Movie Analysis : Crash By Paul Haggis Essay

In the film, Crash by Paul Higgins there is the incorporation of numerous perspectives and theories of societal issues. The film brought up various issues we face in our world today such as racial discrimination, stereotyping, and prejudice etc. One theory that is seen is the symbolic interaction theory. There is the usage of different symbols in the film. Each character in the film comes from a different culture; socioeconomic background etc. and they each have their own story.

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.

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

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.

Racism, and ethnocentrism can be a significant factor in determining if an individual can maintain a healthy interpersonal relationship. Both racism and ethnocentrism can be barriers that affect competent cross- cultural communication. Crash (Schulman & Haggis, 2004) is a film that has characters of very different natures. The characters may be involved in conflicts due to the differences in genders, cultures and races. As these strangers in the film crash into each other, you may notice that racism and ethnocentrism can really affect the way the characters are able to build a strong and healthy interpersonal relationship. In Crash (Schulman & Haggis, 2004) the character Officer Ryan is constantly in conflict with others due to racism and ethnocentrism. He has been an officer and with the force for 17 years. However, he seems to be extremely racist when he encounters African Americans. Officer Ryan is a typical looking American male, the movie portrayed him to be “tall, dark and handsome.” However, he is also out-spoken and seemingly arrogant. Ryan seems to have that “better than the rest” attitude, it is evident through the way he portrays himself in the movie. If he overcomes these barriers he would be able to establish some positive relationships. Officer Ryan also seems to have accumulated anger and false assumption about those around him. For example, when he pulled over Director Cam and his wife Christine, he was angry with their racial difference and made false

Most people are born with good hearts, but as they grow up they learn prejudices. “Crash” is a movie that brings out bigotry and racial stereotypes. The movie is set in Los Angeles, a city with a cultural mix of every nationality. The story begins when several people are involved in a multi-car accident. Several stories interweave during two days in Los Angeles involving a collection of inter-related characters, a police detective with a drugged out mother and a mischief younger brother, two car thieves who are constantly theorizing on society and race, the white district attorney and his wife, a racist cop and his younger partner, a successful Hollywood director and his wife, a Persian immigrant father, a Hispanic locksmith and his young

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

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

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.

Discrimination, racism, classism, prejudice and more plague today’s society. These horrible issues do not affect one race, sexes, class, ethnicity, or age group; these issues affect all races, both genders, all ethnicities, and all age groups. For this film analysis, I have chosen to discuss the racism portrayed throughout a three-time Oscar award winning movie called Crash.

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.

Throughout the movie showed a sociological concept known as ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is the means that we judge other cultures by the standards of our own and that we also believe that our own culture is better than everyone else's. For example in the movie Graham and his Latina girlfriend fight and he pokes fun at her culture by calling her Mexican even though she isn't. Ultimately Graham was mock his Latina girlfriend, assuming the superiority of his own culture. Another example would be when Officer Ryan makes a joke about the name Shaniqua which is more of a known name from the African American culture. (The Movie Crash and the Concepts of Sociology - Yahoo Voices - voices.yahoo.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://voices.yahoo.com/the-movie-crash-concepts-sociology-437437.html). The movie also showed elements of Microaggression which is the idea that specific interactions between those of different races, cultures, or genders can be interpreted as small acts of mostly non-physical aggression; the term was coined by Chester M. Pierce[1] in 1970.In Crash the film director gave examples of subtle insults which would be him people telling him the film wasn’t black enough or the he advises him to tell the black characters to make his movie sound more “blacker”. These would be

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.

One must never judge or discriminate a person based on their physical attributes. Prejudice and discrimination directed against someone of a different race is known as racism. It is evident in the movie “Crash” directed by Paul Haggis, that people misconceive others due to judgement on their physical traits. Throughout the movie, the characters living in Los Angeles face the challenges of fitting in a town populated by people of different colours. The offenders are the “white” people whereas the victims are everyone else. The presence of racism is the main cause of every conflict that occurs in the movie.

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