Dillon exhibited a close bond with his father and later, we discover the roots of his racism. I naively assumed that Dillon was absorbing external cues from his father regarding his attitudes towards black people. It turns out that his father was not racist towards black people. It was Dillon who, in combination with his father's negative experiences and his own as a member of the LAPD, formed his own perceptions towards blacks. Another example...
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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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...of each other’s actions, leading to inaccurate race bias. This race bias can be referred to as racism. 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...
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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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...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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...Film i Engelsk Bilag 1a FILM ANALYSIS – an introduction (Source: http://www.filmeducation.org) – bearbejdet af Mi og LK, Favrskov Gymnasium Reading a film is just like reading a book, except that instead of looking at a written page we are looking at the cinema screen. Reading a film works in exactly the same way as a written text, or a picture, except that the tools that are used to create meaning are different. We call these tools film language. The opening sequence From the moment we first start watching a film, we begin to get involved. The first few minutes of a film (the opening sequence) are very important to us as they give us lots of clues about the film: 1) what will the film be about (conflicts/themes); 2) who are the most important characters (hero, villain, love interest); 3); what is the setting of the film (time and place); 4) the genre; and finally, 5) what sort of film language characterizes the film? We look at all these elements and begin to put them into context. Based on their environment, how they look, what they say and what we see them do, we make assumptions about the characters, their roles in the film and their relationship to each other. We also recognize so-called genre markers (things we associate with one particular genre) which tell us if we are watching a Western or a Sc-Fi film and, thus, form specific expectations about what is going to happen during the rest of the film. At the same time, we listen to the sounds and the music...
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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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