Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Crash Review

The film Crash is effective in portraying a contemporary American Society. It is interesting the way the characters within the film interact- and they re-enforce whilst at the same time proving some stereotypes completely untrue. It shows, and this is visible from the ending of the film that no matter how hard to try to beat a stereotype and prove yourself to follow a different ideology; this cannot always be done. The white police officer continuously proves himself throughout the film, implying he realises that in the new American identity there is no room for racism or gender subordination. However the ending of the films suggests that despite trying your best to ignore stereotypes, it is harder than it first appears. Sandra Bullocks character again shows this whilst walking past the two black men. Crash is successful in showing how hard stereotypes are to break and how hard it is to change the dominant ideology in America.
Crash shows many different characters from different walk of life- and i think the film portrays some more positively than others. For example, the African-American characters are shown speaking full English and assimilating into the white culture- it is suggested that the director character doesn't know what it is like to be black. However, the Asian-Americans are portrayed in a different light (perhaps this is because they are the 'new' immigrants and society hasn't adapted and embraced them fully yet.) The family whom own the shop struggle to understand the American language and cannot communicate outside of the family. This lack of communication leads to a shooting- which could of potentially lead to a death. These immigrants are portrayed as a problem in American, and the China men aren't seen as people, but property to be sold. This takes America back to the 17th century when African-Americans were pieces of property.
Overall Crash deals with many identities in American society, and some are shown to be more adapt to life in America than others. Ethnicity is the main component of the film, producing the racism and the stereotypes. But as well as dealing with ethnicity, it touches upon many other aspects of American life such as the Civic religion, family, religion and gender. Therefore Crash is a film that shows contemporary America not only at its best (with the integration of black and white people, women and men) but also at it's worst, with positions of power being abused and immigrants facing discrimination and hardship because of their lack of understanding of the American culture.

No comments:

Post a Comment