In the movie “Crash,” Paul Haggis tries to show how our racial biases affect the way we interact with others. In the movie, the characters tend to assume certain socioeconomic status and behaviour with certain cultures. As a result of these prejudices, the characters feel threatened even when they are in no danger and resort to violence, apparently in self defence, when they encounter what they, rightly or wrongly, perceive as a dangerous situation. Haggis also tries to show the difficulty of social mobility, as some of the characters try to go past their cultural identity and face stiff opposition, both from within the community and from outside. In this analysis, we shall critique how far Haggis succeeds in establishing these issues.
The movie starts with violence as we find ourselves in the middle of a car crash. At this point, Detective Graham Water’s statement about people crashing into each other to feel connected, points to the ensuing theme of the movie, wherein just about every character feels disconnected. Also, Water’s dialogue about the physical barrier of the car which separates people from each other, points to Haggis’ attempt to show the difficulty of social mobility.
However, as the movie proceeds, Haggis not only establishes these issues but also shows how flimsy they are. People would be able to connect better if they did not try to connect only with people with similar backgrounds. Similarly, the so called physical barrier is actually a mental barrier, and if one wants, there is nothing to stop one from crossing the socioeconomic boundaries.
Jean Cabot
Haggis tries to show how Jean’s racial prejudice prevents her from connecting with people. She is scared of Anthony and Peter because they are African American and when she gets carjacked, this prejudice is deepened. After the incident, her distrust of all non-white people grows even further as seen in her behaviour with Daniel. Throughout we see Jean as an extremely lonely woman with no one to even talk to. Haggis suggests that while Jean was looking for friends in her social circle, who did not even have time for her, her “best friend” was probably her Hispanic maid Maria. The message Haggis tries to give is that people like Jean are struggling to connect because they are probably looking at the wrong place for friends. Haggis uses the carjack sequence to establish her prejudices and, towards the end, her accident to suggest a solution to her loneliness.
Christine Thayer
Christine came from a high socioeconomic background. Yet she had to face racial discrimination because she was African American. Her conflict is her inability to reconcile her socioeconomic status with her racial identity. Having lived a sheltered life, Christine is probably not even aware of the problems that most African Americans face on a daily basis, as is evidenced when her husband says that “sooner or later, you gotta find out what it’s really like to be black”. Her run-in with Officer Ryan makes her aware of these problems for the first time in her life and escalates her conflict with her racial identity.
Cameron Thayer
Cameron has the same conflict as her wife, having lived a sheltered life, he has a total disconnect with her racial identity. The conflict is introduced when he is pulled up by Officer Ryan and his wife is molested, only because of their racial identity. It deepens when Anthony and Peter try to carjack him and he fights them off and then stands up for his rights when he is pulled over by police. Haggis tries to resolve the conflict in the next scene when he tells Anthony “You embarrass me. You embarrass yourself.” As he sees himself for the first time from the eyes of law enforcers, he realizes that it is people like Anthony who are responsible for the raw deal that all African Americans get. This realization helps him come to terms with bad experience he had had earlier with the police.
Officer John Ryan
Haggis introduces the conflict that Officer Ryan has with connecting with others early on when he pulls over the Thayers and molests Christine simply because they are African American. The conflict is heightened when he tries to negotiate with the HMO employee to allow his father to see a non-HMO and realizes that she is African American. His racialism seems to originate from his own bad experiences with African Americans. Haggis tries to resolve this conflict when Ryan puts his life in danger to save Christine from what would have been a certain death. He finally connects with Christine, whom he had molested earlier, when his basic goodness supersedes his racial bias, suggesting that a person just needs to look beneath his biases to find a connection.
