Words: 796
The movie, Crash, teaches us that many of us are prejudiced which may influence people on a daily basis. We are born into this world as good people, but just because we are good people; does not mean that we have not hurt someone using discrimination– prejudice and racism can lead to misjudge others. For example, a Hispanic man, with a shaved head and tattoos, is misjudged as a gang member. However, in reality, he is a loving father who works as a locksmith to support and devote his family.
Or, a good cop who murders a young black man in self defense, against his good judgment, discards all evidence that links him to the crime. These are just some examples of the unpredictable events that take place. At the beginning of the movie, Jean Cabot’s (Sandra Bullock) car gets hijacked from two black men with guns. After her car is stolen, she feels both angry and afraid. Because of her fear, she tells her husband that the locksmith will come back and steal from them even though the locksmith is not going to steal anything.
Furthermore, due to Jean Cabot’s fear, she finds out, herself, that she is irrationally misjudging the Hispanic locksmith in front of her husband and his co-workers. She has a similar sense of fear when she falls down the stairs in her home. While she is alone in her house, Jean asks her friends to pick up some medication for her because of a headache from anxiety. However, her friend refuses to do it because she is busy. After she hangs up the phone, she tumbles down the stairs. At this point, she is unable to find her friends or husband to take her to the hospital.
Nevertheless, her Hispanic housemaid finds out that Jean has fallen down the stairs and takes her to the hospital (and end the takes, takes care of her). After that predicament, Jean is aware that the only person who really cares about her is her housemaid (whom Jean had prejudice feelings towards). This prejudice and misjudging depicted in Crash represents a pessimistic message about the realistics of racism. Crash is a movie that really gets us to look at our own behaviors by showing the hidden acts of racism and prejudice, which are present in our society (and even in ourselves today).
But, some prejudice, such as stereotyping, is easily changeable. In the movie, an arrogant, racist cop, Officer Ryan (Matt Dillon), who was on the look out for some carjackers, physically molests an African American woman after pulling her and her husband over. However, the next day, he finds out that he has to save the same black woman (who was in the car accident), in which he has convinced himself that he has done nothing wrong. From these scenes, Crash is a great film that presents the soul of humanity. It says to us that we are only humans and that all people have a good and a bad side.
It is a movie about first impressions and how they are not always correct. Although the problem with racial stereotypes shown in Crash have false or partly true ideals about certain groups (causing discrimination), language obstacles, and the abuse of power between them defeats it. Stereotyping races in this film causes discrimination among the characters which are represented in the different cultures of our society. For instance, in the movie Ferhad, an owner of a Persian store is afraid of his safety and has difficulty understanding English.
His Arab appearance makes the owner of a gun shop think that he is a terrorist, so he refuges to sell a gun to him and tells him that “Osama, plan the jihad on your own time. ” This example can also represent people’s misjudgment by only looking at one’s appearance and/or language. The movie, Crash, is both thought provoking and intense to us. Crash is the perfect example of how we, as a human race, deal with our lives, people and our own experiences. Physical characteristics and racial differences may be interpreted as two distinguishing traits that tell apart us.
Throughout the movie, it made us think more about our behaviors toward different races and it allowed us to unite as one (and to not think about separation of the diversity of humans). The film represents both pessimistic messages about the reality of racism by demonstrating the separator, which exists between these groups and misjudgment of diversity groups. Yet, we learn that misjudging people will be vanished when we are turned to face desperate situations, which convince us that misjudging is not good idea and that we have to overcome it.