For those of you who have not taken the time to go see the movie “Crash,” I would like to take this time out and tell the world, or at least the readers of this column, that it is a movie worth the $6.25 student ticket price or at least a future video rental.
The movie displays vividly how Americans of different races view each other from a negative perspective.
The movie takes its audience on a twisting and turning ride as we see the issue of racial conflict taking a major toll on the lives of very different individuals.
The film’s cast is, in a word, stellar. It includes: Sandra Bullock, Brenden Frasier, Ludacris, Lorenz Tate and Don Cheadle, who picked up an Academy Award nomination for his role in “Hotel Rwanda” last year, to name a few.
“Crash” gives a difficult, but honest look inside the lives of members of different races and how their lives become connected through a car crash. The movie, set in Los Angeles, displays the harsh racial tension and stereotypes that different races face every day in America.
“Crash” gives a graphic depiction of the lives of people all the way from a calculating white politician to a kind and caring Mexican locksmith.
While taking the audience on a ride the movie sparks all of the human emotions — laughter, sadness, frustration and even anger.
One character particular character that caught my interest was Fraser’s character — the politician. He was more concerned about losing his black vote, that even the car-jacking of he and his wife was secondary in importance. This attempt to illustrate racism in politics, I felt, was truthful.
It does not take a genius to look into history to see how much the black vote has played a part in an election. You can even go as far back as 1960 when John F. Kennedy telephoned Coretta Scott King to express his sympathy after her husband, Martin Luther King, was wrongfully arrested. This was a successful attempt by Kennedy to get the black vote which many believe gave him the winning edge.
However, African Americans later found that his concern for Dr. King was more an election gimmick than a reaction borne of genuine sympathy for their issues.
I was not at all shocked with the stereotypes that were presented in this movie. Stereotypes are just another form of ignorance that we all have probably taken part in from time to time without realizing it. Like a psychology professor whom I’ve studied with in the past has said, that when people first meet him they think of him as a “dumb cajun” but as soon as he starts talking about his research they see that he is a very intellectual individual and “proceed to ask him for his gumbo recipe.”
As an African American at this University I know I feel as if I’m part of the group which is stereotyped the most on campus. Most of the time I’m right about my suspicions, but some people would rather drown in their ignorance than take the time to learn more about another race.
Although unfortunately underpublicized, “Crash” is a must see for two key reasons: It holds the audiences attention and it leaves you with something to think and talk about after the credit’s start to roll.