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Physical Characteristics and racial differences are traits that can keep people in this world separated from each other. Crash directed by Paul Haggis, is a movie that showcases many different types of racial stereotypes. This movie takes place in Los Angeles where there are many different types of people and ethnicities. This movie shows how all of these people crash together, even though they are “different”. It also compares the lives of the characters while displaying the interactions of several racial groups such as African Americans, Caucasians, Asians, and Latinos. As observed in this movie, racism, and stereotyping have a big impact on the lives of some of the main characters. As the stories go on and the events develop, it becomes possible to see how characters start to have changes in their perspective and attitude towards each other, either in a good or a bad way. The movie Crash demonstrates that a crashing of worlds may be the only way people can get rid of their prejudices and learn to accept people as people.
To begin, there was a situation with a police officer and a husband with his wife. The officer approached them because he thought that they were doing something inappropriate while in the car. While conversing with them, it was very, very obvious that he was racist. He started to harass the wife by touching her in front of her husband. He had no respect for black people in the first place, and he had the mindset that ‘nobody will believe a black person if they reported him’, especially because he has been in the field for 17 years. The next day she gets involved in a car accident and gets stuck in her car. She reacts aggressively after seeing that the racist police officer is the one trying to get her out of the car. After a while of resistance to the officer, she gives up when she realizes that the car is about to explode. During the rescue attempt, the flames around the car grow, and the other officers try to get the racist officer out of the car. The police officer gets away from the others and keeps on trying to save the woman. In this moment it is shown how both characters change the way they see each other, as a mutual point of basic contact and decent human communication. After saving the woman’s life, the change in the officer’s attitude can be immediately observed, just like the change in the woman’s defensive attitude; they leave their negative impressions aside and recognize each other only as “human beings”. These two people just happened to come across each other when one was desperately in need. Their worlds crashed, and in the end, they saw each other as the same and as human beings, not anything to do with race.
Secondly, another situation involving stereotypes with racism is involving the character Jean. The first scene with her is when her car is stolen by being held at gunpoint by two black men, and this is what completely changes her views on other races. After this incident she wanted all of her locks changed at home. The man who is changing their locks is Hispanic and has tattoos, so Jean assumes he must be in a gang and that he will give copies of their keys to his “gang buddies”. Racism, prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination are evident in this situation. Jean is judging the locksmith based on his appearance, his culture, and his race. She quickly categorizes him as a violent gang member before having even met him. Jean also has a Hispanic maid who treats Jean with loads of respect, but after the mugging Jean becomes racist towards her because the incident had a major effect on her. However, Jean had an accident and fell down her stairs and she could not get up. the only person who ever helped her was her maid. After the fall, she seemed to re-evaluate herself as a person and how she treats other people. She sees that her maid is only there to help her and that her maid is the only true friend in her life. At that point, the movie starts to show her beginning of a new outlook on different races and cultures. It seems as if she needed that incident to happen to her, It shows that just because one person of another race does something wrong, does not mean that all people are like that, and people should not be stereotypical and prejudiced.
Finally, the last situation is the conflict between the Persian man and the Latino lockmaker. This shows stereotyping and prejudice between a Persian and a Hispanic. The Persian shop owner is having his store locks changed and the lock maker says he needs a new door too since it is not secure enough. The conflict arises when the shop owner does not understand what he means (language barrier) and he accuses the lock maker of ripping him off with his prices. The next day the shop owner finds his store robbed and thrashed, with racist messages spray painted on his wall. Out of his anger and frustration, he remembers the previous discussion with the lock maker, and since he has already had a prejudice against the Latino man as a person who was trying to rip him off, he immediately puts the lock maker into a stereotype of a racist. He goes to shoot the lockmaker but his daughter gets shot instead (not killing her). This incident creates the resolution afterward, with the shop owner feeling heavily guilty and ashamed of his actions. He realizes he is being stereotypical, and just because one man of a different race tries to rip him off, does not mean that they all will.
In conclusion, the message that the director was trying to put out to viewers is to not be stereotypical and judge people of different races before you know them, or know for sure that they have done something bad. There were many different lives shown in this movie with different lessons in each. It shows the reality of racism and will open the viewer's eyes. Each of the situations mentioned were people who learned from their lessons, and in the end, have a completely different outlook on life and racism that hopefully they can pass on to other people.
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