...Critical Review Introduction Race and gender relations are one of the most explored themes in movies, music, books, and etc. Often times, ineffective communication leads to the misinterpretation 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...
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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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...In the movie of Crash and “From Rez Life: An Indian’s Journey Through Reservation Life,” two of the main models of ethnic relations that were shown was the racism and the complexity between ethnic groups and political. First, the term of racism defined in both of the stories is because from the movie of Crash, the law enforcement pulled the couple over because they were African American and thought they were doing something in appropriate in the car. When they finally pulled them over, the police wanted to penalize the couples for performing sexual acts in public. Instead, the police harassed his wife because he knew he would not get in trouble for it because he’s going to let them go without giving them a ticket for PLL (Public Lewdness Laws). This takes a big part in...
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...upon, yet there they are in back on my mind like an old blood stain on my scrub top that I will never be able to get rid of. These are thoughts based on biases and misperception that sometimes I tend to forget about, and sometimes, it takes a good someone else for me to be reminded. The film Crash that came out on 2004 cannot depict any better how many of us, if not most of us, see the other cultures. The location where the story takes place also cannot be any better. It takes place in Los Angeles where the lives of these Angelinos crossed paths causing a collision of race and cultural prejudice. The director, Paul Haggis, did a nice job reminding all of us, especially me, as how we treat each other among cultures letting our judgment be mislead the could be acts of racism. Although the movie may push reality beyond its limits, it is something that to some extend happens every day and cannot be overlooked. Sometimes while reflecting on the film and its message, I found myself drifting away remembering the times that I was judged based on my personal appearance and cultural background. I also recollected those times I have done the same and judge others based on their color or race. My most significant memory is one of a sweet white lady that was a regular patient for the doctor I worked for. She had fractured her lower leg and throughout the weeks of treating her I got to know her. She would ask me questions about myself and without hesitation I would...
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...Crash is a movie that debut in 2004. This controversial movie displayed racism, ethnic relations, differences in social class and much more in Los Angeles, California on the west coast of North America. The movie showed the connection of people’s lives over a 36 hour time span. The 36 hour time span illustrates tense actions throughout the city and in each character’s life. The movie was approximately an hour and a half and displayed everything and more within that time. It interlocks the life of the white, the blacks, the Asian, the Spanish, the Persian, the rich, the poor and even the cops and criminals. Everyone is both a victim and guilty of racism. People’s impulses have been an issue within this movie. A negative impulse have been instinctive and their positive one could be and have been dangerous. This movie shows that everyone feels prejudice against other cultures, groups or races and somewhat resents them for it. The actions and feelings displayed and touched on throughout the movie are simply just the consequences. The first demonstration displayed in the film of racism or an act of racism came when a wife of an attorney, played by Sandra Bullock assumed that the two men walking towards her were to going to rob her. Though that became the case, she made an assumption based on color or ethnic background. I don’t believe that she should have based on the area that they were all in and the restaurant that they came out of. This displayed subjective reality. Subjective...
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...CRASH Crash is a movie made in 2004, by the director Paul Higgs. The movie is about racial and social tension in the “mean” streets of Los Angles, California. It’s about several real life incidents that portray discrimination and different stereotypes amongst different racial groups. Within a 36 hour day period car crashes, shooting, carjacking, racial profiling are all mentioned. They reveal the distance between different strangers due to racial tension. Rarely do you see fathers taking an active role in their children’s lives. Most fathers are the bread winners in their family and don’t have time to be in their children’s lives as often as a mother. Most fathers are usually the ones that get involved with the sports life of the child. Involved fathering is a father who actively takes a hand on role with the family, doing more than providing economically. In the movie Crash (2004) Daniel Ruiz’s (Michael Peña), character is a Mexican American who is a locksmith, who faces discrimination because he looks like a “Mexican gangster.” He is actually a devoted single father who takes care of his young daughter; Lara, who seeks for a safe environment for his daughter because of a bullet through her window in their previous home. When he found a safer neighborhood he enrolled her in private school so she would get an excellent education. She has to stay home by her self while she sleeps, so he made up a wonderful story about a “cloak”. He said that it would protect her from being...
