Introduction
Crash is a drama film that came out in 2004 and is based on a true occurrence following the carjacking of Paul Haggis’s Porsche in 1991. Paul Haggis played a key role in the movie, where he was involved as a director and producer. He was also involved in preparing the script with the assistance of Robert Moresco. The movie runs for nearly two hours and is set in Los Angeles. Since the movie is drawn from a true happening, it captures the societal challenges evident in American society. The movie explores the influence of various sociological elements on the everyday life of people in the country. Crash serves as a poignant narrative of societal strains and the impact of individual deeds on the fabric of a community.
The movie scours the interconnected lives of several racially diverse characters and, in the process, examines several issues in society that relate to various sociology concepts and theories. This is attained through bringing together actors from different backgrounds and experiences whose lives become entangled due to racial-based misconceptions in society. The movie is thought-provoking and helps to explore diverse societal prejudices, dynamics, and cultural collisions. The story is specifically relevant in describing various sociological concepts and theories that include ethnic stereotyping and ethnocentrism, racism, cultural identity and social stratification, aggression, and ego-defensive prejudice.
Ethnic Stereotypes and Ethnocentrism
The themes of ethnic stereotypes and ethnocentrism are featured predominantly in the movie. Ethnic stereotypes refer to generalizing people’s appearance, attributes, and character based on their ethnic community. Crash depicts ethnic stereotypes based on poorly formed conceptions and perceptions of ethnic or racial groupings. An example is when Jean, a white woman, clutches her husband’s hand upon noticing two African-American men approaching their car (Hoover Snyder, 2023).
A preconceived conception informed her actions of black men. She did not consider that walking away from the two men does not signify any form of racial bigotry. Her belief was reinforced when the two men turned out to be carjackers. She goes to the extent of changing her house locks and contacts a Hispanic locksmith’s services. She also holds specific views regarding the Hispanic community, which she associates with gang crime, a form of ethnic stereotyping.
Furthermore, the film brings out the aspect of ethnocentrism that is closely related to ethnic stereotyping. According to Heinzen and Goodfriend (2021), ethnocentrism denotes the inclination of people to view their culture as special to others. Such a belief is associated with some races, which people consider more central in society than others. Crash shows the prominence of the white race over and above the other races. It is also enforced by the ideology that individuals of different races and their actions must be reckoned proximately. This affects their language, behavior in society, religions, and customs.
Crash depicts ethnocentrism in the movie, mainly when Graham and his Latina friend fight. Graham resorts to referring to the contestant as Mexican, which degrades her origin even though her true origin is a Puerto Rican with closer links with the United States. In the movie, the whites consider themselves superior and resort to looking down upon the language and speech patterns of Asian Americans. In another instance, Officer Ryan makes fun of an African American named Shaniqua (Hoover Snyder, 2023). Such a consideration affects the mutual engagement of the characters in the movie, which is also reflected in real life.
Racism
Racism also predominantly features in the movie through the rampant cases of racial profiling, where characters are repeatedly judged based on their race, which is discriminatory and promotes ethnic biases. Schwarz (2021) indicates that the American population comprises individuals from diverse racial backgrounds. However, racial diversity has often been the cause of dangerous confrontations.
Crash involves characters drawn from different racial backgrounds and, in the process, brings out the racial tensions and intolerance ingrained in American society. Crash strongly incorporates a multicultural community with a central focus on the white and black races. The district attorney, his wife, and the traffic cop are white, and the movie features a wealthy African-American couple. Whites and blacks have been deeply obsessed with one another in the US for over seven decades. The whites consider that the blacks threaten their white superiority.
The movie incorporates these ideologies across various scenes where the whites seek to stamp their superiority. The whites use insulting remarks, along with verbal and physical mistreatment against the blacks. In particular, the whites associate the blacks with criminality to pin them down. For instance, a black police officer was shot fatally by a white detective for murdering two African-American men believed to have firearms.
Another racial war occurs when the advisor to the district attorney and a black police officer conspire to accuse the white officer of causing murder (Hoover Snyder, 2023). The charge of racism is set up with no clear proof that links the white cop to the murder of black men in multiple incidents. The victims end up being prosecuted unfairly without being given the chance for a fair trial and prosecution. Racism is further perpetrated against other races, including Latinos, Iranians, and Koreans,
Cultural Identity and Social Stratification
Cultural identity is an abstract and intricate sociological concept dominating all intercultural interactions. Cultural identity is closely related to racial identity, which is a social construct that attempts to separate people into groups. The characterization is depicted by the white, black, Asian, Latino, Iranian, and Korean identities.
The white culture is portrayed as unique and conforms to the portrayal of a protagonist. White characters in the film have been depicted as big officials or biased individuals. Latinos and blacks have been portrayed as inferior ethnicity in society. For instance, the white DA and his wife immediately consider that the two black men walking towards their vehicle are carjackers (Hoover Snyder, 2023). The white cop disparages Shaniqua as she is of black origin. The whites associate Latinos with radicalization and consider that most of them are being absorbed into the white majority as they are considered immigrants.
