However when the techniques the director uses skew our thoughts, then if we have the ability to recognise this, we will learn even more about ourselves. Thus it goes without saying that I wholeheartedly agree with this statement, my decision being based on the way we learn ideas in Crash. These ideas include interpretations of redemption, clever ontrasting use of motifs and symbols and humanity’s inclination to stereotype. Crash is set in the bustling city of Los Angeles over a 36 hour time period and follows several different plots with a huge range of colourful characters in difficult life situations; assault, murder drug abuse, robbery and a chain of discrimination that connects all of the stories.
It becomes obvious rather quickly that the movie is dealing with themes of racism and discrimination when the opening sequence shows an Asian woman who has crashed into the back of a police car and the police officer starts to mock her accent; saying, “I blake too fast? The film has the intention of being morally unsettling and overall is an advertisement encouraging us to treat others with respect.However after analysing this movie, although I don’t doubt that Haggis intends for his techniques to have the best intentions of showing that we need to change our discriminatory ways, I believe the overall effect of the film has much to be desired on the ‘combat against racism’ front. The ability to redeem oneself is a huge part of today’s society; it builds and destroys social stature, creates hierarchies and destroys relationships. In Crash we see and example of this in the ‘sobriety est’ scene.
After failing to sort out his own family issues, an extremely angry white American cop, John Ryan, pulls over Cameron and Christine, a young African American couple, on Ventura Boulevard. He proceeds to do a sobriety test, but in his rage and the couple’s understandable incompliance, he ends up sexually violates Christine. While assaulting her, he maintains a professionally calm voice and uses his manners towards them, calling the ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am. ’We take an instant dislike to him due to his racism and disgusting unprovoked behaviour, especially because ontrastingly, he himself is calm and unremorseful. However, later on in the film, we see him in a different light as he approaches an accident scene and proceeds to save a woman in a car that is about to blow up.
We see a close up on his face as he is running to the car shows us his genuine concern and determination to help. Little does he know that it actually Christine in the car, and when he goes to save her, she screams “get your filthy fu**ing hands off me,” which demonstrates to us that she would sooner be dead than have him touch her again.We see a close up of Ryan eaching across Christine to pull her skirt down, alongside the dialogue of him calmly telling her that he is going to do this. These techniques in combination have the intention of portraying Ryan as a dedicated Police officer who whilst in futile mood, molested a woman, but managed to redeem himself by pulling her from a burning car and gain himself the hero shot with the blurred burning car in the background, the sweat dripping off his face, and the triumphant music overriding all other noises. As an audience, based on the techniques Haggis has used, we are supposed to forgiveOfficer Ryan because of the new light we see him in. However, I believe that redemption takes a lot longer to attain.
Not everybody in life should have the chance to redeem themselves, because they simply can no longer be trusted, and I believe that somebody who is willing to shamelessly molest somebody because of the colour of their skin is one of those people. If you think the opposite, does this then bring to question our modern society’s ability to too easily forgive and forget? Believing in redemption is a big part of modern culture, particularly because of some of the horrid crimes ommitted nowadays, but deciding what point somebody can no longer redeem themselves from is very important in maintaining a moral and social standard in our ever-changing society.Through watching Crash we also learn about the importance of communication in our ability to get along with others. We see multiple examples of this in the film, mostly involving dialogue, and closely linked to the motif of phones. Amongst many examples of this theme throughout the film, I believe that one character in particular demonstrates to us what happens when we are unable to ommunicate with others.
Jean Cabot is a wealthy white American woman married to Rick Cabot – the LA district attorney that only thinks about how he can benefit himself, and is more than likely having an affair with his assistant, Karen. We first see Jean right before her car is hijacked, where in a long shot we see her move closer to her husband as she sees two young black males walking in the opposite direction. We see that she is uncomfortable near them and know that this is probably because of their skin colour – although she doesn’t communicate this to her husband. At one point he also rings her friend to try and tell her how she is angry all the time, and it wasn’t just the hijacking that has caused her anxiety.However her friend dismisses Jean’s cry out for help and the phone conversation ends – showing that although the motif of phones are meant to be a form of communication, they can also instigate a lack of communication which is thematic throughout the film.
One final time we see Jean is when she has realised that her anger stems from her inability to connect with others due to her high maintenance, and calls Rick. He seems to be away on ‘business’ ut is seen in a hotel lobby, with Karen. Jean tells him that she has just sprained her ankle after falling down the stairs and being knocked out, but that the housekeeper, Maria, is looking after her. Rick says ‘I love you,’ but he is looking at Karen. This gives Jean a false sense of having good communication with her husband, and although we don’t find out anything further regarding their relationship, we know that a cause of Jean’s depression is partially because of her bad relationships with others.
Overall, I believe that it makes us question how we communicate with others. It rovokes us to think about how we interact, our body language, the way we talk to others because it shows us what an extreme consequence may be if we are unable to do this competently; social isolation and depression. I honestly think that if, as a society, if we learn to talk and listen to each other then we could potentially reduce the hostile, uncooperative atmosphere that causes violence and wars. That may be rather idealistic, but we don’t know if we don’t try. A final way that we learn about ourselves through Crash is through the racial and discriminatory issues that the film brings about.
One of the ways we learn this in the film is through Anthony and Peter, two young African American guys who we first see complaining about how white people constantly stereotype them as criminals. Costuming is used to contrast the Anthony and Peter to Jean and Rick, who are walking in the opposite direction to them. Anthony and Peter are both wearing baggy clothing, which is said to be stereotypical of college students. One could say that their costume could allude to them carrying weapons, and having the ability to conceal weapons in their clothing. However, when we hear them talking about how they hate being stereotyped including hen Jean sees them and moves closer to her husband, they notice, and comment on it. – “But this white woman sees two black guys that look like UCLA students, strolling down the sidewalk, and her reaction is blind fear” – they then proceed to pull out a gun on the couple and hijack Jean and Rick’s black SUV.
Jean and Rick are wearing formal and sophisticated evening wear, which in contrast to Anthony and Peter, portrays them as wealthy and refined. By pulling out guns and hijacking the SUV, Anthony and Peter are fulfilling the stereotype that they are adamant that society has given them.This relates to the contemporary society because it makes us ask ourselves about the way we judge others; do we make our minds up about somebody on first glance? Or do we actually take time to get to know people? One thing I personally really hate about this film is how in the situation of Anthony and Peter, Haggis makes them come across as gangsters, then shows them as people that are hurt by the stereotypes given to them, an then they go and fill that stereotype by committing criminal offences. This technique of undercutting is meant to give the impression that we should lways expect to encounter surprises in life, but in my opinion, it is almost as if Haggis is teaching us that people that look dodgy, are dodgy; which does not sit right with me at all, and defeats the purpose of making a film to combat discrimination.So how does this all relate to sheep? The point I was trying to make was to question your opinion as to whether you are going to buy in to film techniques used by Paul Haggis in Crash such as camera work, dialogue and costuming.
Because in several instances they are useful, they help us question our ability to communicate with others and highlight the importance of connecting with others n our lives. They also help us evaluate our own opinions on how far one needs to go to redeem themselves – which are some key aspects of life that we need to understand. However there are some downfalls within this film: in the dismissal of wrongs, the inclinations of stereotyping and overall, the normalisation of discrimination by justifying character’s situations. I have certainly learnt a lot about myself and my opinions, good or bad, but I choose not to conform like others into believing that the normalisation of discrimination is an option, and that something still needs to be done - which is perhaps what Haggis intended.
