Movie Crash Theme

Crash written and directed by Paul Haggis tells the story of multiple individuals all from different backgrounds and races crashing into each other’s lives. The film portrays the prejudice and racism that all of humans have inside of them even if one thinks they do not. The film takes place over a thirty-six hour period in which all of the charters become intertwined and learn lessons they thought they never would. The district attorney and his wife, both Caucasians, experience a carjacking by two black men. The husband then wants to use it to advance his political career while his wife accuses the man changing their locks of being in a gang. Two Caucasian police officers come to odds as one uses his authority to unnecessarily pull over a

Throughout the entire film race is one of the most prominent themes. The film shows that racism is not one sided as the characters themselves are Caucasian, black, Persian, Iranian, and Hispanic. The film shows that race assumptions not something that is just in existence, but rather society builds up these prejudices and ideas. This can be seen when the district attorney wanting to advance his political career think he can just honor a black man or woman. He suggests a firefighter who his secretary then informs him is actually Iraqi. He responds by saying, “Well he looks black.” Even before knowing someone’s true race and identity society can put up walls. The cops also pull over the couple because the one believes they are biracial and he believes that is wrong. In actuality both people are black one just happens to be of a lighter complexion. Race and racism the film shows limits one’s ability to experience new individuals and

The first being to not race to judgments because most likely they are not true. By not taking the time to get to know the person one is only looking at a person at face value. In essence one is judging the book by its cover instead if learning the journey the person has taken. While race can tell a lot about an individual personal experiences and values tell more. After the fact, many of the character face consequences because of their rush to judgment. The police officer shoots an innocent man because after picking him up he believes the man is making fun of him. The cop doesn’t think a black man can love country music even though he really does. The title crash feeds into this moral because the characters aren’t looking at the outcome; instead they are running around crashing into lives without realizing the mess they leave on the side. Another interesting scene is when the black detective calls his partner Mexican, she get frustrated and says my moms from El Salvador and my dads from Puerto Rico, neither of those places are Mexico. He assumes from her appearance that she’s from Mexico without learning her heritage or her family’s background. The characters realize that they need to have sympathy for each other because regardless of what they look like on the outside they all have