Crash and cultural and social alienation in 21st Century America

Question for Discussion: How does Crash
help us understand racism and cultural
and social alienation in early 21st-century America?

Reading: McIntosh, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"; Kendall, "Understanding White Privilege"

Video: Crash (2004); "I am an American " ad;
"When I grow up I want to be " ad

Critical Reviews of Crash

Quotes:
[ first lines ]
Graham : It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.

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?
Anthony : You could be right.

Daniel : She had these little stubby wings, like she could've glued them on, you know, like I'm gonna believe she's a fairy. So she said, "I'll prove it." So she reaches into her backpack and pulls out this invisible cloak and she ties it around my neck. And she tells me that it's impenetrable. You know what impenetrable means? It means nothing can go through it. No bullets, nothing. She told me that if I wore it, nothing would hurt me. And I did. And my whole life, I never got shot, stabbed, nothing. I mean, how weird is that

Anthony : No, no, no, take that voodoo-ass thing off of there right now!
Peter : I know you just didn't call St. Christopher voodoo. Man's the patron saint of travelers, dog.
Anthony : You had a conversation with God, huh? What did God say? Go forth, my son, and leave big slobbery suction rings on every dashboard you find? Why the hell do you do that?
Peter : Look at the way your crazy ass drive, then ask me that again!

Jean : Do you want to hear something funny?
Maria : What's that Mrs. Jean?
Jean : You're the best friend I've got.
Jean : I am angry all the time... and I don't know why

Christine : I just couldn't stand see that man take away your dignity.
Cameron : [ to Anthony ] Look at me. You embarrass me. You embarrass yourself.

Graham : I swear to you, Mom. I'll find whoever killed him.
Graham's Mother : Oh, I already know who killed him. You did. I told you to find your brother, but you were too busy for us. I'll take care of everything here. You go on now. You have better things to do.

"Not many films have the possibility of making their audiences better people. I don't expect " Crash " to work any miracles, but I believe anyone seeing it is likely to be moved to have a little more sympathy for people not like themselves. The movie contains hurt, coldness and cruelty, but is it without hope? Not at all. Stand back and consider. All of these people, superficially so different, share the city and learn that they share similar fears and hopes. Until several hundred years ago, most people everywhere on earth never saw anybody who didn't look like them. They were not racist because, as far as they knew, there was only one race. You may have to look hard to see it, but " Crash " is a film about progress. "
Roger Ebert

"The principle subject matter is racism and its manifestations, and how it is often as much the result of social conditioning and anger as of hatred and intolerance. In addition to the usual white-on-black manifestation of discrimination, we are confronted with black-on-Latino, Latino-on-Asian, white-on-Middle Eastern, and other permutations. Wherever cultural differences exist, there is room for tension. However, by depicting bigoted characters as otherwise caring individuals, Crash asks us to consider the causes of racism as much as to examine its effects. In doing this, Crash sets itself apart, at least to a degree, from other, similar motion pictures. Although an expanded running time would have afforded us the opportunity to get to know the characters better, Crash is long enough to permit the film's themes to strike a responsive chord."

James Berardinelli