Racial Stereotypes In The Movie Crash
Intro to Sociology
March 12, 2013
Crash: A Sociological Media Review
In the movie, Crash, the sociological topic of race is the main component of the movie. Paul Haggis uses racial controversy and discrimination throughout, with the intent to display the social problems in our society. Nearly every comment said by each character carries some form of racial intent. Whether it is from the supposed good guys, the Los Angeles Police Officers, to the habitual criminals, each character delivers some form of racial stereotype. Haggis portrays the racial stereotypes and tendencies in our society with traditional context and belief; however, he displays it in a more extreme manner, in terms of frequency, than many would deem accurate in our current …show more content…
Within the first few minutes, Ria makes a comment on a stereotype towards Asian women regarding her height affecting her driving ability, as well as her accent causing her to say the word “Blake” instead of “brake”. It is important to note here that Ria is of a Latino heritage, so Haggis is showing racism between two different races other than white, whereas often society views racism from only whites towards any other racial group. However, do not discount the fact that racism from whites, as well as towards whites is displayed in the movie. One specific example comes from Police Officer John Ryan. Ryan is extremely hateful towards blacks for the vast majority of the movie. In one instance regarding the health of his father, Ryan is speaking to the supervisor at the clinic his father is attending. He accuses her that the only reason she was working in the position that she was in, was due to her race, black, and that there were many more qualified people to take the position she had received but she only received it since she was a minority. With the first example portraying in a less traditional form of racism than typically seen in our society, two women dishing out racial slurs and stereotypes at one another, both of a nonwhite race, as compared to a white male being racist towards another race, in this case a back
March 12, 2013
Crash: A Sociological Media Review
In the movie, Crash, the sociological topic of race is the main component of the movie. Paul Haggis uses racial controversy and discrimination throughout, with the intent to display the social problems in our society. Nearly every comment said by each character carries some form of racial intent. Whether it is from the supposed good guys, the Los Angeles Police Officers, to the habitual criminals, each character delivers some form of racial stereotype. Haggis portrays the racial stereotypes and tendencies in our society with traditional context and belief; however, he displays it in a more extreme manner, in terms of frequency, than many would deem accurate in our current …show more content…
Within the first few minutes, Ria makes a comment on a stereotype towards Asian women regarding her height affecting her driving ability, as well as her accent causing her to say the word “Blake” instead of “brake”. It is important to note here that Ria is of a Latino heritage, so Haggis is showing racism between two different races other than white, whereas often society views racism from only whites towards any other racial group. However, do not discount the fact that racism from whites, as well as towards whites is displayed in the movie. One specific example comes from Police Officer John Ryan. Ryan is extremely hateful towards blacks for the vast majority of the movie. In one instance regarding the health of his father, Ryan is speaking to the supervisor at the clinic his father is attending. He accuses her that the only reason she was working in the position that she was in, was due to her race, black, and that there were many more qualified people to take the position she had received but she only received it since she was a minority. With the first example portraying in a less traditional form of racism than typically seen in our society, two women dishing out racial slurs and stereotypes at one another, both of a nonwhite race, as compared to a white male being racist towards another race, in this case a back