...with little distractions. This setting is an ideal situation to sway an audience. Movies are at their most potent when seen at the theater (Harper, 2003). Movies can desensitize people to issues and shift public attitudes through influence. While there are many real scenarios portrayed in fictional film, to say that movies similar to Crash are completely accurate portrayals of reality is an oversight. With this influential medium, the film Crash is an attempt to accurately portray the various racial, ethnic, and racial stereotypes within the cast of characters in Los Angeles, California. I am from Los Angeles, and while I understand what the film-makers were trying to do, I thought it was rather shallow and merely a portrayal of what people THINK L.A. is. The film is supposed to be snapshot of America; as a melting pot of cultures. The movie is complete with a racial mix of every nationality. Prejudices are the strong backbone to the concept of racism. They are the labels and images that we designate to a group of people on the basis of what we imagine to be the characteristics of all members of that group. More often than not, they are incorrect and incomplete. The film Crash, directed by Paul Haggis, addresses the strong existence of racial and racial prejudices against many groups from various perspectives in today's society. Racial perception and racial sensitivity Edward Hall theorizes that every human being is exposed to so many perceptual stimuli - sights...
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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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...Crash: A Disturbing Mirror on Humanity Does everyone hate or dislike a certain type of person? Do people continuously make snap judgments of others based upon their appearance? Do people really believe in stereotypes they hear about other ethnicities? Are individuals naturally afraid of unfamiliar cultures? These questions are explored by Director Paul Haggis in the provocative 2005 film Crash. Set in contemporary Los Angeles, Crash is an explosive exploration of prejudice. The plot of Crash consists of a series of inter-related vignettes about people of assorted ethnicities and socio-economic groups who come into contact with one another—often violently--over a 36-hour period. In the film the interaction of the characters causes viewers to question stereotypes while at the same time acknowledging the grain of truth they contain. Because the vignettes are all related, with characters in one reappearing in another, viewer are able to see various sides of a character: a character shown committing a racist act in one scene is depicted in an act of kindness in another. This structure stresses the interrelationship of human-beings and underscores the complexities of prejudice and racism. The title of the movie Crash is a metaphor for the content. The most obvious meaning of the word crash in contemporary society is an auto collision, and the movie begins and ends with car accidents. But the idea of collision, as it pertains to the film, has a much broader application. This...
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...Stereotypes are the organizational factors that virtually shape the way we think in 20th century America. They somehow manage to categorize some of life's most complex 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...
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...Racism in "Crash" Physical Characteristics and racial differences are distinguishing traits that keep people in our world apart from each other. Crash is a movie that showcases prejudice and racial stereotypes. The movie is set in Los Angeles which is a city with the cultural mix of almost every ethnicity. Crash is a perfect analogy of how the different people intersect with others in society. The movie crash shows differences between the lives of different people. It displays the interactions of several multiethnic groups such as African American, Caucasians, Asians, Latinos, and Arabs. All of the groups are striving to overcome their fears as they weave in and out of each other’s lives. They are all tied by an invisible chain of events, so the movie shows how we all have an effect on one another whether we realize it or not. The basic premise is that we can not live our lives without crashing into others. Others may look different and come from all walks of life but ultimately we are all the same. We are ultimately connected and the sooner we realize this, the better society as a whole will be. The opening scene begins with a crash and the statement is made that we don’t touch each other enough, so we have to crash just to interact. We need each other to survive, so connections have to be made. The ultimate goal should be to touch each other’s lives in a positive and lovely way and not to violently “crash” into one another. This makes one question their own personal prejudices...
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...Profiling and Stereotypes Issues In a city such as Los Angeles, racial profiling takes places constantly throughout the day. In this film, “Crash”, Paul Haggis follows the lives of over 10 people from different backgrounds, and how they are faced with racial profiling or stereotypes. This movie is not only thought provoking, it shows the reality of such a complex world. The director, Haggis, shows how each character is faced with racial profiling/stereotypes and how it creates a snowball effect in each of their lives, as well as affecting the lives of others. The film “Crash” assumes that profiling is a bad but that people do it anyways. Self-serving attributions, revenge, victimizing, scapegoat, etc., can motivate stereotypes. Haggis wants us to feel guilty by watching all the different stereotypes that exist in today’s world; he wants us to realize not to judge a person by their physical appearance and/or race. Even Haggis illustrates anger and sympathy towards people that use stereotypes on other people. Most will say that because we are human it allows us to be imperfect but it being human doesn’t allow us to discriminatory towards other imperfect human beings. Racial profiling is when a person is judged by their race or ethnicity. The movie allows it’s viewers to see how racial profiling is a moral issues. It is projected be people of all races and classes. We can still see in today’s world people are still being judged; meaning stereotypes still exist. In the film, when the...
