Crash
Linguists often say that language and communication is not the same thing, and certainly that is true. People can and do communicate without language, and species that don't use language seem able to communicate adequately for their purposes. Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to minimize the difference between the kinds of communication that can be accomplished with and without language. The movie Crash demonstrates that a crashing of worlds may be the only way people can get rid of their prejudices and learn to accept people as people.
The utility of language as a tool for communication seems to lend itself to grandiose and sometimes vaporous pronouncements, but it is hardly an exaggeration to say that the social order, as it is constituted in human societies, is predicated on the capacity for linguistic communication, and without this capacity the nature of human social life would be radically …show more content…
The most pervasive theme is racism. The white policeman whose father lost his janitorial business due to preferential affirmative action practices is angry at African Americans. A young African American car jacker spouts the inflammatory Black Power. Stereotyping is another theme in the film, the white DA’s wife suspects the locksmith of being a gang member because of his ethnicity.
The clash of cultures is illustrated by the Iranian storeowner who interprets the well meant remarks of the locksmith about a damaged door as a shakedown for more money. The theme of class disparity is explored in the contrast of characters. For example, the African American director and his wife are upper class in terms of education and income while the African American detective has worked his way into a middle class job and his mother is a drug addict and his brother a criminal. The DA’s wife, who lives in the wealthy area of Los Angeles, is constantly complaining about her housekeeper, a struggling
Linguists often say that language and communication is not the same thing, and certainly that is true. People can and do communicate without language, and species that don't use language seem able to communicate adequately for their purposes. Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to minimize the difference between the kinds of communication that can be accomplished with and without language. The movie Crash demonstrates that a crashing of worlds may be the only way people can get rid of their prejudices and learn to accept people as people.
The utility of language as a tool for communication seems to lend itself to grandiose and sometimes vaporous pronouncements, but it is hardly an exaggeration to say that the social order, as it is constituted in human societies, is predicated on the capacity for linguistic communication, and without this capacity the nature of human social life would be radically …show more content…
The most pervasive theme is racism. The white policeman whose father lost his janitorial business due to preferential affirmative action practices is angry at African Americans. A young African American car jacker spouts the inflammatory Black Power. Stereotyping is another theme in the film, the white DA’s wife suspects the locksmith of being a gang member because of his ethnicity.
The clash of cultures is illustrated by the Iranian storeowner who interprets the well meant remarks of the locksmith about a damaged door as a shakedown for more money. The theme of class disparity is explored in the contrast of characters. For example, the African American director and his wife are upper class in terms of education and income while the African American detective has worked his way into a middle class job and his mother is a drug addict and his brother a criminal. The DA’s wife, who lives in the wealthy area of Los Angeles, is constantly complaining about her housekeeper, a struggling