Officer Tommy Hansen
Hansen is initially shown as an idealistic rookie policeman who hopes to use his uniform for the betterment of the society. When Ryan molests Christine, he finds his idealism in conflict with Ryan’s hardened cynicism. However, in the end, Haggis shows that underneath his idealism, Hansen too is a victim of racial bias when he shoots Peter thinking that he was going to attack him. While in Ryan’s case, Haggis redeems his earlier actions when he saves Christine, in Hansen’s case, it is the exact opposite, when his underlying racialism comes to the fore and prevents him from connecting with Peter, who was actually trying to show him the similarities between them besides their skin colour. In this case, Haggis ends Hansen’s character with conflict and does not try to resolve it. He also brings him down from the high moral ground Hansen had taken earlier when he had reported Ryan’s racism.
Detective Graham Waters
Graham is facing conflicts at several levels. One conflict is that he has to choose between his duty and protecting his criminal brother. The other conflict is his inability to connect with her mother and her brother. He also has trouble with social mobility. Haggis establishes all these conflicts one by one. Even though his mother and brother think that he does not care for them, the fact that he agrees to frame an innocent man to save his brother shows that this is not true. Despite having left behind his humble past, he is unable to completely move away from it because of his mother and brother. He faces problem of acceptability, both in his new social circle as a detective, as well as with his family. This conflict with social mobility is further deepened by his inability to connect with his family. He takes care of his family, but his mother thinks that “we weren’t much good to you anymore. Haggis does not attempt to resolve this conflict and the movie ends with Graham finding him even deeper in this problem.
Anthony
The main conflict that Anthony faces is with his identity. Anthony has probably grown up being racially discriminated against, and it has pushed him crime. Haggis tries to show robbing the rich is his way of getting back at the society. However, when he carjacks Cameron and asks Peter to shoot him, Anthony is contradicting himself. The conflict here deepens because Anthony is no longer robbing the rich and white. In the end, he redeems himself when he lets go of the Asian immigrants, even when he had a clear offer to make money by selling them.
Peter Graham
Peter Graham faces conflict with his identity since on one end, he is being pulled by his friends like Anthony to conform to the so-called cultural identity of African Americans, and on the other end, he feels the need to be more like his detective brother. The conflict deepens when Anthony asks him to shoot Cameron, a black man. The incident also helps him resolve the conflict as he sees through Anthony and decides to leave this life of crime. Ironically, it is when he has decided to give up crime, that he is mistaken by Hansen to be a carjacker and shot dead.
Daniel Ruiz
Daniel’s conflict is with moving up the social ladder to give his daughter a safe neighbourhood. Haggis establishes this conflict when he is mistaken for a gang banger by Jean. The conflict deepens when Farhad doubts him and later holds him responsible for the break-in in his shop. Also, Daniel had moved to a better neighbourhood to help protect her daughter, but when Farhad shoots at her, Daniel’s attempt to move up the social ladder seems to have gone in vain.
Farhad
Farhad, on the other hand, is so frustrated with racial harassment that he is unable to trust anyone. This, and his inability to blend into the culture of his adopted country, comes in the way of his social mobility. The conflict is heightened when he is unable to trust Daniel resulting in a break-in in his shop. Haggis tries to resolve the conflict, at least in the mind of Farhad, when he shoots at Daniel and his daughter comes in the way. Farhad see this as a sign from God, helping him to better accept his fate. However, the conflict is not satisfactorily resolved for the audience, because Farhad has no agency in the entire situation. He is only trying to make an honest living but has to face problems at every corner for no fault of his own. Even his distrust of Daniel is as acquired as a result of all the problems he has faced. He seems to have been given a raw deal by fate and his conflict with acceptance in his adopted country is not resolved till the end.
Haggis shows that even though people have this pressing need to connect with each other, their racial biases and socioeconomic status comes in the way of their really reaching out to others and connecting with them. Haggis has written the movie with the intent to provoke his audience. He forces his audience to look into their own racial biases. However, he also shows the consequences of going against the social norm and how it is not just enough to ignore your cultural identity for greater acceptance or move up the socioeconomic ladder through sheer hard work. The purpose of human life is to connect with each other, and as people try to overcome the hurdles that society has set upon them, they can lose this connectedness. Haggis’ attempt to show the problems faced with connectedness when people try to move up the social ladder or compromise with their social identity, forces the audience to rethink the problems they face in their own life.