History and Democracy: This class blog will be used for all communication. All homework will be posted here and all online class discussions.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Due Block Day 2/8 or 2/9
CRASH REFLECTION - Typed
Choose two characters.What traits did the movie bring out about them?How did the stereotypes turn out to be incorrect?What methods were used to teach us that we cannot judge others by their race or ethnicity?What does the movie suggest about the nature of stereotyping others?Use examples from the movie Crash to back up your opinions.Two paragraphs.
15 comments:
Turquoise 4/5
said...
Ryan’s verbal abuse of Shaniqua, a black case manager at an insurance company. She bears Ryan’s racism with dignity as he dumps his frustration with the insurance company’s rules about care of his father onto her, in the form of an angry and ignorant rant against affirmative action. She is empathetic with Ryan’s struggle but unwilling to accept his abuse, appearing to be one of the few reasonable characters in the film. But not for long. In a key moment at the end of the film, Shaniqua is rear-ended at a traffic light and emerges from her car angry at the Asian driver who has hit her. “Don’t talk to me unless you speak American,” she shouts at the driver. The movie brought out traits for each of them with regards to not wanting to be racially profiled themselves, but then being hypocritical and profiling others without any just reason. Ryan’s stereotype of being a really mean police officer are changed when he goes to visit his sick father in the hospital, there, compassion is shown and we have to feel sorry for him. Not to say his actions are justified by this, but it lets the viewers know where he is coming from and why he has so much hate for other people built up inside him. The methods that were used to teach us that we can’t judge others by race or ethnicity was shown when the supposed “gangsters” were walking down the street and the white people would quickly move aside from them because they though they were in danger just because of how they were dressed. When really, those men were not bad people, it was only because of how they were stereotyped as black males and their mannerism that people were timid around them. In dealing with the nature of stereotyping others, the movie suggests that it is second nature. Just like breathing, we naturally do it when we first see someone. Based on what we know and what we hear from others, it is so easy to stereotype, especially when you know other people are looking at you and doing the same thing.
Cameron the movie director was stereotyped in the beginning of the movie when they thought he stole a car when it wasn't him but Officer Ryan the police officer thought it was just because he was black. When he pulled him over he found out that it wasn't him. So Cameron was portrayed as an black individual who looked like he could be a thief but in reality he was a successful movie director. Christine was Cameron wife who was sexually abused by Officer Ryan which made her think of him as a dangerous men but when it came down to him doing his job he saved her life but at first she didn't feel comfortable with him helping her since the incident that happened in the beginning. Officer Ryan was portrayed as a racist men but he really wasn't he was doing his job and worried about his sick father.
Methods that were used to teach us that we can't judge others by there ethnicity group was shown a lot in the movie "Crash" especially when the white people were moving closer together when Anthony and Peter was walking around in a white neighborhood. It was also shown when the foreign guy was trying to buy a gun and ammo for his security at his job but the white store clerk wouldn't let him buy it but instead let his daughter buy it. Another time was when the Mexican was fixing the door of Elizabeth and she was saying he was going to make an extra key so he could still from them but he wasn't. The movie suggest that the nature of stereotyping is wrong and that you can't judge a book by its cover no matter race, religion, or any other factor.
The Mexican locksmith was an honest man who is hard working and loves his daughter. When fixes the Persian man’s lock he suggests that he should get a new door or his store may get broken into. The Persian man just assumes that the Mexican man is trying to cheat him out of money and he yells at him and is extremely racist. That night, the store gets broken into, and again because the locksmith is Mexican, the Persian man assumes that he was involved. The Persian man is wrong in his perception of the locksmith because he is nothing like a stereotypical Mexican, he works hard, enjoys his job, and does not cheat anyone. Ludacris’ character is displayed as a gangster who robs people. He is looked at as a stereotypical black man. He is dishonest and in the movie he makes Sandra Bullock uncomfortable just because he is black. It turns out that Sandra Bullock should have been nervous when he robs her car. He is thought to be illiterate and ghetto, but he is actually pretty intelligent and just trying to survive. At the end, he shows great compassion when he saves all of the Asians in the back of the car that he finds instead of selling them, like we were supposed to assume. The movie suggests that the nature of stereotyping comes from hate and not from actual truth. Methods that were used to teach us that we cannot judge based on race or ethnicity were irony, such as when we thought Ludacris would sell the Asians, but he saved them instead.
