Racial Stereotypes In The Film Crash

The film Crash follows eight groups of people and their interactions with each other in the city of Los Angeles. From car crashes to running into people around the city, the characters experience different kinds of crashes over the course of thirty-six hours. When the main characters are first introduced racial stereotypes are thrown every which way; someone is afraid to sell a Middle Eastern man a weapon, a woman moves closer to her husband when she sees a pair of African American men walking her way, an African American couple apologizes to two white policemen even though they have done nothing wrong, a Mexican locksmith is accused of being a gangbager just because of his looks. At each of these instances, almost every person in some

I unwarrantably assumed that just because Ryan is bigoted does not mean that he will not save a person of color if their life needs saving. In the case of officer Tom Hansen, I assume that he is not racist and wants to help people of color. However, I soon see that even he is not exempt from racial biases when he shoots and kills an unarmed black man. Hansen may have thought that this man was reaching for a weapon, but in reality, he had been reaching for a small Saint Christopher statue. With both officer Hansen and myself, it would have been best if we had waited until we have all of the information. In the future, I would do well to remember to not presume anything about anyone until I know their whole story. Absolutism is either accepting an idea absolutely or absolutely rejecting it. At the beginning of the film, I thought that Shaniqua Johnson (Loretta Devine) was unquestionably against racism because of how she responded to John Ryan’s racial stereotyping during a phone call. Yet I was proven wrong when in the end she demonstrates she has her own racial biases after belittling a Chinese man she had gotten into a car crash with. I also thought that John Ryan was absolutely an awful person when his character was first introduced because of how he

I made a hasty conclusion when I decide that Farhad (Shaun Toub) had shot Lara (Ashlyn Sanchez), a five-year-old girl, when she ran out in front of her father. I was doing everything is my power to not yell at the screen as I watched this unfold. Moments later I find out that Lara is fine and the bullets in Farhad’s gun are blanks. I should have waited a few more seconds before deciding what the outcome of that event would be. I also came to an impulsive conclusion about Jean Cabot (Sandra Bullock). I concluded that she is very racist towards different ethnic minority groups. Nonetheless, as the movie progresses I found out that she is sympathetic towards Maria (Yomi Perry) the nanny when Jean states that Maria is her only friend despite the fact that earlier she accused a man of Mexican descent that he is a gangbanger just because of his appearance. Being impulsive about what is going to happen next in a film is easy to do since the scenes are constantly changing, but when it comes to real life it is better to wait until all the evidence is presented before deciding the outcome. Hasty conclusions, absolutism, and unwarranted assumptions are pitfalls that I frequently committed as I watched the film Crash. I must work towards waiting until I know the whole story before jumping to conclusions. Also, I need to consider all of the evidence before I even think about claiming something