An In-Depth Analysis of Racial Tensions Depicted in 'Crash'

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of racial tensions as portrayed in the movie 'Crash,' directed by Paul Haggis. It explores how the film depicts the effects of race on individuals from diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, highlighting the interconnectedness of their stories and the prejudices they face. The essay examines the concept of race in contemporary American society, referencing Russell Duncan and Joseph Goddard's 'Contemporary America' to contextualize the film's themes within broader societal issues. It discusses how racial tensions arise from negative assumptions and preconceived prejudices, using examples from the film to illustrate the harmful consequences of these biases. The analysis also considers statistical data and research findings on race relations in America, concluding that 'Crash' effectively addresses stereotypes and racial topics prevalent in contemporary society, making it an educational and provocative commentary on American race relations.

Crash Movie
“An analysis of Racial Tensions in Crash movie”
Introduction

Crash movie
The crash is an award-winning film, wrote and directed by Paul Haggis in 2004. The film is
essentially about race and its effects on various people with different racial, ethical and socio-
economic background. It also demonstrates the intertwinement of different characters' stories and
the difficulties they encounter on the grounds of the prejudices they have for each other.
My main focus in this assignment deals with the race intention and its effect on American
society. Furthermore, I will examine the concepts related with the book Contemporary America
by Russell Duncan and Joseph Goddard and other sources.
Main body
In the present scenario, Society race is defined as a category of people who share certain
inherited physical characteristics. However, this definition has not always been the same. The
earliest concept of race was rather related to a group affiliation than physical treats or
appearances. A remarkable shift in the idea of race is highly noticed in the 17th and 18th century
when the colonialism, slavery and the age of enlightenment took place (Sean, 2018). The race is
considered as the complex and controversial subject in American society. In fact, Race is one of
the hot topics which dominate the contemporary American society but yet less discussed
between families and friends. According to Russell Duncan and Joseph Goddard in the book
Contemporary America, Racial clashes and tensions have persisted throughout American history
and racial equality remains a dream differed (Duncan & Goddard, 2007).
As the film's theme reveals that, the crash movie is a great demonstration of racial conflict and
tension as it shows how each character negatively stereotypes each other's race or background.
The film portrays a variety of races comprising African Americans, Hispanics, a Middle Eastern
family, and Asians. These people deal with different experiences, but a racial tension still a
common determining factor in their lives, from the way they interact with each other, the places
they live, the jobs they do, the struggles and the stereotype they face. Racial tension could
partially be a result of negative assumptions of one another on the basis of preconceived
prejudice.
One of the definitions given in the Dictionary.com is that a prejudice is unreasonable feelings,
opinions, or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature, regarding an ethnic, racial, or religious group
(Dictionary, 2018).
1

Crash movie
In the film Crash, Paul Haggis explicitly shows us how prejudices can lead to harmful
consequences and negatives effects in the society. For instance, the racial tension is seen when
Sandra Bullock manifested fear after seeing two black men, thence she grabbed her husband's
arms. The black man Anthony judged Sandra's act racist, the fact that she took her husband's
arms after she had an eye contact with them. Without naming all racial incidents, the movie
displays more than a few diverse stories that engage racial relations.
Even though different races are represented in the film, the movie deliberately appoints a racial
awareness with a major focus on the racial tension between blacks and whites. According to
Russell Duncan and Joseph Goddard, America is a society highly conscious of color, usually in
terms of black and white (Duncan & Goddard, 2007).
Duncan and Joseph Goddard continue revealing how race perception has impacted the lives of
African Americans. The poverty rate for blacks is three times that of whites, the unemployment
rate is double, and black workers make on average 78 cents (males) and 84 cents (females) for
every dollar whites make (US Census Bureau, 2002a). The number of black families headed by
single women is triple the white rate and there are more than a million African American men in
prison or on parole. Given all above, studies show that racial relations are still in the
improvement process. Also, the studies show that there is no consensus among Americans in
regards to the state of race relations. The statistics show that 61% say race relations are generally
bad while 44% say they are generally good. The negative assessment is highly noticed among
African Americans and Hispanics (Pew Research Center, 2018).
Another research conducted by YouGov shows Americans relatively have more concerns about
race relations where 51% of Americans think race relations have gotten worse under President
Trump comparably to Barack Obama's presidency. The judgment of the poor race relations
partially increased as the results of the reported police shootings of African-Americans, and the
expansion of the Black Lives Matter movement (YouGov, 2018).
Conclusion
The crash movie has proven its ability to deal with stereotypes, societal prejudices and racial
topic in contemporary America. The movie is educational, interesting but yet provocative. It
engages a topic which is still prevalent in contemporary America. Race and Racial ideology have
relatively shaped American society. Also the impact which is seen on the American people is one
2

Crash movie
of the wonders. In conclusion, I couldn't agree more with Thernstrom who stated that "Racial
progress is a train that left the station fifty years ago, and has been chugging along ever since."
References:
American history. 2018. Ideas of Race in Early America. [Online] Available from:
http://americanhistory.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-
9780199329175-e-262. [Accessed on 16th November 2018].
3

Crash movie
R.Duncan, J.Goddard. 2009. Contemporary America. 3rd ed. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
W. Booth, Washington Post. 199. [Online] Available from:
https://open.lib.umn.edu/sociology/chapter/10-2-the-meaning-of-race-and-ethnicity/. [Accessed
on 16th November 2018].
YouGov. 2018. Americans-have-more-concerns-some-hope-about-race. [Online] Available
from: https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2018/01/12/americans-have-more-
concerns-some-hope-about-race-. [Accessed on 16th November 2018].
4