Co-Cultures in a Multicultural Society Paper

Just as there is a male gaze, there is also a female gaze. Mulvey argues that, “... such arguments don’t consider how insistently women are presented as sexual objects” (Monash). And yet many continue to argue that genres such as romantic comedies invalidate the male gaze’s offensiveness because it sexualizes men in the same way women are. In response Mulvey points out that, “... female viewers are not invited to desire male bodies, instead, they’re positioned, to identify with a heroine that is desired by a man” (Monash). Take the widely popular Love Actually. One of the most prominent romantic comedies in the industry, it follows several storylines of characters falling in love. Though good natured in spirit, the movie’s assigned gender roles pose a problem. The relationship between the latina maid, Aurelia, who doesn’t speak English, and novelist, Jaime is purely physical. Due to the language barrier, they never have an actual conversation and in fact Jaime doesn’t even admit that he’s in love with Aurelia until she strips and jumps in the lake to retrieve his papers. After Jaime leaves, Aurelia learns English, but doesn’t pursue a better situation, instead choosing to wait for him to return. It displays the woman as dependent with a future dependent on the man. Prime Minister, David, and house staffer, Natalie’s, relationship should also be examined. The romance plays on the boss/subordinate trope. It

Men and women communicate in very different ways. Men want to see the solution, they want to just get straight to the point and then be done with the situation. Women on the other hand tend to be more detail-oriented before they get to

The movie, Crash, demonstrates the lives of various individuals from divergent socio-economic classes, who have life changing experiences in between their conflicting prejudices and stereotypes. The theme of multiculturalism has also made its influence on the major characters of the movie: a white American district attorney and his wife who is constantly scared of "the other"; two African American thieves who steal their car, a racist police officer who offends an African American TV producer and harasses his wife, a non-racist police officer, a Latino lock maker, a Persian family and another African American detective in the search of his brother. The plot of the movie intersects all characters ' lives and their attitudes towards each other after 9/11, while making the audience question the validity of prejudices and racial stereotypes. In this brief essay, we are going to discuss how racism and stereotyping have the impact on the lives of some main characters in the movie, considering the development of the storyline and the impact of various incidents that change their perspective towards themselves and each other.

Communication is important in our lives as it enables us to interact with one another, and allows us to form and build upon relationships with other people. However, when communication is not effective or colored by personal biases, it may lead to conflict. In the movie Crash, the characters are faced with a number of social issues, born from their inability to communicate with one another as well as their perceived notions of racial and cultural biases. Through the interactions between the characters this film allows us to understand how interpersonal communication affects individuals be it with strangers, friends, or family.

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

The movie “Crash”, by Director and Writer Paul Haggis, follows 8 ethnically diverse families/ individuals facing the struggle of modern day racism and stereotypes created and faced in modern Los Angeles, California. These individuals take the roles of individuals living their daily lives within Los Angeles, California while facing stereotypes. The cast portrays: 2 caucasian white male police officers, an African American director and his wife, a white district attorney and his wife, a Persian immigrant family, and a Hispanic father whose occupation is a locksmith. The scene chosen from this film involves the police officers (Officer Ryan and Officer Hanson) pulling over the African American Director (Cameron Thayer) and his wife (Christine Thayer) at a traffic stop. This scene establishes two different types of theoretic sociological concepts of Thomas Theorem and cognitive dissonance.

The film begins with a long, tracking shot after a bomb is placed inside a car. We follow the car and see a couple walking down the street together. Because of this choice of shot, we are offered two vital introductions in one: We are introduced to both the inciting incident, as well as two of the main characters. As soon as the two main characters, Susie and Mike Vargas, make their way to the Mexican border, we are introduced to one of the many themes that will be prevalent in the film, and that is racism. Although the border patrolmen do not seem at all phased by the sight of an interracial couple, the cue that guides the audience to notice the undertones of racial prejudice, come in the mise-en-scene. Immediately after Mike kisses his wife, the bomb goes off just several feet away from them, using the inciting incident also as a tool to say that the general public will not agree with a white woman being married to a Latino man.

