The Movie Crash
The movie Crash, created by Paul Haggis, incorporates the many struggles faced by today 's racial stereotypes, into a collage of various interconnected, cultural dilemmas encountered by the film 's multi-ethnic cast. Most people are born with good hearts, but as they grow up they learn prejudices. “Crash” is a movie that brings out bigotry and racial stereotypes. The movie is set in Los Angeles, a city with a cultural mix of every nationality. The story begins when several people are involved in a multi-car accident. Several stories interweave during two days in Los Angeles involving a collection of inter-related characters, a police detective with a drugged out mother and a mischief younger brother, two car thieves who are constantly theorizing on society and race, the white district attorney and his wife, a racist cop and his younger partner, a successful Hollywood director and his wife, a Persian immigrant father, a Hispanic locksmith and his young daughter. As the movie progresses each character goes through a life changing event that changes their whole perspective. Paul Haggis shows these changes not only through the character’s actions but the mood tone, music, and settings of the movie as well.
Paul Haggis introduces the theme of the movie right from the beginning with the very opening line. The opening shots are of headlights and rainy windshields with a voice in the background saying “In LA nobody can touch you, always hiding behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much we crash into each other just so we can feel something.”
It is the perfect analogy of how we as a human race deal with life, people and our own experiences. Physical characteristics and racial differences may be interpreted as two distinguishing traits that separate us. I think it’s what keeps us apart. That leaves several questions that we should ask ourselves when watching this movie. What are the origins of personal prejudice? Do individual experiences fuel
Paul Haggis introduces the theme of the movie right from the beginning with the very opening line. The opening shots are of headlights and rainy windshields with a voice in the background saying “In LA nobody can touch you, always hiding behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much we crash into each other just so we can feel something.”
It is the perfect analogy of how we as a human race deal with life, people and our own experiences. Physical characteristics and racial differences may be interpreted as two distinguishing traits that separate us. I think it’s what keeps us apart. That leaves several questions that we should ask ourselves when watching this movie. What are the origins of personal prejudice? Do individual experiences fuel
Cited: Crash [Blu-ray]. Dir. Paul Haggis. Perf. Ludacris, . Lions Gate, 2004. DVD. Jensen, Robert. The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism And White Privilege. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 2005. Print.