Racial Tension In The Movie Crash

The film Crash focuses on how racial tension can disrupt the lives of so many people. Every character in the movie ends up being affected by racism. However, the movie shows how their cultures and race may be different, but their lives still intersect and depend on the actions of one another. In the film, Officer John Ryan is a good looking white man with broad shoulders. He represents what society thinks a racist police officer should look like. However, Officer Ryan is racist, and he is not afraid to use his power to express his animosity for other races. Throughout the movie his hatred for other races intensifies. However, we see evidence of Officer Ryan having a dramatic transformation in his action towards people of other races. This paper …show more content…
The actor that played Officer Ryan is Matt Dillon. Dillon was casted because he looks like societies interpretation of a racist police officer. He is a tall white man with short dark hair and a shaved face. He has a very masculine face with an angular jaw and defined cheekbones (Mannheimer). This makes his face look very powerful. He is very fit with broad shoulders, and looks like a middle-aged man. Officer Ryan’s voice is very deep and stern. This allowed viewers to know that he held some sort of power. He is someone that could easily be liked based on his appearance and voice. This casting is important because of the huge role that Officer John Ryan had in the movie. Officer Ryan was a racist self-centered police officer and needed to look like one. According to the film, the Los Angeles Police Department is one of the most racist police departments in the United States. Officer Ryan showed how a person’s anger, occupation (power), and selfishness can negatively affect his or her actions. The film showed how small minded racist police officers think. His actions in the film also represent how people begin to distrust police officers, and how this causes other police officers begin to distrust people of other …show more content…
The film helps describe the problems with racial and cultural tension. Officer Ryan is a white, tall, and fit police officer that seems to have a problem with minority races and women in powerful positions. Viewers get a sense of this hatred through the actions of Officer Ryan. When he is rude to Shaniqua we see his dislike of minority races. His actions of sexually assaulting Christine shows the power that he feels he has over other races. However, Officer Ryan also brings forth the message that even the most racist police officer can reach a turning point and look past racism. Not only does he save Christine; he also is thinking about something. This thought is crucial in him changing his life around and seeing past the color of a person’s