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...Crash is an American drama film based in the city of Los Angeles that takes the viewer through a series of smaller stories. However, Crash is much more than that. The movie was set as a national wake up call after 9/11 and while the movie is fictional it has a striking similarity to occurrences in everyday life. Furthermore, the movie shines a light on racism, gender discrimination, and police brutality within the everyday life of Americans. The movie was originally criticized for reinforcing stereotypes instead of smashing them. I personally believe that this initial assumption made by many viewers was unjust. The movie highlighted stereotypes that affect people of all backgrounds and showed up how we may contribute to them as well. While...
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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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...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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...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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...Crash Misty Ward University of Phoenix August 15, 2009 The movie Crash interweaves several stories during a 36 hour period in Los Angeles involving a variety of characters, an up and coming police detective with a two time felon for a brother and a drugged addicted mother, two car thieves that constantly discuss race and society, the white district attorney and his typical stay at home wife, a white veteran cop who does not hide his racist feelings from his young non racist partner. Also in the movie is a successful Hollywood director who coming home from a party with his wife crass paths with the white racist cop, a Persian-immigrant father who buys a gun to protect his store, a hardworking Hispanic locksmith and his young daughter trying to escape a dangerous neighborhood. Through what could be considered daily coincidental interactions, the movie seeks to describe and examine not only racial tensions, but the stereotyping that each ethnic group faces on a daily basis. Crash address the various types of diversity in America by illustrating basic stereotypes of each character’s cultural background for which they represent. The movie also address how society handle racism on a daily basis through interaction with each other, and how the view various races. For example the white district attorney and his wife were walking down the street. At the same time two African American men were walking towards them When the D.A’s wife sees them walking towards them, her immediate...
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...expect them to request royalty treatment as if they all had a sense of entitlement. These are merely thoughts I would never act 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...
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...Women in film have been stereotypically portrayed since the invention of film. In an industry that is extremely male dominated stereotyping is very common. In film women make up 16.7 percent of directors, 4.1 percent directors, 12.2 percent of writers and 20 percent producers . In 2012 out of 67 top films of 2012 only twelve leading characters were female . This essay will be taking a look at various films from different time periods and analyze the way that women are portrayed. The research will focus on how feminine characteristics are considered inferior, women being portrayed as sexual objects, the importance of looking at issues that women face in, also taking a look at stereotypes that don’t seem to be going away regardless of when the films are made. This essay will focus on the evolution of film and how it represents modern day society. It will explore both the negative and positive aspects of the evolution of how women are...
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...people have begun to stereotype everyone that is Muslim to be evil terrorist, when in reality not every Muslim person is bad. Many films, television shows, and documentaries have presented Muslims in this negative stereotypical manner such as: Iron Man 3, the television show 24, a documentary called Real Bad Arabs, and Rampage. The form in which they are presented is not fair to the rest of the Muslim population, but it is what many are led to believe due to their portrayal in films and television shows. On September 11th, 2001 the United States suffered the emotional terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and a plane crash in a Pennsylvania field. This terrorist attack involved the hijacking of four airplanes by a total of nineteen men who were from nations in the Middle East. They belonged to a terrorist group called Al Qaeda which was led by Osama Bin Laden. The religion they practiced was Sunni Muslim. The first airplane was crashed by Mohammed Atta and other terrorist at 8:46am. This plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. All the passengers on board were killed along with hundreds of others in the building. The next airplane crashed at 9:03am, but this time into the South Tower of the World Trade Center (Smith). Again everyone on board were killed with others who were in the building. Every news station was covering what was happening. There was live footage as of the first plane crash and when the second plane...
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...Bryant Smith February 7, 2012 Cultural Diversity Crash Movie Paper The movie Crash is a drama film that shows you several life experiences of different people living in Los Angeles. All the characters in the film are somehow inter-related to one another. A police detective who mother is strung out on drugs and has a brother who likes to kill, two car thieves, a white district attorney, a racist cop, a black Hollywood director, a full Persian descent father, and a Hispanic locksmith are all the characters in the film. This film has some sociological problems that occur everyday in the United States. One of the problems in our society is institutional discrimination. Institutional discrimination refers to the unfair, indirect treatment of an individual embedded in the operating procedures, policies, laws, or objectives of large organizations. This situation can be recognized as widespread because certain jobs are all over America and therefore they might perform the same type of discrimination to somebody. One example of this would be when the racist police and his younger co-worker pulled the successful Hollywood director and his wife over after just retrieving that somebody was car jacked. The Hollywood director was driving the same type of car that was reported stolen. However, the police operator gave the racist cop the stolen car license plate number so to pull these people over was no connection in their earlier call. It was the same exact car but had a different...
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