Crash Movie Analysis

Changing Ways
Realizations are the cause for many people go through major changes in their lives. When referring to a realization, it is meant that people have sudden change in perspective and thought. Events throughout a person’s life or things that they experience can change them drastically. In the movie “Crash”, many of the characters involved have huge realizations and their lives change forever. Many of the realizations in the film are based on the problems the characters run into with stereotypes and racism in America. Although many people in the “Crash” change, there are three characters that really stand out. One character is Officer Ryan, played by Matt Dillon, who is an experienced police officer, but he is extremely racist until …show more content…
Unlike the rest of the characters who are victims of racism, Officer Ryan is the racist person harassing other characters. He seems to be a bad guy for a large majority of the movie, but the other side of him becomes prevalent when problems come about in his household. Officer Ryan is introduced in the movie when he pulls over Cameron and Christine, then because they are both black, he harasses the couple and molests Christine while “searching” her. As the movie progresses, Officer Ryan’s private life is shown. It becomes obvious that his father has something wrong with his prostate or bowels, so Ryan attempts to get help from the insurance company, but loses coverage for his father because the woman working with him is black and he is extremely racist to her. Later, he is working and sees an accident that is an extremely dangerous situation. A car has flipped on the road and is leaking gas while there is a fire nearby. Officer Ryan immediately goes to help and when he gets into the flipped car, he sees that inside driving is Christine. She immediately is hysterical and instead of worrying about him saving her life she tries to force him away in fear that he will hurt her again. Ryan eventually gets her to calm down and pulls her out of the car just in time, but he changes from this. Officer Ryan has a sudden realization that this woman that he just looked down on and tormented was …show more content…
Cameron wealthy and successful African American man who is very worried about his personal appearance. Cameron is introduced as a man who doesn’t stand up for himself when he is pulled over and his wife is molested by Officer Ryan, but he doesn’t do anything about it, because he doesn’t want to get in trouble with the cops. Later, Cameron is irritated again when the white producer of the movie he is working on tells him that one of the actors needs to talk “blacker”. He is offended by this and doesn’t agree with it, but he says nothing of it and does what he is told. Soon after all of this, he and his wife argue about the interaction with Officer Ryan and she calls him out for not standing up and blames it on him trying to hide from the world of racism. After she tells him this, he is set over the edge and leaves the set. It is at this time that Anthony attempts to steal Cameron’s car, which throws Cameron into a rampage of anger and he immediately blows up and stands up for himself by taking the gun from Anthony and speeding away, which causes the police to attempt to pull him over, but he keeps running instead. When he is finally pulled over he starts screaming and fighting with the cops, because it is Officer Ryan who pulls him over and he is enraged about his wife still. Eventually, Officer Ryan’s partner Officer Hansen calms him down and lets him go with a warning because of his mental