This was originally an assignment for Sociology, but after reading it- I thought it would be a good idea to post. I know that Crash was a great, some might say- controversial, movie but I thought it gave a great message and here's my (formal) reflection. Enjoy.
After watching Crash, I
realized that everybody is under the
influence of some type of racial prejudice. Some people are considered racist pigs
that need to review their values. However, thankfully, it’s more of a subconscious
feeling in most people. Even with this fact, I was scared that I already had a
racial filter in front of my eyes. I was comforted to later find out that it is
simply impossible for a Homo sapiens’s brain to not pass judgment when
looking at a stranger for the first time. It is our evolutionary instinct. It’s
in our DNA. But now that we have grown up by thousands of years and the
cautious watch for danger is not so urgent, this judgment can be utilized in
harmful ways. This movie opened up my eyes to how large of an impact something
as simple as your race, social status, or job can have on your life.
In many ways, this movie reinforced
stereotypes of all kinds. When Jean told Rick to change the locks in case her Latino
locksmith gave the new key to his “gang-banger homies”, she had already made a
judgment, decided it could have a
negative effect on her life, and then acted upon it. Or at an earlier time when
Anthony assumed the worst as Jean reached over to cuddle Rick. (In the movie,
it is unclear whether she moved to “cuddle” her husband or because she felt “threatened”
and wanted “protection”. Either way, Anthony definitely thought it was because
she wanted protection from the oncoming black men [referring to him and
Peter].) These instances show that every day, we constantly assume and judge
based on what people look like without actually giving them a chance to prove
whether they are as negative or positive as originally perceived.
If I heard the same judgments
that Jean made about Daniel every day; I know I would want to rip my skin off just
so I could be perceived and therefore, treated better. This leads me to my next
point that says Crash challenges racial and social stereotypes. One of
the few examples of this was when Daniel returned the new set of keys to Jean
so there would be no temptation to give them to his “gang-banger homies”. Although
Daniel Ruiz also made racial judgments (all of which were mostly inferred by
the viewer), he was one of the few characters in Crash that stood up to
judgments, tried to break stereotypes and change people’s minds about what being
Latino really meant. Besides for Daniel, I think Crash opened a lot of
people’s eyes to what being racially prejudice means and how harmful the
affects can be on everybody. This is the final reason why I though this movie
challenged stereotypes. Because I know of at least one person who is now conscious
of her “filter”, constantly checks herself to try and rid prejudices in her
life and strives to meet everyone’s gaze with the same openness as she would
treat a friend. Me.
I hope that you will accept my challenge and do the same.
