Movies Crash Analysis - Movie Review Example

The Friction of Colors Throughout the movie Crash, it is realized that racial discrimination still exists in the United States where there are a mixture of cultures and colors. For one who has lived in a country where there are mainly the natives living with a few foreigners, it is difficult to understand why there are people who would really hate other human beings just because of the color of their skin. It comes to me as a culture shock to witness people thinking they are above others just because they are white as well as colored people thinking they are less than another because he has a despised color. The movie shows various faces of characters that portray the realities of life in America especially when it comes to perspectives in racial discrimination. At the beginning of the film, the characters judge other ethnicities based on stereotypes but after personal experiences, these characters begin to see beyond appearances. Change in Jean Cabot, Anthony and Cameron Thayer somehow comes as they crash with people who eventually change their perspectives and make them see others not through their covers but though what is inside of them. Jean Cabot, a rich white female, is one character who learns these critical lessons when she and her husband, Rick Cabot were scared by two black men, Anthony and Peter Water who stuck a gun in their face and getting away with the couple’s car. This incident was triggered by the reaction of Jean as they approached the two black men who believed the woman to be a racist. It could have been a good reason for her to be afraid of black men because of the incident, making her behave the way she did in front of colored people. However, she goes beyond being unreasonable when she becomes suspicious of almost all the people she was dealing with as long as they are not white Americans like her. For example, when a Mexican locksmith, Daniel, comes to their house to fix her door, Jean overreacts to the man’s looks, criticizing every inch of him, including his tattoos and defends her reactions making her bad experience with the two black people as the very reason why she is almost paranoid about colored people. First of all, Daniel was not black so, I consider that as a reaction which is pretty much overdone. If her fear was caused by her earlier experience, it would have been understandable if Jean feared black men who looked like members of a gang or who seemed to be a threat. With the fact that Daniel, the locksmith, was not black and was trying to do a decent job for him to live, there was just something inside Jean that is beyond fear. As she eventually discovers during a phone call to her husband that she hated almost all the colored people around her, she confesses that to her husband. After the call, Jean accidentally falls the stairs and breaks her foot with no one to attend to her but her Mexican maid, Maria. Her best friend for ten years who was available at that time but did not help her because she was having a massage, made Jean realize what matters most. With the care Maria showed her during this time of need, her attitudes towards her changed. Formerly, she had been displaying an air of animosity towards the maid, trying to get rid of her, disliking her performances as a housekeeper. This changed when Jean realized that a true friend is one who would be there in times of troubles and not just in times of happiness. African-Americans are typically victims of discrimination. In the film, Anthony, an African-American man, always had his opinions of being discriminated because of the color of his skin, being made to wait for a longer period of time in restaurants than white customers. Despite the opinions of his friend to critically look at his views, this man insists on his own opinions which in my own view is also discriminatory on his part. In fact, he is a criminal who steals vehicles for a chop shop owner and selective of his victims, getting his hands on white people and as much as possible, refuses to have victims of his own skin. In fact, he seemed to have a heart in considering other races. When he discovered Cambodians in a car he has stolen, it was suggested that he sells them at $500 each to the chop shop owner whom he sells his stolen cars. For him, the money could have been much if he heeded the suggestion and he would not be liable for what would become of the Cambodians because in the first place, they were smuggled into the country so that their entry is illegal. However, Anthony decides no to sell them but to release them and even gave the group $40 for their food. I see in Anthony the same animosity towards Americans that is considered discriminatory and in a way brings him to the same level as Jean. The only difference is that, the white female is or was discriminating towards darker people while the black guy was discriminating the whites thinking they all thought the same towards black people. of the film, he was changed by his experience with Cameron whose words deeply hurt his self-esteem. Anthony's lack of confidence from being an African-American is slightly reduced. It shows that he still has the desire to be successful, instead of being bad to prove his existence. Cameron, an African-American, has changed from being hateful to being forgiving to white people. He was a man who looked at himself as one who should just give in to the demands of white people and holds the idea of having no right to fight back or stand for his opinions. He hates the way in which African-Americans are degraded, considered to belong to the bottom of society. Despite this hatred, he thought he had no ability to fight for his rights even in the danger his wife was in when they were faced by two police officers. One of the police officers molested his wife, Christine Thayer in his presence and he was not able to do anything but to apologize to the officer which made his wife pretty angry. He made the danger they were in his excuse to his wife for not fighting back or getting into an argument that would prove they did not deserve to be inspected or even stopped by the officers. This brought fiction between the couple with the wife fighting for her right of being treated fairly and humanely. On the other hand, Cameron remains idle in defending her but finds himself forgiving of others for the wrongs done to him and his wife. The three characters discussed in this paper, though would not suffice to bring the big picture of what the world really is when it comes to discrimination, at least gives us a glimpse of the realities of life. No one could ever hold a person’s opinions, try to control or change it but experiences do change people’s perspectives. Looking at the characters, they already had their own opinions about some people which could have been because of their experiences before the stories depicted in the film. However, no matter what their opinions are, their correctness, these opinions are not the realities for all. It is false to generalize that a group of people are of this or that kind because of just one or two experiences. Rather, it is the character of a person that makes him/her do something which is not supposed to be done. Why, in the case of Jean, it is not only the black people who do bad things. It is a fact that white people also have the ability to choose, and not all white people choose to do what is good. The same is true with black people. There are a lot of black men, not to mention other races, who are successful in their endeavors in life because they chose to do what is good and just. It is then false for a person to hold an opinion and apply it to all people of the same race. The friction of colors will always be there and probably will not come to an end as people are brought up and molded with their experiences that would make them opinionated. However, the reality stands that in our world which is becoming smaller, so to speak as different races come together in a country, it is important to make one self be the best he could be. I believe that change starts within ourselves and this is a great step to a better world for us to live in because as one of the characters said, we eventually crash into each other, not by choice so that we could plan whom to meet and whom to avoid. We live in a wide world where no one can ever be in control of everything so that it is best for one to keep himself better as he lives peacefully with others, taking one less danger in this world. Taking less of the friction that exists among races. Work Cited Crash. Dir. Paul Haggis. Perf. Sandra Bullock, Thandie Newton, Terrence Howard and Chris “Ludacris” Bridges. Dolby Digit. 2004. Film. Read More