In the film “Crash,” there are many racist, discriminatory, and stereotypical actions presented. However, it is valuable to decipher between being racist/stereotypical and discriminating against someone. There are certain situations within this film that do just that: some situations occur because of racism, and some occur because of discrimination.
Racism is the belief that one’s own race is superior to another’s race. Such is similar with stereotyping: it’s an image or conception that one has of someone because of the generalized opinion that one acts or speaks for the whole. Discrimination is the actual act that someone commits against another due to their race or ethnic background. There are two situations in Crash where the difference between these is evident.
Racism is evident throughout the whole film. Each act of discrimination is because of the racist opinions that each group has of each other. For instance, in the event that officer Ryan pulled the African American couple over, he initially did this because of the racist stereotypes he has of African Americans and how they have affected his life. The act of discrimination is a result of this, one act being assuming that these people were doing something wrong and proceeding to molest the woman in front of her husband while threatening to arrest them both. This same officer speaks of his racist opinions when talking to Shaniqua Johnson in her office: he is upset at her for not being able to assist him with his father’s surgery, and in turn voices his opinion of African Americans and how a white man could have been a better suit for her job. This discriminatory act is a result of how African Americans, or “people like her,” have burned him in the past.
Racism and discrimination also occurs the other way in this film as well. Two young African American criminals tend to steal cars that look very nice to them. They believe that all affluent, racist, white families drive these cars, and find it easy to take advantage of them and steal their cars. They carry out these racist opinions through their theft, and this eventually gets them into lots of trouble, even death.
Racism and discrimination are very evident topics in Crash, and it is believed that Crash is one of the best cases in which these two topics are shown to exist in every day life.
The issue of internal and external racism appears not only in the movie Crash but also in everyday life. Internal racism refers to a person hating his or her own race while idolizing another race. External racism refers to a person hating another race while placing his or her own race higher in terms of superiority to the other race. The movie for the most part focuses on external racism to show the impact of racism in generally. Ironically the two characters that show the most external racism are Officer John Ryan and Officer Tommy Hansen who are suppose to uphold the law and equality for everyone regardless of race. While Tommy doesn’t show racial discrimination whereas John blatantly makes it clear he’s a racist Tommy in the end proves to be the most racist and narrow minded when he kills Peter who he believes is reaching for a gun. These characters are clear examples of external racism. External racism is a huge problem not just in our country but all over the world. These racist thoughts are usually fed with stereotypes such as the stereotype that all Mexicans are criminal gang bangers who will rob your house after they fix your locks such as the scene between Jean Cabot and Daniel Ruiz. These stereotypes feed hatred and fear into people which then causes racism. When people are afraid of someone that looks different the general idea that they get is that everyone who is that nationality is just like them. If we could get rid over the fear of others who aren’t exactly like us then we could possibly take the right step towards eliminating racism altogether.
Internal racism on the other hand is much more detrimental to the race that it is affecting. There is a great character in Crash that stuck out in the movie and that was Cameron Thayer. Despite the fact that Cameron has a well paid job and has a good life he is still targeted by the police and others with prejudice because of their definition of “black”. We see him get fed up with this when Anthony and Peter try to hijack him and he puts up a fight. Cameron is an interesting case because he experiences both internal and external racism throughout the film. The reason he fights back against Anthony and Peter is because he is frustrated that even his own race is out to hurt him. He gives us a great example of internal racism when he lets Anthony out of his car and tells him “You embarrass me, and you embarrass yourself.” Cameron is the greatest example of both of these terms and probably one of the characters most greatly affected emotionally by racism. Internal and external racism are huge issues in our country that have been with us for hundreds of years. The question is, though, is racism going to outlast everyone?
Thanks for this posting. I think you've done a nice job pointing out and defining internal v. external racism and stereotyping v. discrimination. These are, perhaps, subtle differences that can deeply impact the way in which race is "read" in Crash (and beyond). You seem to come to the agreement that internal racism is more detrimental, and, in some ways, I agree. I'm thinking in particular of the history of our city as internally racist--that is, our community leaders are constantly pointing out that we as a city rarely talk outwardly about race. The result of this in 2001 was the riots in downtown Cincinnati.
ReplyDeleteOverall, good examples, good close reading, good work. I'd be curious to hear, though, how you'd answer the final question you pose. The directors of Crash seem to indicate that the cycle will always repeat itself.
Thanks!