Serendipitous Realizations Director Paul Haggis touches upon many sensitive topics in his movie Crash. He weaves a somewhat complicated plot intertwining the stories of several characters who deal with many of the same issues we put up with on a daily basis. From racial profiling and biases to cultural barriers and prejudices, Mr. Haggis spins a compelling, yet heartbreaking story of how some of these very issues bring about epiphanies in the lives of multiple characters. Police officer John Ryan deals with a lot of stress in his life. Stress that comes from his many years on the police force in addition to the stress he is under at home caring for his ill and aging father. All of this tension, coupled with the experiences he has had on the job, has turned Officer Ryan into a jaded cynic. He comprehends this about himself which he shows in a comment to his partner, Officer Tom Hanson, when he tells him, “Wait til you’ve been on the job a few years. You think you know who you are? You have no idea.” During a traffic stop Ryan allows his prejudices to overtake his sound judgment and he molests the black woman from the car he has pulled over. He gets a wake-up call in regards to his behavior later in the film when he arrives on the scene of an accident and realizes …show more content…
He spends a majority of the film spouting off comments about how mistreated black people are. He does not bother to actually pay attention to what is being said or done around him, preferring to paint everyone else black with the same racist brush. He often sees bias where there is none. He narrowly misses being caught up in a shoot out with police and as a result of that incident, he becomes enlightened to the fact that things are not always as they seem to him. After his epiphany, Anthony later shows us that he has grown as an individual when he comes across a van full of Asians who were victims of human trafficking and sets them
In the early scenes of the film, we are introduced to two black individuals, Anthony and Peter, who get into an argument about the stereotyping of the black community. Anthony displays concepts of reflected appraisal as he places the assumption that all white individuals are racist toward other black individuals. Reflected appraisal, in the communication process, is essentially an individual’s perception of how others view or evaluate them. Anthony supports this claim by expressing how the waitress in the diner they just left did not refill his coffee but refilled the coffee of other white customers. His friend Peter points out that his coffee was not finished and the diner was packed, indicating that there were other logical reasons besides Anthony’s claims. However, Anthony is insistent
The movie “Crash” - from director and producer Paul Haggis - pictures one day in the lives of various characters in Los Angeles, all of them from different social and racial backgrounds but nevertheless connected and intertwined throughout the story. The movie’s story is being told in a mostly chronological way, except that it puts one scene to the very beginning of the film and then cuts back to the day prior, indicated by the visual text “yesterday”. In this first sequence, detectives Graham Waters and his partner Ria have been rearended when they arrive at a crime scene, leading to a fight between Hispanic Ria and the accident responsible, furious Chinese Kim Lee, involving race-related insults towards each other. Breaking through the
This movie Directed by Paul Haggis who also directed Academy Award Winning "Million Dollar Baby" and had also won an Academy Award for this movie as well puts a twisted story in this film. This movie is trying to symbolize what goes on in the world today in regards to racism and stereotypes. He tries to make a point on how societies view themselves and others in the world based on there ethnicities. This movie intertwines several different people's lives, all different races, with different types of beliefs. Such ethnicities include Caucasians, African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Middle Eastern. This movie includes conflicts on both sides of the picture from cops and criminals as well
Crash is a movie that had several detailed events of sociological concepts. The movie Crash showed that everyone created has good intentions and good hearts but unfortunately they may grow up and learn the prejudices of the world. "Crash" is a movie that brings out racial stereotypes; as the movie is set in Los Angeles, a city with a diverse race of every nationality. The movie starts off with several people being involved in a car accident. We are then taken back to the day before the crash, where we are shown the lives of many of the characters, and the difficulties they may encounter during that day. An LAPD cop is trying to get medical help for his father, but he is having problems with an African American receptionist who won't give
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.
While the film “Crash” has several complex characters with storylines that all become interconnected in various ways, the movie is predominantly about how prejudice plays into people’s everyday lives and how such prejudice usually has negative implications. The characters in the film all had their own prejudices, or attitudes judging others in negative ways, which set the stage for discrimination, stereotypes, racism, and scapegoats. Thus, one can see how prejudice plays such a pivotal role in people’s relations with each other. As a result, it is best to analyze this film from a symbolic interactionism point of view by analyzing how the labels the characters encounter in this film affect their perception and in turn create prejudice
Crash is a movie about race and stereotypes and its effects on the various people living in the Los Angeles area. The movie boost racial awareness and it requires close observation from the viewer. We see a variety of races including African American men and women, several Hispanics, a Middle Eastern family, and a few Asians. We see the ups and downs of each character and it helps us see where they are coming from, and potentially why they are racist against different people. It seems that we almost begin to feel sorry for the different characters regardless of what they are doing or how they are acting because of each of their circumstances.
