Crash

"Crash" tells interlocking stories of many people: white, black, rich, and poor, all defined in one way or another by racism. The movie conveyed that we all experience racism, either as a victims or perpetrators. "Crash"challenged viewers to open their eyes and take notice of how our society still focuses on stereotypes, specifically racism. After watching this film, I came away thinking that Americans, all of us, have a long way to go.

The most interesting things about this movie were the characters and how they each affected one another. Each character in this film was drastically different from each other, yet they all had some similarities. The most obvious of these similarities were the preconceived notions that had about each other. For example, Matt Dillon's character, Sgt. Jack Ryan immediately comes off as vile and hateful. He makes a traffic stop, humiliates a black man, and sexually harasses his light-skinned wife (whom he thought was white). I honestly don't believe he would have made that same traffic stop, had the passengers been white. At the beginning of the film, two young black males dine at a restaurant and receive less than satisfactory service. Anthony (Ludacris) affirms that his race was the only reason that other people were served faster than he and his friend. A gun shop owner nearly refuses to sell a gun to an Iranian man because he looks like a "terrorist." At the same time, this Iranian and the district attorney's wife think that the Mexican locksmith is a gang-member.

The funny thing is, the movie allows us to make these same snap judgments without fully knowing the character. It's so easy to label someone a 'bad-guy' in this film for their beliefs, but I made some of the same judgments at first glance. For instance, I first thought of Sgt. Ryan as heartless human being. However, after watching him take care of his father, it is much harder to think that. When he refuses to let the black woman die (the same one he harassed), it becomes clear that he does indeed have some compassion. The same can be said for Sandra Bullock's character. The district attorney's wife is so frightened by a street encounter that she has the locks changed, then assumes the locksmith will be back with his "homies" to attack them. I started to laugh as she clutched her purse in the robbery scene. Shortly after, I thought to myself, 'If she was scared of minorities before the crime, imagine how she will view minorities after this incident.' Towards the end, while laying in the hospital bead, Bullock's character reached out to her Hispanic house keeper in more ways than one. It seemed as though she were apologizing for her earlier thoughts and actions.

Some very important ideas about societal institutions are presented in this movie. I thought about how racist ideology starts in the family. The robbery scene in particular made me think about how racism