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...Diversity in society - “Crash” Diversity and discrimination have forever been an indispensable component of human nature. Whether we move back to the hard times of the Great Depression or come to the modern day’s society, we find a strong reflection of racialism everywhere. These aspects have been well reflected in the movie ‘Crash’. The movie ‘Crash’, released in 2005 was directed by Paul Haggis and written by Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco and won three Academy awards. The movie revolves mainly around the overlapping or interlocking events in the life of whites and blacks, rich and poor, cops and criminals, Iranians, Koreans and Latinos - everything defined ultimately by racism. The idea is that “moving at the speed of life, we are bound to collide with each other”. It is based on everyday racial reactions in the human society. How we react to situations adds hue to our perceptions of living life itself. All the people involved are guilty of the discrimination but sometimes through indifference, they rise above these. Assuming something about the person before us is rather a dominant feature in Crash. Crash describes a number of people with almost equal importance and shows the psychological inhibitions each of them has based on these narrowness of discrimination. The movie contains coldness, cruelty and pain, but finally unfolds to generate sympathy from general audience and an expectation that people would learn to share similar hopes and fears. As far as Crash is concerned, the...
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...matters into nice distinct sections. Classifications and organization, at first glance seem to be useful in distinguishing various aspects of modern life. However, these grouping methods can be very inaccurate, leaving erroneous ideas in the minds of citizens on a global level. Stereotypes, though originating as convenient sorting mechanisms, instead, influence our thinking process. Crash depicts numerous characters and brings them together through carjacking, car accidents and shootings. The movie Crash represents the nature of race relations in America. Most of the characters depicted in the film are racially opinionated in some way, and become mixed up in conflicts which force them to examine their own discrimination. The films show how one stereotype, one miscommunication or lack of communication, could turn into an unstable situation. Through these characters' connections and lack of communication, the film tries to show prejudice and racism is frequent and common in present America. Problems of race and sex make a group of strangers in Los Angeles to psychologically and physically crash in the drama. Graham is a police officer whose brother is a street criminal, and it hurts him to know his mother cares more about his good-for-nothing brother than him. Rick is an L.A. district attorney whose wife, Jean, makes little secret of her horror and hate of people not like herself. Jean's worst dreams about people of color are complete when her SUV is stolen by two African...
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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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...among people. Diversity is all the individual differences that make us unique from each other. Diversity is how people see themselves and how they perceive others. Managing diversity is a task within its self because there are so many aspects to work with in order to achieve this goal. Managing diversity is empowering people to perform at their maximum level. There are three levels of diversity they are internal dimensions, external dimensions and organizational dimensions. These three levels put together define our personal identity and has a great impact on how each one of us view the world. Our personality is the center of our lives because it defines our characteristics that describe who we are. The internal dimensions are age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender and physical ability. You also have to deal with the external dimensions geographic location, income, personal habit, recreational habits, religion, educational background, work experience, appearance, parental status, and marital status. And the organizational dimensions are functional level/classification, work content/field, diversity department/unit/ group, seniority, work location, union affiliation, and management status. These are all part of managing diversity in an organization. You have to approach managing diversity in an organization with an open mind and without bias. You cannot manage this as an individualistic culture but as a collectivist culture, it is about what is best for the company...
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...Case Study "NASCAR" P. 429 NASCAR has grown to a predominant sports name in the past 60 years all built from a man passion named William Henry France. Since the first race in 1948 car racing has skyrocketed with fans traveling hundreds of miles to watch a race and sponsors jumping on board to share the success. The NASCAR industry has felt the sting of the 2008 recession with low attendance and criticism about their environmental awareness. Nevertheless, NASCAR has survived the financial worries with a creative mix of brand awareness, solid sponsorships from reputable name vendors, and vivid action-packed television coverage. NASCAR has created an intense network of friends that belong to a social group who all associate themselves as a need for speed and...