One character in the movie is the Mexican- American locksmith who is discriminated against. The movie brought out that he is a very hard working man who is just trying to do the job that he has set out to do so that he can take care of his daughter and wife to the best of his ability. The wife, Jean, ordered her husband to get the locks replaced after the Mexican locksmith fixed them all because she thought that he was going to break in. Another stereotype was that he just wanted to cheat people out of money by telling the gun storeowner that he needed a new door after he fixed the lock. The owner thought that the door was fine and that the locksmith just wanted more money. The method used to show that we cannot judge by their race or ethnicity is by showing his whole life in that he is trying to just take care of his daughter because he loves her to death, and she loves him back, which is why she jumped on him at the end of the movie. This movie suggests that many people just stereotype without thinking. For example, Jean automatically assumed that the black men were going to steal her car. This stereotyping also shows how stereotyping got to what it is. People who get bad things done to them, like when the black men stole her car, they automatically assume that black people and people of different races are different in a bad way. For example, if a black person stole someone’s money in plain sight, that person could then turn and say that from then on, it will be a black person’s fault everytime they get their money stolen. That is what I think about the movie Crash, and all of the stereotypes in it.
One character in the movie that seemed to be influenced by negative stereotypes was Officer Hanson, the policeman who was partners with the cop that molested the girl on the side of the road. Officer Hanson started out in the movie as one who believed that all were the same, and he did not seem to have racist thoughts. As the movie progressed, he even abandoned his partner to be in a less racist environment. Towards the end of the movie though, he picked up a hitchhiker and then shot him when he started to pull out something that could've resembled a gun, but was just a figure that Officer Hanson had glued to his dashboard. This example shows that one cannot judge others by their race or ethnicity. In this example, Officer Hanson thought the black man was pulling out a gun and then shot him when really he wanted to show him something he had in common. Officer Hanson's racist thoughts led to his nervousness and to him getting bent out of shape, and this all led to him killing Peter, the hitchhiker. That is one of many examples why you should not categorize people by stereotypes.
The Mexican locksmith is another person targeted in the movie with racism. He is first seen changing the locks on Sandra Bullock's house in the movie and he appears to be working hard. While he is working, he overhears Sandra saying how she wants to change the locks in the morning because this Mexican, who has tattoos, is going to break in with his gang. He continues to finish his work and then returns the keys to Sandra. You later find out that in the movie, he has a young daughter and he has a very loving family, including a wife. They had moved into a better neighborhood to avoid crime. He was nothing of what Sandra's stereotype had earlier suggested, and this is an example of why you cannot label someone based on a stereotype that applies to every person in an entire race.
The two characters in which I would like to talk about is The Mexican locksmith and Sandra Bullock’s character; the wife of a Caucasian politician. The Mexican locksmith is a hardworking, loyal, honest man who is stereotyped because he is Mexican. In the beginning of the film, Sandra Bullock’s character and her husband get robbed by two African Americans who take their truck leaving them stranded. So terrified by what happened, when they get home her husband hires the Mexican locksmith to change the locks on their doors. Noticeably irritated and uncomfortable about the locksmith being Mexican, she demands that her husband change the locks again the next day because she suggest that he will sell the extra keys to his friends who will break into her house. The Mexican locksmith proves her wrong by placing the keys right next to her when he leaves. He is also stereotyped by the Persian man who owns the store. The Persian man thinks that the Mexican locksmith is trying to cheat him out of money when the locksmith told him that he needed a new door and not just a new lock. The locksmith and the store owner have a little debate and eventually the locksmith leaves and charges the owner nothing. The next day the store gets broken into and the Persian store owner automatically assumes that it is the Mexican man who has done it, so he tries to retaliate, luckily he fails. The stereotypes about him were proven to be wrong throughout the movie. Sandra Bullock’s character was not one to be stereotyped, but she did stereotype other characters in the film. She stereotyped the two black males in the beginning who stole her car, and also the Mexican locksmith. Although she did stereotype the two black males and were right about them, she soon found out that you cannot stereotype everyone because the Mexican locksmith proved her wrong.
