Stereotipos

Clandra Newson
AFAM 4700
C. Walker
10/18/2011
Critique #5
“Crash”
This film served as a response to racism and stereotypes in this country. It shows how Americans have taught foreigners the way we live with stereotypes. Racism is still thriving in this country and for the writer of Crash to us how racism plays a part in our society in the early 2000s is pure genius, but it shows me that weare not moving forward. So, knowing that, and having watched this documentary, one could imagine racism in the 21st century. This film should have opened the eyes of many people, because it is showing Americans the misconceptions that we have of each other. Like the past few documentaries, this documentary shows us the ignorance of Americans.
This film Crash introduces us to issues that we haveseen throughout other documentaries: racism amongst minorities, racism between the blacks and whites, racism amongst social classes. Crash tells intertwining stories of whites, blacks, Hispanics, Koreans, Persians, cops and criminals, the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless, all defined in one way or another by racism. They are all victims of it, and they have all been guilty of it.The movie presumes that most people feel prejudice and resentment against members of other groups, and observes the consequences of those feelings. One thing anyone can notice in this film is that the character cannot see each other and their issues because they are to focused on their own situations, and because of the stereotypes that they have seen and live by. The stereotypes and racismprevent these characters to see each other as who they really are. All of these characters are superficially different. They live in the same city, and over the course of two days, they learn that they share similar fears and hopes. Racism did this to them. The first scene we see in this film introduces the blatant racism that we see in our everyday lives.
Objective one is shown throughout this film,but one particular scene during the film was when the white officer was trying to get healthcare for his father. He tried to use his power as a police officer to gain authority. He talked down to the supervisor of the healthcare facility because of her name, and he knew she was an African American woman. He felt that she should help his father because he helped black people out when he had hisbusiness up and running. If and only if, he would not have been so blatantly disrespectful and racist towards the manager of the healthcare system, he may have gotten something done for his father and his poor health. Another way that this objective was hit on was when Rick, the white DA said, “Why do these guys have to be black? I mean, why? No matter how we spin this thing, I'm either gonna losethe black vote or I'm gonna lose the law and order vote!” This guy was so bent on getting the black vote he was willing to do anything to get, including taking a picture with an Iranian man who looked black.
In Crash, objective two worked hand in hand with objective five. The writers of this film wrote in the different ways that we view each other. This film showed us the main issues that wehave within our communities between the different races. There was one particular case between the black man and his mother. They had a very sad relationship and she blamed the death of her youngest son on him, because he was not there for them when he needed them. It shows the stereotype that once a black person gets a little power, they do not give back. They just move on with their lives. They donot make time for the things that are more important. When it comes to family, they just put them off until they can make time, but in this case the family was put off so much that in the end the youngest was killed. Larenz Tate’s character was just a misguided young man. Any person that was willing to see that knew that he was not a bad kid. It was just the people, or person, he surrounded...