Intercultural Barriers in Film, Essay Example

For a long time now racism and cultural prejudices have been the problems that the society is trying to deal with on the daily basis. However, the complexity and significance of the above mentioned issues only add up to the ongoing political and social debates, in which every individual is standing strong on the way of protecting personal rights and freedoms. Directed by Paul Haggis in 2004, the movie Crash is a “rare cinematic event” that challenges its audiences to question their own prejudices (Plot Overview, 2004) and determine their own place on the discriminatory scale. “CRASH boldly explores the gray area between black and white, victim and aggressor…and finds no easy solutions” (Lewison, 2005).

The idea behind the plot is to show a two-day-long drama that takes place in Los Angeles and collides the lives of completely different multiethnic LA residents, who, struggling to overcome their own fears, careen in and out of one another’s lives. Among the main characters one sees a “police detective with a drugged out mother and a thieving younger brother, two car thieves who are constantly theorizing on society and race, the white district attorney and his irritated and pampered wife” (Lewison, 2005), a racist white cop, a Hollywood director and his wife, a Persian-immigrant father and a Hispanic locksmith. “No one is safe in the battle zones of racial strife. And no one is immune to the simmering rage that sparks violence – and changes lives…” (Plot Overview, 2004).

The movie itself is full of intercultural barriers and encounters, which trigger the audience either to sympathize with one character or hate the other. In one of the scenes the District Attorney’s wife Jean Cabot (Sandra Bullock), being carjacked at gunpoint by two Afro-American teenagers, takes out her anger on a Hispanic locksmith who is changing the locks in the house. Experiencing the feelings of fear and frustration, Jean tries to persuade her husband Rick (Brendan Fraser) to change the locks again in the morning, basing her argument on the fact that the locksmith, judging by his appearance, must be a member of the gang and will inevitably pass the keys from their house to his friends, so that eventually the house will be robbed. The locksmith overhears the conversation but leaves without even saying a word. This scene is a vivid example of the prejudice behavior, where a frightened white woman suspects every minority group looking individual of being a criminal of some kind. As a prove to Jean’s false judgment, the locksmith turns out to be one of the most noble and crime free characters of the movie, who is being portrayed as a real family man trying to do his best to help his little daughter overcome her bullet fear. To my mind, Jean’s behavior is unacceptable and really biased. On the one hand, it is understandable, that after having had a gun put to one’s head, the feelings of fear, frustration and anger are overwhelming, but, on the other, it is unthought-of after that to accuse every suspiciously looking to you person of being a criminal, especially when that person hears it and still stays calm and focused on the service that he is providing. A good advice for Jean in this situation would have been to focus on her own mental and emotional stability, instead of rushing around the house and spreading her frustration on every human being around. She could have, at least, also made sure that no one overhears her conversation or left all the further discussions till the time all the people have left. Both scenarios would not offense the Hispanic locksmith, emphasizing his dignity and nobility, as well as prevent Jean’s own nervous system from further misbalance. In such situations it is important to remember that our uncontrolled behavior is a powerful weapon in hurting others – and in this case it is not the physical pain that should be kept in mind.

Another perplexing intercultural moment in the movie is the encounter of Officer Tom Hansen (Ryan Phillippe) and Peter Waters (Larenz Tate). Hansen picks up a hitchhiker Peter, not being aware of the fact this boy is one of the two teenagers that have stolen Rick and Jean’s car. On the way they get involved in a racially tense conversation, when Peter notices that Hansen has just the same St. Christopher’s statue as the boy does. Peter reaches out for his statue, which lies down in his pocket when Hansen suspects that it is the weapon that Peter is reaching for. As a result of this misunderstanding, Hansen shoots Peter and dumps his body with the further intention of burning down the car as the only existing evidence. The core idea of the scene is that Hansen’s action was a result of a prejudice judgment, just like Jean’s was. The only but most significant difference is that as a result of this judgment Peter dies. Hansen makes a quick assumption of Peter’s intentions on the bases of the boy’s baggy and shady appearance, which is only being intensified by the theme and moods of the ongoing conversation.  This whole scene seems surprising for the audience because till this particular moment Peter and Hansen are seen as some of the most unbiased and stereotype free characters of the movie. When considering an intercultural communication strategy for the characters of this scene, it is important to mention that unlike Jean’s scene, the outcome of this one depended on the behavior of both participants. On the one hand, to my mind, Peter, witnessing the intensity in Hansen’s behavior, could have first told the whole St. Christopher statue situation and only then took it out to show as a prove. Whereas, on the other hand, Hansen had no legitimate reasons to shoot at the boy as he hasn’t even seen the gun itself yet. One could argue that it was a self defense action but suggesting that every shady looking person, who is reaching out for something, is going to kill you is nonsense. If the fears and suspicions were taken under control by both characters involved, they would have just laughed as the whole situation and remained safe and sound.

All in all, Crash shows that it is important to look below the surface of behaviors of people around us. Intercultural barriers combined with fear-based behavior come out “when we least suspect it as we experience racism, ageism, wealthism, homophobism or any number of “isms” and can’t believe it’s happening to us, inside of us, around us, or worst case that it’s actually perpetrated by us even today” (Harris, 2005).  For some people Crash evokes memories of the discriminatory behavior directed towards them, others come to think of all the biased and stereotyped behavior that they brought up themselves. The movie doesn’t leave anybody carefree, raising and underlining once again the importance of clear, unbiased and fare treatment of each and every individual.

References

Harris, Parker J. (2005). Intercultural Lessons from the Movie Crash. Retrieved July 29, 2009 from http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/intercultural-lessons-movie-crash.html

Lewison, Martin. (2005). Plot Summary for Crash (2004). Retrieved July 29, 2009 from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375679/plotsummary

Plot Overview. Crash (2004). Retrieved July 29, 2009 from http://www.mooviees.com/7252-crash/movie