The method that was used to teach us that we cannot judge others by race or ethnicity was that they took many races and ethnicities and they gave them characteristics of which people stereotype them as, for example the two black African American males, they played the role as trouble makers, thieves, no job, etc. because that’s what people stereotype them the most as when they think of African American males. But on the other hand, they switched it up when it came to the Mexican locksmith, the filmmakers did just the opposite. With the Mexican locksmith they made him, loyal, nice, honest, he was a good guy. But people usually don’t associate Mexicans to be like that, people think them to be what the characters thought the locksmith to be in the movie, the complete opposite. They used this with all of the other cast members too, some took roles as what many stereotype them as and others were the opposite. This showed that you can not judge people by what their ethnicity or race, because the stereotypes are not always right. What the movie suggested about stereotyping others is that just because you hear others stereotyping, or that the majority of the people who are that race or ethnicity, does in fact give you reason to believe that all of the people of that race or ethnicity is that way, doesn’t mean that it is true, you shouldn’t judge someone off of what they look like, but by who they are.
The first character in the movie CRASH was a white police officer named Officer Hanson who was influenced by the other cop the had sexually assaulted a black women. The cop was not racist at all instead he believe that we should all be treated equally no mater the race or religion. His thoughts on racism did cross his brain for one minute when the racist cop pulled over the young black couple in the navigator. He hated his partner and complained about him, so he switched partners because he didn't like that his partner was racist. When he switched partners, his old partner told him something that probably changed his mind about his view towards black people. At the end of the movie he picked up a black hitchhiker, Peter, who needed a ride somewhere. During all this talk Officer Hanson got mad and told him that he was dropping him off on the side of the rode and that he could find his own ride somewhere. Peter puts up a hassle and starts arguing with Officer Hanson, than starts to pull out something in his pocket. Quick to assume that Peter had a gun the officer shot him. He did this because he started to believe his old partners stereotype and thought he was about to pull out a gun and kill him. This should teach people that you should not judge someone and that you should get to know them before making any assumptions. The second character I would like to talk about from the movie CRASH is the character of Officer Ryan. This character pulled over a black male for driving while black. The other cop Officer Hanson, a non-racist cop didn't really have a reason to pull them over but instead just stayed in the car because its was not right. As this scene goes on Officer Ryan is sexually harassing the movie directors wife. When he is about to arrest them the other officer comes up and knows they did nothing wrong and that they were just black, that's the reason why Officer Ryan pulled them over. A couple scenes later that same girls gets into a bad car accident. Officer Ryan come to save her but she doesn't want to be touched by the cop that pulled that over for nothing and had molested her. The cop realizes who it is and has a change of heart and saves the women. The women thanks him. Through these examples of the movie, everyone is quick to stereotype someone even if you don’t think you are. Its okay we as people are stereotyping people left and right. We just have to learn not to listen to others stereotypes and actually get to know someone.
Two characters that stereotyped others incorrectly were Sandra Bullock's character and the older white cop. Sandra felt that she wasn't at fault for stereotyping others because of the incident she was in at the start of the movie. Initially she felt that she was wrong for feeling uncomfortable around the two African american males on the street thinking they were up to no good. However, eventually, she felt justified in her thoughts. Her situation forced her to believe that her perceptions of other races were correct. Unfortunately these perceptions made her live a paranoid life and she couldn't have a peace of mind. She offended several people that were trying to help her like the Latino locksmith. And eventually she came to find that people that she held low esteems for, like her maid, were the ones that had her best interest in mind. The older white cop in the movie let stereotyping get in the way of improving the health of his father. He chose to blame all African Americans for his father's financial misfortunes. With that thought set in mind he treated Shaniqua Johnson with total disrespect and consequently lost a chance at getting treatment for his father. If he had spoken to her with the respect a human being should ultimately receive, she would have heard him out and possibly given him what he wanted.
This movie suggests that the nature of stereotyping others can ironically hurt you more than the person you stereotype. We can see this play out in Sandra's and the white cop's situation. Sandra ended up wasting money on several locksmiths and the white cop ended up having to watch his father suffer. We come to see that such irrational thoughts and assumptions of a person's character based on the color of their skin can bring out the worst in people.
