While America may have evolved beyond corded phones and VHS tapes, one thing that has remained stagnant are race issues. Crash, a 2004 movie, explores racist experiences that minorities have faced. The movie utilizes characters and their experiences to show that the improvement of racism is hopeless.
The characters in Crash all maintain a barrier between one another that presents conflict in dissolving the discriminations they face. Characters like Anthony and Jean keep up this barrier simply because they belong to different races. Crash displays the message that there are barriers between people, especially if two people belong to differing ethnicities or races. One reason for these blockades, is because society puts forth a pressure to always …show more content…
The looking glass idea examines individual identities and how they are created. The idea is that identities are formed through interactions with other people. People let interactions influence their behavior, thus altering their self. Since people’s behavior changes because of personal encounters, their identity is really just a result of these interactions (Zevallos). This idea correlates to Crash and explains why racism may not be able to be amended. When characters belonging to different races interact with one another, there is usually an underlining sense of hostility and guardedness. In almost every scene of Officer Ryan interacting with someone who is African-American, Ryan seems to have a prejudice and mocking attitude towards them. Since all of his interactions are motivated by racist thinking, this shapes the racist behavior of Officer Ryan. In other words, because Officer Ryan’s previous interactions with other individuals have had racial undertones, his future interactions will most likely have those same racial undertones. It’s like a never ending cycle, where Officer Ryan’s future interactions will be influenced by his past interactions. Similarly, Anthony’s attitude towards white people is defensive and untrusting. Although the movie doesn’t show it, it’s possible that Anthony may have had a troubling experience with a white person. This may explain why Anthony thinks that every white person is judging him because he’s black. Since Anthony continuously thinks that every non-black person is against him, he won’t trust anyone who isn’t black. All of Anthony’s prior experiences with different races formed his behavior and attitude, so it’s hopeless that Anthony’s future experiences with different races will improve. He will continue to be defensive and not trusting of others. Certainly, because the
The characters in Crash all maintain a barrier between one another that presents conflict in dissolving the discriminations they face. Characters like Anthony and Jean keep up this barrier simply because they belong to different races. Crash displays the message that there are barriers between people, especially if two people belong to differing ethnicities or races. One reason for these blockades, is because society puts forth a pressure to always …show more content…
The looking glass idea examines individual identities and how they are created. The idea is that identities are formed through interactions with other people. People let interactions influence their behavior, thus altering their self. Since people’s behavior changes because of personal encounters, their identity is really just a result of these interactions (Zevallos). This idea correlates to Crash and explains why racism may not be able to be amended. When characters belonging to different races interact with one another, there is usually an underlining sense of hostility and guardedness. In almost every scene of Officer Ryan interacting with someone who is African-American, Ryan seems to have a prejudice and mocking attitude towards them. Since all of his interactions are motivated by racist thinking, this shapes the racist behavior of Officer Ryan. In other words, because Officer Ryan’s previous interactions with other individuals have had racial undertones, his future interactions will most likely have those same racial undertones. It’s like a never ending cycle, where Officer Ryan’s future interactions will be influenced by his past interactions. Similarly, Anthony’s attitude towards white people is defensive and untrusting. Although the movie doesn’t show it, it’s possible that Anthony may have had a troubling experience with a white person. This may explain why Anthony thinks that every white person is judging him because he’s black. Since Anthony continuously thinks that every non-black person is against him, he won’t trust anyone who isn’t black. All of Anthony’s prior experiences with different races formed his behavior and attitude, so it’s hopeless that Anthony’s future experiences with different races will improve. He will continue to be defensive and not trusting of others. Certainly, because the