Stereotyping is a major issue in the world today, however, mostly in the United States. It is known as fixed impressions, exaggerated or preconceived ideas about particular social groups, usually based solely on physical appearance (The New York Company). Crash is a great example because it shows others stereotyping individuals in many ways. According to Schingel, it is the perfect analogy of how we as a human race deal with life, people and our own experiences. The movie, released in 2004, shows each character’s point of view, rather it be from African American, Caucasian, or a Latino. It follows each character throughout the movie to show how they live their daily lives. One must never judge or discriminate a person based on their physical attributes.
Prejudice and discrimination directed against someone of a different race is known as racism. It is evident in the movie “Crash” directed by Paul Haggins, that people misconceive others due to judgement on their physical traits. Throughout the movie, the characters are Det. Graham Waters, Jean Cabot, Officer John Ryan, Rick Cabot, Cameron and Christine Thayer, Officer Tom Hansen, Shaniqua Johnson, Anthony, Peter Waters and a few others who live in Los Angeles face the challenges of fitting in a town populated by people of different colors. The offenders are the “white” people whereas the victims are everyone else. The presence of racism is the main cause conflict that occurs in the movie. The story begins when several people are involved in a multi-car accident. Several stories interweave during two days in Los Angeles involving a collection of inter-related characters, a police detective with a drugged- out mother and a mischievous younger brother who is a car jacker, the DA and his white racist wife, an actor who is Buddhist with his black wife, along with a Mexican who is a locksmith, and a Persian store owner.
Who all are involved in individual discrimination. In this brief essay, I am going to discuss how racism and stereotyping have the impact on the lives of some main characters in the movie, considering the development of the storyline and the impact of various incidents that change their perspective towards themselves and each other.Most people are born with good hearts, but as they grow up they learn prejudices. The first scene is the car crash involving Ria and Det. Waters. Ria says we’ve been hit and Waters states nobody touches you in L.A.
waters thinks “we crash into each other just so we can feel something.” Water’s partner Ria thinks he hit his head a little too hard he’s talking nonsense. Ria gets out the car to confront Kim, the driver she just hit. Kim who is Korean, blames Ria for being a crazy Mexican and Ria blames Kim for not seeing her brake light and that leads to an argument and xenophobia. On to the next scene one night The D.A. Rick Cabot and his wife Jean had just finished having dinner they are car jacked at gunpoint by two black men in a prestigious and wealthy environment of California.
From this experience she’s emotionally scared and stereotypes every race that is not in front of her face. In one scene of the movie, the Cabot’s are getting their locks changed and the wife demands her husband she wants them changed again in the morning because David the Mexican locksmith will sell a copy of the key to his gangster friends. Jean is also very rude to her maid Maria, and she gets angry at her over the littlest things. Like not emptying out the dishwasher.
