Analytical Analysis of Crash, Essay Example

Jean Cabot (Sandra Bullock)

Jean Cabot is married to Rick Cabot. Her racial prejudices escalate after she is involved in a carjacking. Her experience can be viewed on an emotional level of prejudice. It surrounds the feelings that minority groups arouse in a person. “Although these feelings may be based on stereotypes from the cognitive level, they represent a more intense stage of personal involvement” (Parrillo, 2004). Her prejudices show throughout the movie, however towards the end with an accident taking place in the home. Her snobby friends turn out to be too busy with their superficial and shallow activities to help her when she is in need. She realized that her Hispanic maid, Maria is one of the nicest and most caring people she has in her life. It forces her to reconsider her racial position.

Rick Cabot (Brendan Fraser)

Rick Cabot is L.A.’s white district attorney. Peter and Anthony, who are both black, carjack Rick and his wife. Rick’s cause of prejudice can be considered the economic competition. “People tend to be more hostile toward others when they feel that their security is threatened; thus, many social scientists conclude that economic competition and conflict breed prejudice” (Parrillo, 2004). His focus it to save his political career and he assures his voters are racially sensitive. He is considered to be racially ambiguous; he is never shown in the movie as a bigot even though it is an underlying assumption.

Anthony (Ludacris)

Anthony is an inner-city car thief, who is African American, but he works for a racist car shop owner. He believes that society has an unfair racial bias against blacks, and he justifies his actions by saying that he would not hurt another black person. His cause of prejudice is believed to be relative deprivation. He had a lack of resources in his life in comparison with other members of society. His position to harm no other blacks was challenged when he carjacks Cameron, a black man, and he tells Peter to shoot him when he fights back. Cameron kicks Anthony out of his car and tells him that he embarrasses him. At the end of the movie Anthony steals a van that is full of South East Asian illegal immigrants. Anthony learns that the owner of the chop shop intended to sell the illegal immigrants off as slaves, he releases them to the LA streets. Anthony gave them all the money he had in his pockets when he set them free.

Peter Waters (Lorenz Tate)

Peter is Anthony’s partner in crime and his friend. Peter is black as well. However, he makes fun of Anthony’s racism and paranoia that he openly shares. His cause of prejudice is considered to be socialization. “In the socialization process, individuals acquire the values, attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions of their culture or subculture, including religion, nationality, and social class” (Parrillo, 2004). Peter is the only character in the movie who dies. Officer Hansen picks him up after a failed carjacking and mistakenly shoots him when he believes he is drawing a gun on him. However, Hansen realizes after he shot him that Peter was only pulling out a figure of Saint Christopher. The real irony that took place is that these two characters were ones who portrayed the least racism and stereotypical actions.

Cameron Thayer (Terrance Howard)

Cameron Thayer is a successful television director, who is also African American. He was forced to witness Officer Ryan molesting his wife and could do nothing about it. “The husband feels helpless because even though he knows he cannot stop the cop because he would be accused of assaulting a police officer, he also must take into consideration his race and position within society” (Loe, 2014). Thayer realizes that the shows that he produces are spreading the racist stereotypes about African Americans. His cause of prejudice can be displaced aggression. As adults the individuals “direct their hostility against a powerless group to compensate for their feelings of insecurity and fear” (Parrillo, 2004). Peter and Anthony try to steal his car, and he fights them, taking away Anthony’s gun. He gets into a harsh argument with white police officers, and it is assumed that they are going to shoot him. However, Officer Hansen steps in preventing him from being shot and stops the unnecessary violence.

Christine Thayer (Thandie Newton)

Christine Thayer is the wife of Cameron. She is in the car when Cameron is pulled over, and is molested by Officer Ryan. Her prejudice is based on self-justification. “Self-justification involves denigrating a person or group to justify maltreatment of them” (Parrillo, 2004). Cameron is furious that her husband does not act in defense of the officer’s treatment towards her. Both Cameron and Christine grew up in a privileged environment, more so than other African Americans, and they turn to insult each other’s upbringings. In a complete switch of events, Christine is involved in a bad highway accident that trapped her in an overturned car. Officer Ryan is the man who endangers his life to save hers.

John Ryan (Matt Dillion)

John Ryan is a bigoted white police officer who abuses his power. He physically molests Christine Thayer during a traffic stop. His cause of prejudice is an action-oriented level of prejudice. It is a negative predisposition to participate in discriminatory behavior. The individual has a strong feeling about a racial or ethnic group and acts against them. The events that took place during the stop allowed Hansen to see his partner was racist. Office Ryan is assigned to a Hispanic partner who he seems to get along with. Even though Ryan is considered to be one of the most racist individuals in the film, he puts his life on the line to save Christine from death in a horrific car wreck.

Tom Hansen (Ryan Phillipe)

Tom Hansen is a police officer who is partnered with Ryan. He is appalled by the racism that his partner has and the city’s inaction. His cause of prejudice is a cognitive level of prejudice. It “encompasses a person’s beliefs and perceptions of a group as threatening or non-threatening, inferior or equal, seclusive or intrusive, impulse gratifying, acquisitive, or possessing other positive or negative characteristics” (Parrillo, 2004). The confrontation with Christine and Cameron, Hansen steps in and saves Cameron during the situation that took place with the police. Hansen later picks up a hitchhiker, Peter. The two have a conversation about racial issues, but when Peter reaches for something Hansen assumes it is a weapon, and Hansen shoots Peter. Hansen realizes his mistake and dumps the body and burns the car to hide the evidence of his actions. It is out of character for Officer Hansen because at the beginning of the film he is one of the least racist characters in the film.

References

Loe, Danielle. (2014). “Crash” A Movie really About Racism? Retrieved from https://mediandidentity.wordpress.com/2013/10/02/crash-a-movie-really-about-racism/

Parrillo, Vincent. (2004). Causes of Prejudice.

Haggis, Paul & Bob Yari. (2004). Crash. United States: Lions Gate Films.