Crash is a drama film produced in the United States. The film’s main theme is racial and ethnic stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. It was produced and directed by Paul Haggis, and is based on a personal biographical experience of the director being carjacked outside a video store in 1991. The film takes place in Los Angeles, where eight different stories are developed over a two-day period. There is the story of a Persian immigrantwho struggles to protect his small shop from burglars,an African-American Hollywood director and his wifewho have to put up with sexual harassment by a racist policeman, a district attorney and his wife who are carjacked by two African-American teenagers,and some other interrelated stories. The plot of the film is rather unusual since it revolves around various characters that seem to be unrelated to each other in any way. However, this impression slowly dissipates in the second part of the film, when viewers begin to link all the stories with each other and see the full picture behind them. There is one general topic that all the stories have in common—social and racial tensions in Los Angeles. It is worth noting that, for most of the film, the viewer is kept in suspense and strained as the characters communicate with each other with trepidation, and at times even aggression and direct violence. The actors have successfully managed to depict their characters’ inner conflicts and struggles with their personal beliefs, as well as, social stigmas. By the end of the film, it is hard to classify any character as explicitly bad, even though there has been a lot of racism and anger expressed by some of the characters. The reason for that is because the storyline puts the characters in the kind of situations where they have to decide whether they dare to trust their intuition, in spite of some stereotypes and fears they consciously or unconsciously have, and risk their lives believing in the innate goodness of people. What I found particularly effective about Crash is the element of ambiguity in every character in the film, even the racist and cruel older police officer played by Matt Dillon, who courageously saves the life of the woman he humiliated the night before. At the end of the film, viewers are left in a kind of troubled reverie. Crash is definitely a movie worth seeing, especially because it is essential to be aware of and acknowledge those social issues that are the focus of the film. The least this movie can do is give some food for thought and some reasons to take an extrinsic look at our own stereotypes and inflexible beliefs, and possibly reconsider them, like some characters in the movie did. (Adapted from: www.academichelp.net. Accessed on January 17, 2020) In which paragraph(s) does the author provide his/her interpretation of the film?

Question

Crash is a drama film produced in the United States. The film’s main theme is racial and ethnic stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. It was produced and directed by Paul Haggis, and is based on a personal biographical experience of the director being carjacked outside a video store in 1991.

The film takes place in Los Angeles, where eight different stories are developed over a two-day period. There is the story of a Persian immigrant who struggles to protect his small shop from burglars, an African-American Hollywood director and his wife who have to put up with sexual harassment by a racist policeman, a district attorney and his wife who are carjacked by two African-American teenagers, and some other interrelated stories.

The plot of the film is rather unusual since it revolves around various characters that seem to be unrelated to each other in any way. However, this impression slowly dissipates in the second part of the film, when viewers begin to link all the stories with each other and see the full picture behind them. There is one general topic that all the stories have in common—social and racial tensions in Los Angeles.

It is worth noting that, for most of the film, the viewer is kept in suspense and strained as the characters communicate with each other with trepidation, and at times even aggression and direct violence. The actors have successfully managed to depict their characters’ inner conflicts and struggles with their personal beliefs, as well as, social stigmas. By the end of the film, it is hard to classify any character as explicitly bad, even though there has been a lot of racism and anger expressed by some of the characters. The reason for that is because the storyline puts the characters in the kind of situations where they have to decide whether they dare to trust their intuition, in spite of some stereotypes and fears they consciously or unconsciously have, and risk their lives believing in the innate goodness of people.

What I found particularly effective about Crash is the element of ambiguity in every character in the film, even the racist and cruel older police officer played by Matt Dillon, who courageously saves the life of the woman he humiliated the night before. At the end of the film, viewers are left in a kind of troubled reverie.

Crash is definitely a movie worth seeing, especially because it is essential to be aware of and acknowledge those social issues that are the focus of the film. The least this movie can do is give some food for thought and some reasons to take an extrinsic look at our own stereotypes and inflexible beliefs, and possibly reconsider them, like some characters in the movie did.

(Adapted from: www.academichelp.net. Accessed on January 17, 2020)

In which paragraph(s) does the author provide his/her interpretation of the film?

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