Jean Cabot is the wife of Rick Cabot, the district attorney of LA. Throughout CRASH, Jean Cabot demonstrates a fear of minorities. At the beginning of the movie, specifically, at 8:55, we see her pull into her husband as Anthony and Peter, two black men, walk past her. Unexpectedly, the two men decide to car-jack Jean and Rick, leaving them both emotionally dumbfounded. This leaves Jean even more fearful, and at a later scene, we can see her angrily talking about Daniel Ruiz, the Latino Locksmith that was hired to check their doors. She accuses him of being a criminal, stating that Daniel is going to “sell our key to one of his gangbanger friends.” This is all unfounded, of course, and is simply based off of the locksmith’s appearance. Additionally, …show more content…
At 1:24:00, Jean is talking to a friend about her anger over life in general. In her dialogue to Carol, she says, “I am angry. Yes! At them! Yes! At them, the police, at Rick, at Maria, at the drycleaners who destroyed another blouse today, at the gardner, who keeps over watering the lawn.” She continues, saying “ I just thought that, I would wake up today, and I would feel better. But I was still mad. I realized that it had nothing to do with my car being stolen. I wake up like this every morning. I am angry all the time, and I don’t know why!” Shortly after her conversation, she hangs up the phone and proceeds to step down the stairs, only to trip and fall, seriously injuring herself. Jean is shown in a later scene, speaking to Rick. She explains, with a hint of gratitude, that Maria was the one who drove her to the hospital after her fall, stating that Carol, the friend who she was talking to, was too busy “getting a massage” to come and help her. After her accident, Jean is significantly more friendly towards Maria. At 1:40:00, Jean is seen hugging Maria, the housemaid who she once looked down on, stating to her, most likely in response to Carol’s carelessness as well as her newfound respect for Maria, “you’re the best friend I got.” Jean’s fall helped her realize how irrational and unfounded her disdain towards Maria and other minorities is, even if she had bad experiences in the past - the fact that Maria, despite