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The Movie Crash Sociology

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Directed by Paul Haggis, ‘Crash’ is an intriguing drama about 10 different lives, and how they are interwoven with each other over the course of a few days. Each character battling their own demons of grief and redemption. With a cast such as, Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, and Thandie Newton, at least 1 Oscar was expected, though 3 was no surprise. As the film progresses and the credits start rolling we are begin to wonder if the film has really come to an end, and question if this is the film that really won 3 Oscars.

Over a few days we meet a random group people on the streets of Los Angeles. Of these, we meet a white district attorney Rick Cabot (Brendan Fraser) who knows and uses the game changing race card to win political votes; his white wife Jean Cabot (Sandra Bullock) who having encountered a carjacking by two black males at gunpoint, believes her discrimination against black people is justified. The two black carjackers Anthony (Ludacris) and Peter Waters (Larenz Tate), having just carjacked a white woman, believe their race is an excuse to commit crime. Then there is the partnered police …show more content…

In the opening scene of the film Haggis demonstrates the ‘Thomas Theorem’. Whereby if we believe a situation is real, they become real to us. This is seen when Jean Cabot (Sandra Bullock) grips her purse when passing by Anthony (Ludacris) and Peter on the street. She believes black people to be a threat. What Jean believes about others has become real in those instances. Haggis also explores ethnocentrism. Haggis has shown us how each of the characters judge others’ cultures by the standards of their own, and believe that their own culture is superior to everyone else’s. The characters mock the characteristics of the other cultures present in the film. Due to ethnocentrism, the characters fail to understand each other and this is what makes it

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