Crash Essay
Rookie of the Year
We face racism, prejudice and stereotypes every day in our lives. We may not initially recognize these three acts, but subconsciously we know they exist. At some point in our lives, we have all experienced racial slurs, segregation and grouping of people one way or another. These ignorant feelings are portrayed well in the movie Crash, written and directed by Paul Haggis. The film depicts racial and social tensions in Los Angeles and involves several characters of different races. The plot evolves quite rapidly and shows just how their seemingly different lives intertwine. The movie’s title is not based on a simple car crash; it actually originated from cultures and races “crashing” or colliding with each other. Crash is the perfect analogy of how the human race deals with the intricacies of life. These intricacies are felt by interacting with the people around us and those experiences shape our views and actions. Experiences can certainly change our racial views. A prime example of this is viewing all Middle Eastern people as terrorists after the 9/11 attacks. This example significantly shows the lack of tolerance of racial differences that are formed based on generalizations and stereotypes. This difference is displayed throughout the movie Crash. Officer Tommy Hanson, a white rookie cop played by actor Ryan Phillipe, is originally the partner of veteran Officer John Ryan, played by Matt Dillon. As a policeman serving and protecting all of the people of Los Angeles, Officer Ryan is a white “racist prick” and this bothers Officer Hanson. In their first scene together, the two policemen were off on their evening patrol when they came upon a black Lincoln Navigator. The interesting part was that a Navigator had been reported stolen earlier. Despite discrepancies in both the descriptions of the carjackers and the license plate numbers, Officer Ryan shone his bright lights on the car. As a result, they observe an African American
We face racism, prejudice and stereotypes every day in our lives. We may not initially recognize these three acts, but subconsciously we know they exist. At some point in our lives, we have all experienced racial slurs, segregation and grouping of people one way or another. These ignorant feelings are portrayed well in the movie Crash, written and directed by Paul Haggis. The film depicts racial and social tensions in Los Angeles and involves several characters of different races. The plot evolves quite rapidly and shows just how their seemingly different lives intertwine. The movie’s title is not based on a simple car crash; it actually originated from cultures and races “crashing” or colliding with each other. Crash is the perfect analogy of how the human race deals with the intricacies of life. These intricacies are felt by interacting with the people around us and those experiences shape our views and actions. Experiences can certainly change our racial views. A prime example of this is viewing all Middle Eastern people as terrorists after the 9/11 attacks. This example significantly shows the lack of tolerance of racial differences that are formed based on generalizations and stereotypes. This difference is displayed throughout the movie Crash. Officer Tommy Hanson, a white rookie cop played by actor Ryan Phillipe, is originally the partner of veteran Officer John Ryan, played by Matt Dillon. As a policeman serving and protecting all of the people of Los Angeles, Officer Ryan is a white “racist prick” and this bothers Officer Hanson. In their first scene together, the two policemen were off on their evening patrol when they came upon a black Lincoln Navigator. The interesting part was that a Navigator had been reported stolen earlier. Despite discrepancies in both the descriptions of the carjackers and the license plate numbers, Officer Ryan shone his bright lights on the car. As a result, they observe an African American