In life, you never know if you can see the person you may see on the sidewalk or even across the stress. But, in all realities, that person may have a connection to your life. They can be your future spouse, boss, or the murder who may kill your loved ones. In the movie Crash, everyone has connected to each other in a different or common way. The film takes place in Los Angeles, where minorities are dealing with racial tensions while living in the city. The film broadcasts live of many individuals from different socio-economic classes, which they have life-changing experiences during challenges with prejudices and stereotypes. The film shows interpersonal communication which is “The ability to process and gain information between two or many people” (William 20). The film follows the lives of many resides of different races, social class, careers. The group main character in these groups is John Ryan and Tom Hasen who are Caucasian LAPD police officers. Cameron and Christine Thayer who are a young African American couple. Peter and Anthony who are young adults African- American car thief’s. Farhad who’s an Prussian business owner. Daniel who’s an Latin American locksmith. Lastly, Shaniqua Johnson who an African American administrator.

There are age related conflicts, cultural conflicts, religious conflicts and value based conflicts.  This movie is a film highlighting many cultural conflicts.  These conflicts continuously erupt in a working class Michigan neighborhood.  We will first examine a scene with religious cultural conflict. In the same scene we will see age based cultural conflict as well.  Next, we will examine a racial cultural conflict between the Hmong people and an American. After examining cultural conflicts, we will show two examples of popular culture in the film.  Then, we will provide the conflict management styles we would have employed to bring the same result as the current ending without the bloodshed and a general opinion of the film.

The co-culture I have selected to write my paper about is identical twins. I chose identical twins for the simple reason that I have never met a pair myself, but have always wanted to. I have always been fascinated about the fact that two people can look exactly alike in every conceivable way, yet have different fingerprints. Miniscule things like that are puzzling to me. My current impression of identical twins is one of wonder and awe. As I stated previously, I’ve never actually met a pair of identical twins. So for the most part, they are still enigmatic to me.

In the film Crash (2004), the director’s use of internal conflict reveals that the main idea of the film, which is that some people stereotype others based on their skin color or countries of origin without knowing them, which is dangerous because it can lead to violence and unrest. Haggis, the director, uses the film to suggest that people should not judge anyone just because of their skin color or countries because it may cause people to hate each other.

I want to examine how a movie(s) shapes the thoughts of a society. More specifically, the matter of immigration portrayal in movies bears the brunt of societal indifferences or acceptance depending on the approach and the motive behind the politics of the presentation. The documentary, Well-Founded Fear, speaks about the legal processes that people have to go through to get asylum in the US. And Sin Nombre is a movie about two young people trying to find their way as recent immigrants. Both stories on the topic of immigration accidentally coincide and present to the movie audience and the world some real struggles surrounding the issue of immigrants and their acceptance in the receiving country. And then there is Inch’ Allah Dimanche by Yamina, the other comparison, taking a different direction and delivering a different message on the topic of immigration..

Fundamentally, gender, racism and class are three controversial social issues that have for a long period triggered heated debate in the American society. In essence, this issues concern the daily lives of American citizen and immigrants disregarding their class, social status, educational level or the position they hold in the society. Therefore, it is imperative that these issues are analyzed comprehensively in order to take an informed stand about the impact they have to the society. This paper, seeks to critically examine how gender, racism and class are addressed in the two movies “Bread and Roses “and ”Hammering it”.

Their mutual love and hatred for one another, and for themselves, provides an intensely dark comedy that exposes their inner conflicts, their racial bigotry and their low self-esteem, as they struggle to survive in a contrived culture to which neither will ever really belong.

In this study, it allows me to see the differences in the two genders through the perspective of voice and language. It gives a visual of what men and women are capable of in situations, and it shows that men and women fail to understand each other due to their conversational style. Once we learn that we communicate differently, society can adjust to the negative effects.