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Racial Stereotypes In The Movie Crash

850 Words4 Pages

The Detrimental Habit of Racial Stereotyping Unfortunately, in modern day America, the act of wrongful and unwarranted stereotyping has become engrained in day-to-day life. In the film Crash, director Paul Haggis presents the theme of racial stereotyping between the ensemble of the characters, no matter their ethnicity, and how this cruel behavior creates an environment of hostility and conflict throughout America. With a numerous and diverse cast of characters, Haggis skillfully conveys to the audience how racial stereotyping occurs in all walks of life. The theme of stereotyping throughout the film also reveals to the viewer just how destructive this act, fueled by one’s preconceived notions, is on the society of America. Stereotyping is …show more content…

Paul Haggis refutes this assumption of stereotyping by revealing the prejudices held between all different types of people with different backgrounds and ethnicities. The movie quickly sets the stage showing the pervasiveness of stereotyping across all races in the very first scene in which a Puerto Rican woman is accusing an Asian woman of being a bad driver. Right off the bat Haggis introduces a colored on colored stereotyping situation. Of course there are white versus colored racial stereotyping situations throughout the movie as well. The scene in the gun shop is one of the first times this type of stereotyping is seen in Crash. Feeling threatened and frustrated that a Middle Eastern looking man and his daughter are speaking in a different language than his own, a Caucasian gun store owner tells him, “Yo Osama plan a jihad on your own time.” Another example of minority on minority stereotyping is when Fahrad’s store is vandalized. Fahrad automatically assumes the Hispanic locksmith that had been there the day before had committed this heinous act and dishonored his family. Fahrad stereotyped the Latino man as a cheat and a criminal without honor. Haggis made it his mission to paint a scene of diverse characters in Crash to depict the universal concept of stereotyping in

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