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...English 2010 April 16, 2012 Illegal Street Racing: an Unknown Danger It is the primal urge amongst male teenagers; vehicles side by side, engines revving, to put the pedal to the floor and see who wins. It is street racing and it has caught on in the U.S. over the past decade as one of the worst influences on young impressionable minds today. The feeling you get when you’re going fast cannot be replaced by any other stimulant known to man and is just as addictive as any drug. Influential sources like the media, celebrities and peers all have the ability to pressure one into an adrenaline fueled race to the finish. The consequences of street racing, however, outweigh the rush it gives its participants. Laws passed to deter would be street racers with consequences including, but not limited to: Fines, loss of driving privileges, and imprisonment are all results of street racing, not to mention the ever present risk of serious injury or death to participants and bystanders alike. Many different ways of preventing and detecting street racing have been put into action over the last few decades by various agencies and organizations, from lowering the national maximum speed limit, installing speed cameras on buys roads, or providing innocent drivers with safer vehicles, this nation is fighting a war on street racing that many don’t even know exists. Street racing originated from drag racing on the quarter-mile strip. The concept of drag racing is when two racers in different cars...
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...perspective, the Levvittown story is significant for many reasons but some of the most important ones are: * The use of and power of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination in setting the rules of inclusion and exclusion of the “American Dream.” * (What is the American Dream?) * the ability of individuals (e.g. the Levitt brothers) to monopolize an entire housing industry. * the actions or inactions taken by our national (and state/local) government that encouraged segregated housing in the U.S., even for veterans, who obviously had served in our wars. * the permanence of the housing segregation from the actions of the Levitt brothers and the U.S. government even now, as housing in the U.S. continues to be segregated by race/ethnicity (as well as socio-economic status). * the intricate connection between housing and quality of schooling at the K-12 level in our country. The higher the value of one’s property, the more taxes one pays, and the better the schools those taxes help support. * the intricate connection of quality of schooling and going to colleges, especially highly-ranked colleges * the intricate connection between college degrees and well-paying jobs, and even closer connection to college degrees from certain colleges and universities to well-paying jobs – almost a pipeline from K through graduate degrees * the intricate connection between jobs and ability to send your own children to certain schools and continue the success story...
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...Ch r i s t i n e Ro e ll Intercultural Training with Films ilms are a great medium to use not only to practice English, but also to facilitate intercultural learning. Today English is a global language spoken by people from many countries and cultural backgrounds. Since culture greatly impacts communication, it is helpful for teachers to introduce lessons and activities that reveal how different dialects, forms of address, customs, taboos, and other cultural elements influence interaction among different groups. Numerous films contain excellent examples of intercultural communication and are highly useful resources for teachers. Additional reasons for teachers to incorporate films in class and encourage their students to watch movies in English include: • Films combine pleasure and learning by telling a story in a way that captures and holds the viewer’s interest. • Films simultaneously address different senses and cognitive channels. For example, spoken language is supported by visual elements that make it easier for students to understand the dialogues and the plot. • Students are exposed to the way people actually speak. 2 2010 N u m b e r F • Films involve the viewers, appeal to their feelings, and help them empathize with the protagonists. • DVDs usually come with subtitles in English, which facilitates understanding and improves reading skills. After discussing the importance of teaching intercultural communication and suggesting films that match specific cultural...
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...” or because of their ethnicities and backgrounds. So what exactly defines the “perfect female?” Is it the girls featured on “Girls Gone Wild” in Cancun, or the half naked models posing for Victoria’s Secret? Or is it the perfectly put together “Miss America” pageant queens? Or is it the Hollywood actresses with billion dollar dresses, and priceless jewelry? Or the well toned, well defined professional team cheerleaders, and dancers we watch? WE, speaking for us “average” women, who often tend to idolize, and carry pieces of all these girls within us, and envy them, for not being able to ever look like one of them…so damn perfect in every single way. These women, among many others all contribute to the foundations, of media, public relations, and entertainment sectors. Women are usually seen as the sex symbol in the media world, and do whatever they have to do, to earn and keep their image, and title....
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