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The Stereotypes Of African Americans Are Reinforced Rather Than Challenged By Paul Haggis Essay

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After thorough study and analysis, I have come to the conclusion that the stereotypes of African Americans are reinforced rather than challenged by Paul Haggis’ film Crash. Having analysed the viewpoints of many critics, it appears that the majority agrees with my hypothesis. The three critical texts I will be using are “Don’t Worry, We Are All Racists!” by Susan Searls Giroux and Henry A. Giroux, “Cassandra and the "Sistahs": the Peculiar Treatment of African American Women in the Myth of Women as Liars” by Marilyn Yarbrough with Crystal Bennett and “CRASH: A Crash Course on Current Race/Ethnicity Issues” by Carole Gerster.
The film Crash is set in Los Angeles and shows the encounters between strangers of different races and religion over a 36 hour period. Haggis intends to warn us of the dangers of stereotypes and to make the audience question themselves. Haggis aims to explore the issue of racism and encourages the audience to think about their own prejudices. However, the extent to which the film achieves Haggis’ intentions is argued by many film critics. Mainstream critics such as Roger Ebert and David Denby give the film great compliments and praise. They perceive the film as one of a kind which captures audience attention, triggers various emotions and provides them with hope. Denby appreciates the actors who puts life into the characters and makes each character stand out. Haggis gained much accolade from Ebert who believes that “anyone seeing it (Crash) is likely

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