...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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...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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...Write a position paragraph defending the need for gun control. The movie crash shows a need for gun control. In the beginning of the movie Farhad and Dorri go and buy a gun. When they brought the gun, they got a free box of ammunition. There was no background check done. They easily got the gun and also got a free box of ammunition. Since Farhad owned a gun, he went over to Daniel Ruiz house. Farhad’s intent was to shoot Ruiz. Ruiz’s little girl ran in front of the gun. But luckily the gun didn’t go off. This situation could have easily turned deadly. The gun could have gone off, and Farhad would have shot Ruiz’s little girl. Guns need to be harder to get a hold of. Background checks need to be done, and also free boxes of ammunition should...
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...Mariam Magarious Professor Batson College Writing 2 March 8th,2016 A very dull and boring story can be made into a great story simply by adding in something that is unexpected to happen. When the unexpected is used in literature it is known as irony. An author uses irony to shock the reader by adding a twist to the story. In “The Story of an Hour” and “The Storm” both by Kate Chopin and her use of irony in the story is incredibly done more than once. Kate Chopin does a great job in placing irony into this short story and makes the reader understand that the unexpected happens in life. Kate's story is based on the idea that marriage in the late 19th century was viewed as oppressive. This was based on the fact that in the late 19th century woman had few rights in the public eye and their duties revolved around household chores and raising children. Feminism was not the only theme Kate used in this short story to entertain her readers, she also strategically placed literary ironies to keep the readers interest. In Kate Chopin’s short story “The Story of an Hour,” there is so much irony. Louise Mallard is about to be told about the death of her husband, Brently Mallard. This is for sure to take a toll on an old woman with a bad heart condition. One can start to feel the irony right after she is told of her husband’s death. She retreats to her room alone where she sits in a comfortable chair and stares out the window. It is what she sees out the window that shows some irony...
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...Emily English 1301, Assignment #3 October 25th, 2015 Crash Essay E.B. White once said, “Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.” This nation has become a melting pot of people from different cultures, races, religions, backgrounds, classes, and beliefs. Prejudice is born from personal experience and from generalizations and beliefs about a particular group of people. In the movie Crash, the director does an incredible job illustrating prejudice in today’s world by showing examples in our everyday society, how our personal lives can often influence how we interact, and how sometimes our preconceived ideas can be shattered by chance encounters. Society is full of prejudice, people are judged on the basis of their race, class, sex, or religion. The movie Crash depicts the various aspects of prejudice by showing the causes and effects it has on different people and how they interact with each other. For example, in the beginning of the movie a wealthy white couple, Rick and Jean, is walking down the street and Jean moves closer to her husband when she sees two black men, Anthony and Peter, walking towards them. They notice the woman’s reaction, then they rob the couple at gunpoint and steal their car. Then, after Rick and Jean get home they have their locks changed, Jean gets really upset when she sees the locksmith is Hispanic and wants to have the locks changed again because she thought the Hispanic man was going to sell...
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...Greysun Morales Professor Calabrese Humanities 2250 30 August 2012 Crash When you’re walking on a sidewalk or walkway and happen to brush shoulders with a person or make eye contact, you don’t think you are ever going to see that person again. But in actuality, that person can be your future boss or even coworker, or the murderer of a loved family member. Crash shows that every person on this earth is somehow connected to each other; it doesn’t matter if you are black, white, or Hispanic. This film has a handful of people that when you look at them separately, you would never think they were connected in any way. But they all eventually have something in common that brings them together but definitely not in a good way. Despite its not so happy ending, I really liked crash for what it’s worth. It shows how far people can go when they hate a certain race of people, in this case, African-Americans. In a certain scene in the movie a white cop, that dislikes black people, pulls over a black couple for no apparent reason besides wanting to cause them trouble. I’m positive that in the real world there are cops that are racist to different kinds of races. Race is the big issue in this film; it’s what causes the problems that these people run into. A rich white lady not wanting a “gangbanger” Hispanic guy changing her locks for fear that he might sell the keys to his “homies”, a pair of black men robbing that same white women and husband just because they knew that she feared...
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...Morgan Daley Professor Goodwin November 9 2015 Ethics _07 Crash The movie “Crash” brought racial profiling to an extreme. The main characters Officer Tom Hansen, Officer John Ryan and Cameron Thayer were characters who stuck out at me through the movie. Throughout this movie I thought about stereotypes that exist today and how this movie exampled them. Officer Ryan showed racism throughout the movie. He was rude on the phone with a black secretary and when he went into her office. He told his old partner to wait a few years and he’ll get knowledge of who commits crimes, basically saying it is minorities. During the movie he pulled over a black male (Cameron Thayer) and lighter skinned black women over (Christine Thayer). Sexually violated the women and was being threatening to the men and women for no reason and when the black male apologized he let them leave with a warning. One stereotype today is that black males commit crimes. White people tend to feel inferior when they see a group of black males walking down the street. Although, this cop took it over board, he has the mentality of many other white Americans. Officer Ryan saw a car flipped over and Christine Thayer was in stuck in the car. She didn’t want to get out with the officer because she remembered what he did to her. You could tell officer Ryan felt a sense of guilt. Even when the car was on fire he did everything in his power to take her out, and succeeded. Cameron Thayer wasn’t your “typical” black...
