Crash

CRASH

Through the analogy of car crashes, the movie Crash attempts to bring matters of race in America to the foreground. After being rear ended, Graham, an African American detective, sets the tone when he says “In L.A., nobody touches you. We’re always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much that sometimes we crash into one another just to feel something”. The illusion of feeling safe and impermeable to everything when we are in our car is destroyed when we crash into someone and are forced to deal with what just happened. In reality, we think we are unaffected by racism simply by avoiding certain encounters. We pretend we are impermeable to its effects. But if we were placed in a particular situation, we would be forced to deal with our prejudices. Only when we recognize and admit our prejudices can we begin to deal with racism in our society.

I think what Paul Haggis, the co-writer and director of Crash, wants us to believe is that racism is inherent within all of us, but this doesn’t necessarily make us evil. Some of us are aware of this and are not afraid to expose it, while others go to great lengths to conceal it. Some people are not aware of their prejudices at all. Sooner or later, we are all confronted with our prejudices, and how we choose to react to them is what really matters. Crash examines the racial interactions between several ethnic groups through cleverly constructed scenarios. It also identifies individual struggles with racial prejudice and how it affects choices they make in their personal and professional lives. I have illuminated several examples from the movie as well as my interpretations of them.

Some characters in the movie are explicitly racist. Jean, the wife of a politician, makes very pointed racial remarks within earshot of Daniel, the Hispanic locksmith changing the locks in her house after she experiences a frightful carjacking. She stereotypes Daniel as a gang banger because he’s Hispanic, has a shaved head and tattoos. This and other racial prejudices of hers become apparent after she is carjacked. But later in the movie, after Jean sprains her ankle falling down the stairs, we are touched when she hugs her Hispanic maid and confides that she is the best friend Jean has. We contemplate forgiveness for Jean’s earlier statements of racism, yet she hasn’t shown evidence that she has become aware of her prejudices.

Ryan is a cop whose racism is also apparent. In an infuriating scene that invokes hatred for his racist character, he molests an African American woman and chastises her husband for allowing her to “mouth off”. In another scene, Ryan insults Shaniqua, the woman handling his father’s medical case, implying she is incompetent because of her African American ethnicity. He seems to redeem himself later when he saves Christine, the woman he molested, from a burning car. We feel sympathy for him when we see him caring for his ailing father. We struggle with our conscience in deciding whether or not his earlier display of racism is forgivable. But despite this apparent act of redemption, his character only shows the slightest feelings of regret while reminiscing on an earlier act of racism.

Racial prejudice is also exhibited in more subtle forms. Jean’s husband Rick, a politician, exploits the support he has from African American constituents. He seems to be more concerned with appearing politically correct in the public’s eye than genuinely caring about the black community. After being carjacked by two African American men, he asks his assistant to find a black man for him to “pin a medal on” to show that his support for the black community hasn’t wavered. He also helps place an innocent white man behind bars in order to portray a guilty black man as a hero. While not as explicit as his wife’s racism, these are still racial prejudices that invoke criticism.

Hansen, Ryan’s police partner, appears just and antiracist throughout the movie. Towards the end of the movie he picks up Peter, a young African American male. He expresses disbelief in Peter’s likeness for typical white interests, evidence that Hansen also holds views of prejudice. After mistaking Peter’s charm for a gun, Hansen kills him and attempts to conceal the evidence. Along with hiding evidence of the murder, he also appears to be hiding evidence of his racism.

Anthony is an African American male whose character displays an individual struggle with racism. He speaks vehemently