Two characters that were discriminated against in Crash were the Mexican locksmith and the black man who liked hockey. The Mexican was a hard working man and was discriminated against because he was looked at as a gang member. His daughter almost paid the price of being shot just because a Muslim thought that he robbed his store. The Mexican would not have been thought as a gang member if he were white. The black man who was Ludacris' friend was just along for the ride. He ended up being shot because a white cop thought he was reaching for a gun when he was actually just reaching for a little man in his pocket to show the cop that they both had the same thing. Also, the black man liked hockey which Ludacris made fun of him for because black people aren't supposed to like hockey.
The methods that were used to teach us that we cannot judge others by their race or ethnicity are that if you stereotype, you can cost people their lives. The movie suggests that stereotyping others is bad and good at the same time. Sometimes stereotypes can be right and sometimes they can be wrong.
The Persian storeowner thinks of the Mexican lock repairman as a cheating man who’s trying to earn extra money by telling him that the door was broken. The truth was that he is a hard working man who wants to provide for his wife and daughter. He has no ill will towards the storeowner, he was just trying to help him by telling him that the door was broken. When the store is broken into later that night, the storeowner assumes that the lock repairman was involved. The stereotype that he was not an honest worker was very wrong, as he turned out to be an honest man who cares deeply for his family. Another character that is discriminated against for his race is Peter Waters. When he is picked up on the side of the road by the white cop he his harshly discriminated against for the color of his skin. Because he is black, the officer assumed that Waters was reaching for a gun when he put his hand in his coat and the officer shot him before he could see that Waters was just pulling out the same figure that was on the dashboard of the car. A less significant incident, but a stereotype all the same, was when Waters said that he liked hockey and nobody believed him because he is a black man. By showing that many of the characters were judged unfairly and showing that they were not the people that others saw them as shows the viewers that assuming stereotypes belong to certain people is a very narrow way to look at the world. The movie suggests that it is unfair to judge people based on their race and doing so will give you a false impression of who that person is. This movie taught me that you should judge people based on their actions rather than their race, because it was very clear that all races are capable of doing bad things as well as good things. People will act badly because they are bad people, not because they belong to a particular race.
One character was the hispanic locksmith, who was stereotyped by the white women as a gang member. In actuality he was a caring father and an honest person. He was stereotyped because of his ethnicity and his tattoos. The women assumed because he was a young hispanic man with tattoos that he was a criminal and a gang member. This shows that you cannot judge a book by its cover because even though he looked dangerous he was actually a good, honest person and father.
Another missed judged character was the young black man, who was shot because he was thought to be pulling out a gun. The young man was stereotyped as a violent person, who probably had a gun because of the color of his skin. In reality he was just pulling out a statue that was the same as the one that the white man who shot him had. He was not going to harm the white man, but because he was black he was shot and killed.
The first character that really stood out to me was Officer John Ryan. At the first look the viewers meet a racist officer who violates an innocent women during a traffic stop. Ryan is seen as a antagonist throughout the whole story, but the writer progressively introduces the viewer to more of his background story. We learn that he has a very sick father and we also find that his racism is rooted in something much deeper than simply not liking black people. Officer Ryan believes, and maybe it is the reason, that affirmative action destroyed his fathers company and a left him alone and broke. At the end the movie, even though he is seen as somewhat of an evil character, he becomes a hero when he pulls the same women who violated, out of a burning car. Despite the way he feels towards African Americans Officer Ryan shows that at the end of the day he wasn’t going to let that feeling be the reason an innocent women dies. The next character that stood out to me was the maid, Maria. Maria is a Hispanic women who works for Jean Cabot. Jean in a way groups Maria with all other Hispanics. She doesn’t treat Maria as an equal, she treats her as if she is lower than herself, she is demanding, and she is somewhat disrespectful of her. Jean never tries to get to know Maria or accept her for who she is. when Jean falls down the stairs the person who she thought was her friend won’t even come pick her up because she is getting a massage but Maria goes out of her way to help Jean. I though it was a real break through when Jeans tells Maria that she is her true best friend. Maria is a loving and caring women and the fact that Jean is white doesn’t change that. Often time was pick the people we associate with based on their occupation, their money, and their color, instead of trying to associate ourselves with people who are overall good human beings.