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...Crash is the 2006 Best Picture film, that aims to show the audience that racial discrimination and prejudice comes in many forms and nearly every person. No matter how kind and perfect a person may seem, the situation they are in can drastically change the influence of their prejudice. An example being the young cop, who when with other cops are showing prejudice he stands up for the victim, but when alone in a car with a black man, his own prejudice leads him to kill the man without any valid threat to speak of. However, the overall goal of Crash is to highlight the prevalence of racism in our society; the racism present in every cultural group, profession and every smiling face. Even the seemingly wonderful cop who cares for his aging father...
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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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...The film Crash presents the perfect portrayal of the many issues that are present in today’s society, which people from all ethnicities come across in their lifetime. While the world may seen like a big place, this movie shows that people have a lot more in common than they think and they often share some of the same issues. Whether it is racial discrimination, stereotyping, or harassment, all of the characters in this movie share something in common and they all end up in a life changing “crash”. The film presents many different themes along with the problems each character has. While some are big, and some are small, in the end of the film they all wind up tied together to show how the world and the people in it react to situations they often...
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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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...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...
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...Khoa Nguyen SPC 2270 Movie Critique Crash After watching this movie for 2 times, I am still confusing why the movie director named this movie “Crash”. The true is there are some car crashes in the movie, but neither of them actually describes what this movie about. Instead, the movie is more about racialism and religious discrimination. In my opinion, “Clash” seems more understandable. But in overall, I guess what I want to say is "Crash" is a really good movie. However, it is not easy to sum up this movie, as there are many people with as much characters, and following is so many different stories that wind on and off of each other. There are cops Graham and Ria (Don Cheadle and Jennifer Esposito). There's the district attorney and his wife (Brendan Fraser and Sandra Bullock). There are criminals (Ludacris and Larenz Tate). There are some more cops (Matt Dillon and Ryan Phillippe). There's a TV director and his wife (Terrence Dashon Howard and Thandie Newton). And there's a locksmith and a shop owner (Michael Pena and Shaun Toub). And they've all got something to talk about them, something is not right in their characters. Don Cheadle and Esposito are partners, but Esposito gets offended when he calls her Mexican. He also has a drug-addict mother who seems to favor his crime brother over him. Then there's Fraser and Bullock, who were pointed the gun in their faces and robbed their car. Afterwards, she wants to replace all the lock in her house. But when she realizes the...
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...for that particular race. I watched three different movies portraying racial stereotypes in various ways but the message was the same. The message was, we tend to judge people without knowing them. We look at their appearance and automatically assume the worst in them instead of giving them a chance. There are times that we can’t see the best in strangers but as soon as any race is stereotypes and we don’t like a certain person, we use racial slurs to put them down and try to make ourselves feel better when in reality we’re insecure. I believe that educators should be allowed to show films discussing racism and stereotypes because it’s not only apart of history but it also makes us realize how we still use racial slurs today. In the film Crash directed by Paul Higgins, I saw different scenarios of racism occur from more than just one race. The persian family is mistaken for a muslim family. Especially in today's society, any type of race that wears a hijab or looks similar to a muslim is called bitter names like a towel head or terrorist. The persian family’s convenience store was broken into and damaged, the burglars left invidious writings on the halls, trashed the store, and left the family in despair since they put all their money into that store. Watching this scene made me realize, everyone uses indictment against muslims or anyone who resembles a muslim as a terrorist and we expect the worst out of them when in reality we don’t know who they are and what morals they have...
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...Article #1 By: Shaquille Carswell “It’s Movie Night” You have the right to remain silent during the film! On February 10, 2014 a 7:00 p.m. film was premiered on Middle Georgia State College Macon campus in the Math Auditorium for the remembrance of Black History Month. A film with underlying positive connotations and significant elements of race, loss, and redemption. A 2004 drama featured film titled “Crash” starring many aspiring actors and actress such as Matt Dillon, Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, and many more. The movie picked up three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. Tara Mitchell, Middle Georgia State student, believed that the movie was a great pick for the movie night because it was educational, informative, and entertaining drama. A film that covers a 36-hour period Los Angeles during which the lives a diverse handful of disparate citizens crash into one another as they deal with racial and social tensions. According to the Coordinator of this event, Amy Carter said, “It’s for black history month because one of our main focus this year for black history month was about diversity and acceptance. We chose this movie because it shows the ends and outs of how the racism and prejudice continually perpetuated on both sides from all different types. It goes into five different people from all different walks of life whose pass ultimately crashes into one another”. The movie night had an outstanding turnout and the people...
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