Social stratification is also evident as people categorize individuals based on their backgrounds and class as defined by their income level, occupation, and social status. According to Schwarz (2021), the theory of social stratification evaluates societal organization into different layers or strata. It considers how the layers influence individuals’ experiences and chances in life. Crash exemplifies how social orders contribute to power dynamics, unequal opportunities, and group suspense.
The movie accentuates the conflicts and disparities that arise due to social stratification. For instance, two young black men are captured having a heated debate on the history and emergence of black culture over the past six decades. They argue on the role of black culture in discovering and developing modern-day rap music along with socioeconomic distinctions and social classes.
Aggression through Violence and Crime
People get frustrated when they have to put up with derogatory remarks that target their race, color, or ethnicity. This breeds a dangerous environment likely to be characterized by violence and criminal acts. Crash depicts various instances of violence and crime, with the common incident involving Farhad, a store owner. The character encounters violent reactions from the whites as he constantly seeks to be treated fairly in a society where he is considered inferior (Hoover Snyder, 2023).
Even as Farhad is hardworking, he has to countenance unending oppression and exploitation accompanied by insults and threats. He started to seek justice using violence as he got frustrated by unfair treatment from the superior race and social group. Social groups motivated by racial prejudices attacked and destroyed his store. Farhad was eventually frustrated and chose to shoot a Mexican American individual, albeit with blank bullets. Since the person was not injured, Farhad had to reconsider his actions.
Similarly, the movie brings up another related issue of aggression, which entails a person’s verbal or physical conduct that hurts another individual’s status or feelings. Farhad is characterized by a high level of aggression against people he interacts with, and the handgun he buys guarantees the safety of his family and business (Hoover Snyder, 2023). His aggressive behavior emanates from his socialization, values, and thinking that minority groups can survive in America by being violent. In one instance, the shopkeeper goes after a locksmith whom he accuses of motivating others to steal from his store to the extent that he fires using his gun. The shopkeeper acts aggressively toward other people to protect himself and his investment, as he believes he resides in a hostile community toward minorities.
The non-physical form of aggressive behavior is also exemplified in the movie. Microaggression involves a confrontation between individuals who have performed various experiments and belong to different cultures. In some cultures, this form of aggression is commonplace as it involves subtle abuses and indignities that may be intended or not. Heinzen and Goodfriend (2021) state that microaggression involves derogatory remarks that may be fashioned to involve racial discrimination. Individual members may not feel a big impact of the actions, but society views them as demeaning, and the effects may be painful and never-ending on the victims.
Microaggression has principally been shown by the director, specifically at the point where Terrence Howard, a black movie director, is insulted. The movie’s production involved greater criticism against the black characters, who were considered to be not engaged as expected. Terrence gets insulted by the statement indicating that true blacks do not look real as they do not use their native language. This causes the movie director to suggest that the actors should make the language more ‘black.’ The insult may appear subtle but could cause discomfort to the larger society of black people.
Ego-Defensive Prejudice
Crash additionally highlights the sociological concept encapsulated under the ego-defensive bias that entails a form of bigotry displayed by people without feeling the need to justify the action. Schwarz (2021) states that ego-defensive prejudice occurs when people belittle others using colloquial and idiomatic remarks or actions. Ego-defensive prejudice has been accentuated in scenes, such as when the black cop labels his girlfriend Mexican. The statement is a clever way of being derogatory but in a polite manner. The officer continues to perpetrate this prejudice when he tells the lady that she should understand that her people are not entitled to park in their yards.
Furthermore, this form of bias manifests in how Asians are characterized in the movie. For instance, Chinaman virtually loses his life in a hit-and-run by two African Americans. Even as Chinaman is later described as a human trafficker who houses unlawful immigrants in his car, his depiction is derogatory to the Asian community (Hoover Snyder, 2023). Arabs are also portrayed as victims of mockery, primarily through the Persian man who had to acquire a handgun to protect himself from social orchestration. The Persians suffer more as people label than terrorists, considering the many terrorist attacks propagated by a few individuals and groups in the Arab world.
Conclusion
Crash presents a real-life depiction of several societal challenges encapsulated by various sociological concepts and theories. The movie shows the intersection of different races and ethnicities and reflects the complexities of race, prejudice, and social dynamics in contemporary American society. It shows how the characters, notwithstanding their social or ethnic background, suffer different levels of intolerance due to the various beliefs people have regarding others. The movie provides an excellent way of exploring several psychological concepts and theories. It invites people to reexamine their identities and cultural or personal flaws by understanding and eliminating stereotypes and bigotry entrenched in their thoughts and perceptions.
References
Heinzen, T. & Goodfriend, W. (2021). Social Psychology (2nd ed.). Sage Publication.
Hoover Snyder. (2023). Crash FULLmovieHD (QUALITY) [Video]. YouTube. Web.
Schwarz, O. (2021). Sociological theory for digital society: The codes that bind us together. Polity Press.