The first character that really stood out to me was Officer John Ryan. At the first look the viewers meet a racist officer who violates an innocent women during a traffic stop. Ryan is seen as a antagonist throughout the whole story, but the writer progressively introduces the viewer to more of his background story. We learn that he has a very sick father and we also find that his racism is rooted in something much deeper than simply not liking black people. Officer Ryan believes, and maybe it is the reason, that affirmative action destroyed his fathers company and a left him alone and broke. At the end the movie, even though he is seen as somewhat of an evil character, he becomes a hero when he pulls the same women who violated, out of a burning car. Despite the way he feels towards African Americans Officer Ryan shows that at the end of the day he wasn’t going to let that feeling be the reason an innocent women dies. The next character that stood out to me was the maid, Maria. Maria is a Hispanic women who works for Jean Cabot. Jean in a way groups Maria with all other Hispanics. She doesn’t treat Maria as an equal, she treats her as if she is lower than herself, she is demanding, and she is somewhat disrespectful of her. Jean never tries to get to know Maria or accept her for who she is. when Jean falls down the stairs the person who she thought was her friend won’t even come pick her up because she is getting a massage but Maria goes out of her way to help Jean. I though it was a real break through when Jeans tells Maria that she is her true best friend. Maria is a loving and caring women and the fact that Jean is white doesn’t change that. Often time was pick the people we associate with based on their occupation, their money, and their color, instead of trying to associate ourselves with people who are overall good human beings.
The first character that really stood out to me was Officer John Ryan. He decides to pull over two innocent African-Americans despite knowing that they were innocent due to his partner telling him. He told the two innocent people to step out of their vehicle and began to violate the man's wife. This led to her husband believing that he didn't do the right thing when he refused to stop the officer. Another character that stood out is the Hispanic man. He tries to fix the middle eastern man's shop, but he is then criticized for not fixing the door. After the shop was vandalized, the Hispanic man was automatically blamed, even though there was no proof that he did it. This leads to the middle eastern man getting his handgun and fortunately shooting a blank at the daughter. The movie Crash just shows that you shouldn't judge people no matter what without getting to know them first.
The character in the novel that suprised me most was the one Ludicris played. At the beginning he was interested in stealing cars and getting paid. By the end though he didn't care so much about the money and cared more about doing the right thing. That can be seen when he could have made a lot of money from the illegal immigrants in the back of the white van. Inatead he chose to do the humane thing and let them go. Also I liked how the hispanic guy changes. He was so set on getting revenge on the guy who he was changing locks for. He realized his prioritiy is his family though when the persian guy came and his daughter stepped in to "save him". I think this had a big influence on him because he realized that his daughter could have died due to his stupidity.
15 comments:
Ryan’s verbal abuse of Shaniqua, a black case manager at an insurance company. She bears Ryan’s racism with dignity as he dumps his frustration with the insurance company’s rules about care of his father onto her, in the form of an angry and ignorant rant against affirmative action. She is empathetic with Ryan’s struggle but unwilling to accept his abuse, appearing to be one of the few reasonable characters in the film. But not for long. In a key moment at the end of the film, Shaniqua is rear-ended at a traffic light and emerges from her car angry at the Asian driver who has hit her. “Don’t talk to me unless you speak American,” she shouts at the driver. The movie brought out traits for each of them with regards to not wanting to be racially profiled themselves, but then being hypocritical and profiling others without any just reason. Ryan’s stereotype of being a really mean police officer are changed when he goes to visit his sick father in the hospital, there, compassion is shown and we have to feel sorry for him. Not to say his actions are justified by this, but it lets the viewers know where he is coming from and why he has so much hate for other people built up inside him.
The methods that were used to teach us that we can’t judge others by race or ethnicity was shown when the supposed “gangsters” were walking down the street and the white people would quickly move aside from them because they though they were in danger just because of how they were dressed. When really, those men were not bad people, it was only because of how they were stereotyped as black males and their mannerism that people were timid around them. In dealing with the nature of stereotyping others, the movie suggests that it is second nature. Just like breathing, we naturally do it when we first see someone. Based on what we know and what we hear from others, it is so easy to stereotype, especially when you know other people are looking at you and doing the same thing.
MJ 4/5
Cameron the movie director was stereotyped in the beginning of the movie when they thought he stole a car when it wasn't him but Officer Ryan the police officer thought it was just because he was black. When he pulled him over he found out that it wasn't him. So Cameron was portrayed as an black individual who looked like he could be a thief but in reality he was a successful movie director. Christine was Cameron wife who was sexually abused by Officer Ryan which made her think of him as a dangerous men but when it came down to him doing his job he saved her life but at first she didn't feel comfortable with him helping her since the incident that happened in the beginning. Officer Ryan was portrayed as a racist men but he really wasn't he was doing his job and worried about his sick father.
