Microcosm In The Movie Crash

At its best, Crash as a microcosm of America’s racial climate. It emphasizes and upholds many of the country’s beliefs on race, and shows true stereotypes that plague the minds of some people today. Individually, each of the films characters, develop generalizations show some type of discrimination or racial aspect that we can learn from.

Officer Ryan is one of the characters that stands out in terms of relevance in racial relations and stereotypes today particularly considering the current perception of police officers in America. Ryan is exactly of what people, namely African Americans, say they fear in a cop. He is white, entitled, and deeply racist. Nonverbally he carries himself with an air of arrogance and abuses his power on a regular

Not only is he racial, but also sees himself as being above those of color. He seems to think that he is entitled to the power that comes from his ethnicity. He believes that because he is a white male living in North America, he is somewhat at the “top of the food chain”.
Socioeconomic identity deals with income, occupation, and education. Officer Ryan has an average income, average occupation, and decent amount of education. Nothing about his socioeconomic status would ever elevate him or make him above others, yet because he is a law enforcement officer, he seems to have the idea he can use his position to exert power over others, like he did with Cameron and

Is he truly a bad person? At the beginning of the movie, he is portrayed as a villain, a selfish individual who only cares about his and his own. He clearly did not have any respect for other people illustrated by his complete humiliation of Cameron and Christine. He made no qualms of taking advantage of these two innocent minorities. However, as the movie progressed, you see the softer side of him. He is shown living with his dad taking care of his health problem. You see him doing everything possible to making sure his father is receiving the best care, though he insults yet another person while doing it. Finally, in one of the most powerful scenes of the movie you see him risking his own life to save a woman of color. This to me proves that Officer Ryan is not a horrible person. He can not truly be a racist, at least not at this moment, because someone who truly hates minorities would of let Christine die. Which leads me to the lesson Officer Ryan teaches. Bitterness and circumstances can cloud our perception of people. He allowed a few occurrences to change his view of an entire race. The bitterness he felt about what happened to his father consumed him. Observing all the negatives of the black people and other minorities, events he saw everyday as a police officer, lead him to classify all African Americans as bad