Crash - the cheap tricks explained.

Crash basically reduces racism to a tool of entertainment. The somewhat jeuvenile combination of surprise and co-incidence, which drives the movie, is derived not from existing stereotypes, but those created by the movie itself. Take for example, this conversation between two apparently normal and slightly dissed blacks, walking out of a cafe where they weren't served cofee:



Anthony: Look around! You couldn't find a whiter, safer or better lit part of this city. But this white woman sees two black guys, who look like UCLA students, strolling down the sidewalk and her reaction is blind fear. I mean, look at us! Are we dressed like gangbangers? Do we look threatening? No. Fact, if anybody should be scared, it's us: the only two black faces surrounded by a sea of over-caffeinated white people, patrolled by the triggerhappy LAPD. So, why aren't we scared?


Peter: Because we have guns?



The non racist audience may look a point beyond, by considering the two blacks to be normal human beings who are carjackers independant of their color, but when you actually think about it, you know for sure, that these charachters, in the film, would definately not be carjackers if it weren't for their color. The movie, imposes a general charachteristic to every race - blacks are dissed about the rampant racism, whites are stigmatized of being the opressors, and feel threatened by this, Latinos are sidenlined, and know that they aren't trusted, but try to look past it, Irianians, intrestingly, simply don't fit in and fear they will be cheated because of the lack of proficiency in english.

The movie gets a lot of things wrong - it shows, for example, that guns in LA are always used for the wrong reasons, whether by a Iranian store owner, a black carjacker, or even a police officer. I cannot speak for the people living in LA, but apparently, the movie also got the city wrong when it comes to racism. Here are lines from Crash reviews by people living in the city.




"Pretentious, maudlin, and tedious. Be careful, critics will always shower praise on a movie that "tackles the tough issues." If I hear another critic call this movie "brave," I'm going to claw my eyes out. It's not brave to sit in your mansion in Santa Monica and write about what a racist hellhole the rest of Los Angeles is. This movie is utterly phony, and its story is ridiculously contrived."

-Blecch





"This film is as crassly manipulative as it is vapid. I have my own prejudices against L.A., which I freely admit, so to combat this prejudice I will not say that this is a natural situation stemming from the location, but rather probably from the author and director."

-John Richards (Monolith 94)



This film showed that there were no non-racists. The film made it look like everyone in LA walked around so conscious of their race that every single action and every single word they spoke reflected on their sentiments, and stemmed from their racial backgrounds. There are no racists and non-racists in the movie, there are people who are openly racist (like the med lady, Shaniqua, and Matt Dillon's police char), and others who simply suppress their racism - like Brendan Fraser's char, or that of Hanson (a nice policeman who reports Dillon's racist nature to his superior), but who ends up shooting Peter, a black guy, simply out of suspicion that wouldn't have been there if it were not for his color.



The cheap stunts that the movie pulls, is the manipulation of the story line in a very clever way to impress the audience with their own inherent racism - they make the audience predict the story on the basis of race, and then go against it, as an element of surprise, leaving the audience feeling guilty. Take this exchange between Fraser and Bullock for example.



Jean: I would like the locks changed again in the morning.

Rick: You what?... Look, why don't you just go lie down, ok? Have you checked on James?

Jean: Well of course I've checked on James. I've checked on him every five minutes since we've been home. Do not patronize me. I want the locks changed again in the morning.

Rick: Shhhh. It's ok. Just go to bed, all right?

Jean: Okay, didn't I just tell you not to treat me like a child?

Maria: I'm sorry Mrs. Jean. It's okay, I go home now?

Rick: It's okay. Thank you very much for staying Maria.

Maria: You're welcome. No problem. Goodnight Mrs. Jean.

Jean: [rudely] Goodnight. I would like the locks changed again in the morning. And you know what, you might mention that next time we'd appreciate it if they didn't send a gang member...

Rick: A gang member?

Jean: Yes, yeah.

Rick: What do you mean? That kid in there?

Jean: Yea. The guy in there with the shaved head, the pants around his ass, the prison tattoos.

Rick: Oh come on. Those are not prison tattoos.

Jean: Oh really? And he's not gonna go sell our key to one of his gang banger friends the moment he's out our door?

Rick: Look, you've had a really tough night. I think it'd be best if you'd go upstairs right now and...

Jean: And what? Wait for them to break in?

[yelling]
Jean: I just had a gun pointed in my face...

Rick: You lower your voice.

Jean: [yelling] ... and it was my fault because I knew it was gonna happen. But if a white person sees two black men walking towards her and she turns and walks away, she's a racist, right? Well I got scared and I didn't do anything and ten seconds later I had a gun in my face. Now I am telling you, your amigo in there is going to sell our key to one of his homies and this time it would be really fucking great if you acted like you gave a shit!




Again, I am not alone in the belief that the moviemakers rudely manipulate the audience without the audience realizing this:



Rarely is Hollywood elitism so effective in its manipulation of the dull-normal movie going audience. I expect it from obtuse moviegoers but for the critics to unabashedly praise this patronizing, often childish approach to racism is profoundly disappointing.

-pottz1.



The movie is sad because it wants to make you believe that every single conflict occors because of race and racism, and then, goes a step further by working the other way around and giving a racial flavor to conflicts that are totally not racial in nature - like the standoff between the Iranian store owner and the Latino locksmith.



The movie is brilliant because it effectively does what it intends to do, portray the explosive situations that come about because of the varied psychological responses to situations, originating because of the race. This brilliance is NOT to be appreciated, because this reduces racism, as I said, to a tool of entertainment, and reinforces the stereotypes. The movie is not only racist to the core, it disturbingly suggests that race itself is the origin of racism, instead of social conditioning. It puts racism across as a problem that stems from the different thought processes of different races instead of one that stems from a simple lack of tolerance, on a basis of race. Like someone who changes locks "just to be safe" - utterly stupid, irrational and unnecessary. An effort that should not be appreciated or applauded.