Week 11- Crash

Crash is a film about ethnic identities, and how every race is subjected to racism.

The film follows the lives of tweleve main characters, who are show in pairs, over the course of two days in Los Angeles. The two police officers, one who is openly racist (Matt Dillion), pulls over a couple who are driving because of thier behaviour, and frisks the women (Thandie Newton) while her husband (Terrence Dashon) stands by helpless. The other police officer ( Ryan Phillippe) thinks that he toehr poilce officer is out of order, but cannot do anything to stop it. however, despite audeince preconcived ideas about these two police officers, we later find out that they are wrong, which can be seen when Dillion character saves Newton's character the next day, while Phillippe's character shots a young black man after a misconception that he was going to shot him.

Two of the other characters, two young black men who steal cars, are also subjected to changes of behaviour. one of them happens to be the man which is shot by the police office, can be seen as the more repremanded of the two, and can be seen as one who follows the others comands. we also find out that his brother is a police office as well. the otehr character (Ludacris) is seen as the more openly angry character, and blames society for his criminal ways. however, in one of the vans which he steals, he finds a group of Asia immigrants, when he is offered money for them, he sets them free, suggesting that he knows right form wrong.

the film deals with issues of prejudice and shows how people judge people because of what they have seen in the media. such is the case when the major and his wife (Sandra Bullock) are carjacked, by the two young black men above, and the wife order the locks be changed. when she sees it is a latino, she orders they be changed again, as she feels he will give a copy of the key to gang memember and rob the house.

i enjoyed this film, and felt it highlighted images which have been discussed in recent weeks of the modules, espeically in connection with week 8's readings and lecture.