Crash Movie Analysis - Essay Example

Sociology Movie Analysis: Crash Introduction Crash is a seamless correspondence of how people cope with life, other people and their own experiences. Physical attributes and racial distinctions may be understood as the two differentiating features that distinct people. The aspects that keep people individuals apart leave numerous abstract questions that the movie Crash depicts: What are the bases of personal predisposition? Is it easier to commit subsisting stereotypes because “things will never change?” what prevents people from overpowering these biases? Crash expresses intertwining stories of blacks, whites, Latinos, Iranians, Koreans, criminals, cops, the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless, all demarcated in one way or another by prejudice. Everyone in the film is a victim of it, and all are also guilty of it. In some cases, they are able to rise above it, although it is challenging (Ebert 1). Their negative compulsions may be intuitive, their positive compulsions hazardous, and who recognizes what the other person is thinking? The result is a film of deep enthrallment; viewers swiftly apprehend who the characters are and what their lives are like, but have no inkling how they conduct themselves, since a great deal of is subject to coincidence (Ebert 1). Description of the Movie Crash was produced in 2005 and directed by Haggis Paul. It links stories based on coincidence, luck and chance as the characters’ lives smash against each other. The film postulates that most people feel predisposition and bitterness against the members of the other groups, and observes the costs of those mental states (Ebert 1). Data Analysis The film begins by noting, “It’s the sense of touch we miss so much that we crash into each other just so we can feel something”. The use of the word “touch” indicates human connection while “feel” depicts a sense of feeling. We desire to be moved by other people and to feel the human existence. This film has racial conflicts which are observed throughout the entire film. As the movie begins, it shows two police officers (Ryan Philippe and Matt Dillon) stopping an African American couple (Thandie Newton and Terrence Howard). After Dillon realizes that they are black, he asks them to step out of the car, even though they had not committed any crime. This happened because he had earlier been in a heated argument with his insurance company about his father. He felt victimized and give out his resentment on the couple he had led to the side of the road. He expressively sexually offends Thandie as he searches her while the husband stands aside helpless and powerless. This traffic stop depicts Dillon as a hateful and vile. However later, the film shows him caring for his ill father. He oppresses other people by exercising his power, and is powerless when it comes to assisting his father. In this case, the plot of the film seems to have turned against itself. The film seems to tell parables in which the characters understand the teachings they have received by their conduct (Ebert 1). Another outstanding example of conflicts is seen in Sandra Bullocks’ character and Penas. When Penas comes to Bullocks’ house to fix their lock, bullocks thinks that he is a gang banger because of his sagged trousers and thinks that he can sell his key to thugs to come and steal from them. The truth is that Penas is just a family man making efforts to ward off from these conflicts and have his daughter grow up in a safe neighborhood (Ebert 1). The movie tries to show that race is not a physical construct but a social construction. In the movie, L.A’s district attorney is seen struggling to save his reputation among African American voters through looking for an African American he can publicly reward. He identifies a certain “black” firefighter who had recently outstandingly performed, but someone says that he is Iraqi and not black. The district attorney responds by saying, “he is Iraqi? He looks black”. This setting of the movie shows that racial classifications are generated and used by individuals, though these classifications frequently say little an individual’s actual national or cultural heritage (Ebert 1). Additionally, this film depicts how rigid gender roles can affect connection between individuals. The traditionally male responsibilities of “provider” and “protector” are particularly observed. After the black couple was harassed by the racist cop, the husband was helpless and powerless and could not say anything. However, later the wife accuses the husband, a film producer, as having failed to protect her from the racist cop who searched her in a sexually suggestive manner. She accused him of permitting the cop to harass her simply because he did not want his work mates to “read about him in the paper and realize that he is actually black”. In one of the setting where Cameron works, this appears to be his fear, as he silently accords to make a setting more racially stereotypic. So, probably the loss of his job factored into his failure as a protector. On the other hand, if Cameron had lost his job because of his tarnished reputation he would be unable to provide and fail to fulfill his role as a provider. This implies he is torn between two correspondingly arduous responsibilities, and this responsibility stress is hastened by the racial prejudice he experiences. As a result, he falls out with his wife. She feels bad that he did not protect her. On the other hand, Cameron is angered by her aggression towards the cop, which he termed as thoughtless. Then after her irresponsiveness brought to them distress, she hurts his egotism by making him feel insufficient (Ebert 1). Tis film depicts that there is need for the reevaluation of the differences between “male” characteristics, such as resoluteness and antagonism, and “female” characteristics, like meekness and non-aggression. The movie shows a Persian American Shop owner who purchases a riffle to safeguard his wife and daughter. The daughter’s instinct gives her a depraved sensation about this. She goes and purchases a box of bullets branded “blanks” for the new gun. She believed that the father would not understand what was written on the box since he had a limited grasp of English. After the family shop is wrecked, endangering his only way of providing for the family, he chases a locksmith whom he suspects to have destroyed and vandalized his family shop. He finds the locksmith and holds him at gun point, requiring him to compensate him for the vandalism. The locksmith’s little daughter, wearing an fictional impassable cloak her father gave her, comes between her father and Persian shop owner, trying to protect her father from being shot. Unfortunately, the gun goes off while pointed at the little girl, but she is not harmed. Catastrophe has been prevented by Dorri, the Persian shop owner daughter, who sidestepped her father’s wishes by purchasing blanks for her father’s riffle. Her conduct typifies characteristics of action and resoluteness, rather than submission and passivity. Nonetheless, her conduct also depicts attributes of instincts and pacifism. This shows that individuals must use attributes for their situational appositeness, opposing the very inkling of gender suitability. This proposition of gender is depicted by the symbolic traits which, in this setting, avert the tragedy. Figuratively, locksmith’s daughter became the protector of both the father and the Persian Shop owner. This implies a reversal of gender roles (Ebert 1). Conclusion This movie contains coldness, hurt, and cruelty instigated by stereotypical predispositions. All the people in the film, though different, share the same city and understand that they still share the same hopes and fears. Needless to say, until the society can take time to apprehend the roots of prejudice and have a profound insight into people’s thought configurations, the society will never progress. Works Cited Ebert, Roger. "Crash Movie Review & Film Summary." Movie Reviews and Ratings. 5 May 2005. Web. 30 Nov. 2013. Read More