Recognizing the other's depth of misery or humility is what makes the command or appeal of the face ethical. Levinas' theory of the face of the stranger demands that you recognize it and provide it hospitality. When Ryan, a racist police officer, happens upon an car accident in which a woman is trapped in her overturned vehicle . He quickly runs to the car to see if anyone is trapped inside, without a thought. He sees an African-American woman caught in her seatbelt and dives through the broken window and asks if she is alright. When she responds that she cannot breathe, he slides in further to try to help her unbuckle and get out. The woman, Christine, recognizes him from earlier as the officer her sexually assaulted her in front of her husband, and screams at him to get
"It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something."
Paul Haggis directed an Oscar winning film in 2004 called “Crash”, this movie basically talks about racism and the impact it has on the lives of people in Los Angeles. This movie got a good response from the viewers, as it concentrated on some real harsh realities of racism and asked some hard questions which are generally avoided in movies. This movie clearly promotes the a very delicate issue, and hence requires some detailed assessment. I personally feel the movie was good and it portrayed some very common events of racism, I think “Crash” shows realities, but in a not-so-realistic way.
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
When people feel like they are powerless, they feel horrible, and try and take power by exerting it over someone else. When a person feels powerless, they try to take power and make someone else feel powerless. Paul Haggis’ 2004 film, Crash, explores this idea through many of its characters. The film is about a large group of characters in Los Angeles, California, whose lives are being intertwined with each other. All the characters are deeply flawed and somewhat heavy-handedly illustrate a theme of racism. Three characters specifically illustrate this theme. Officer Ryan feels powerless because of his father’s illness and takes it out on people like the character Christine Thayer when he is doing his job as a police officer. Farhad, the shopkeeper, feels powerless when he is robbed and when a man almost kills his wife, so he blames the locksmith who replaced his lock, Daniel Ruiz; he buys a gun and attacks him. Jean Cabot, the D.A.’s wife, feels powerless when her family’s car gets stolen by Anthony and Peter, so she acts racist towards people like her housekeeper, Maria, and her locksmith, Daniel. All of these people have a void of power that they are trying to fill by taking power away from other people.
Crash is the movie that was released in 2004. This movie begins by saying “it is the sense of touch…we miss so much that we crash into each other, so we can feel something.” These two words touch and feel had huge meaningful in this movie. The word touch was used to show the connection and feel which conjures a sense of motion. The touch in this movie brings a lot of issues which provides the movie main theme. Before I explore the theme, I will tell my readers what are the themes. The themes are; traditional gender roles, Gender roles, Hope, Faith, and love, Finding the light while we are facing the shadow, and the social construct vs nature characters.
Then Peter brings up the fact that their waitress was black. Anthony points out that just because she is black, does not mean that she fails to see in stereotypes. He argues that she did not serve them because she assumed they would not tip well. So Peter says, “Well how much did you tip her?” In his defense Anthony claims that with that kind of service, why should he tip? By doing this, Anthony is just contributing to the cycle of discrimination. She decides not to serve him like everyone else, so he does not tip her. She is then proven right in her assumption and the cycle continues. Then a white man and woman (the Los Angeles District Attorney and his wife) walk past them in the street, and as soon as the woman sees the two black men her arm almost automatically clings to the side of her husband. They then pull out their firearms and approach the couple, robbing them of their SUV at gunpoint. By acting the way they did they proved the woman correct in her assumption. In this scene Haggis shows only face shots so that each characters emotion is revealed by their face.
The victims of racism realize that the behaviour towards them is unfair so they find ways to stand up for themselves. Cameron, with his marriage life a stake, snaps at police officers when he is pulled over once again. Officer Tom Hansen saves Cameron’s life otherwise, the other police officers would’ve shot him. Cameron was once mistreated which shook his family life and created a gap between him and his wife therefore, he didn’t want the white people to take control of his life. Daniel, who was always mistaken for a gangster was finally fed up with it. As he was fixing the locks of Farhad’s store, Farhad calls