Methods that were used to teach us that we can't judge others by there ethnicity group was shown a lot in the movie "Crash" especially when the white people were moving closer together when Anthony and Peter was walking around in a white neighborhood. It was also shown when the foreign guy was trying to buy a gun and ammo for his security at his job but the white store clerk wouldn't let him buy it but instead let his daughter buy it. Another time was when the Mexican was fixing the door of Elizabeth and she was saying he was going to make an extra key so he could still from them but he wasn't. The movie suggest that the nature of stereotyping is wrong and that you can't judge a book by its cover no matter race, religion, or any other factor.
The Mexican locksmith was an honest man who is hard working and loves his daughter. When fixes the Persian man’s lock he suggests that he should get a new door or his store may get broken into. The Persian man just assumes that the Mexican man is trying to cheat him out of money and he yells at him and is extremely racist. That night, the store gets broken into, and again because the locksmith is Mexican, the Persian man assumes that he was involved. The Persian man is wrong in his perception of the locksmith because he is nothing like a stereotypical Mexican, he works hard, enjoys his job, and does not cheat anyone.
Ludacris’ character is displayed as a gangster who robs people. He is looked at as a stereotypical black man. He is dishonest and in the movie he makes Sandra Bullock uncomfortable just because he is black. It turns out that Sandra Bullock should have been nervous when he robs her car. He is thought to be illiterate and ghetto, but he is actually pretty intelligent and just trying to survive. At the end, he shows great compassion when he saves all of the Asians in the back of the car that he finds instead of selling them, like we were supposed to assume.
The movie suggests that the nature of stereotyping comes from hate and not from actual truth. Methods that were used to teach us that we cannot judge based on race or ethnicity were irony, such as when we thought Ludacris would sell the Asians, but he saved them instead.
One character in the movie is the Mexican- American locksmith who is discriminated against. The movie brought out that he is a very hard working man who is just trying to do the job that he has set out to do so that he can take care of his daughter and wife to the best of his ability. The wife, Jean, ordered her husband to get the locks replaced after the Mexican locksmith fixed them all because she thought that he was going to break in. Another stereotype was that he just wanted to cheat people out of money by telling the gun storeowner that he needed a new door after he fixed the lock. The owner thought that the door was fine and that the locksmith just wanted more money. The method used to show that we cannot judge by their race or ethnicity is by showing his whole life in that he is trying to just take care of his daughter because he loves her to death, and she loves him back, which is why she jumped on him at the end of the movie.
This movie suggests that many people just stereotype without thinking. For example, Jean automatically assumed that the black men were going to steal her car. This stereotyping also shows how stereotyping got to what it is. People who get bad things done to them, like when the black men stole her car, they automatically assume that black people and people of different races are different in a bad way. For example, if a black person stole someone’s money in plain sight, that person could then turn and say that from then on, it will be a black person’s fault everytime they get their money stolen. That is what I think about the movie Crash, and all of the stereotypes in it.
One character in the movie that seemed to be influenced by negative stereotypes was Officer Hanson, the policeman who was partners with the cop that molested the girl on the side of the road. Officer Hanson started out in the movie as one who believed that all were the same, and he did not seem to have racist thoughts. As the movie progressed, he even abandoned his partner to be in a less racist environment. Towards the end of the movie though, he picked up a hitchhiker and then shot him when he started to pull out something that could've resembled a gun, but was just a figure that Officer Hanson had glued to his dashboard. This example shows that one cannot judge others by their race or ethnicity. In this example, Officer Hanson thought the black man was pulling out a gun and then shot him when really he wanted to show him something he had in common. Officer Hanson's racist thoughts led to his nervousness and to him getting bent out of shape, and this all led to him killing Peter, the hitchhiker. That is one of many examples why you should not categorize people by stereotypes.
The Mexican locksmith is another person targeted in the movie with racism. He is first seen changing the locks on Sandra Bullock's house in the movie and he appears to be working hard. While he is working, he overhears Sandra saying how she wants to change the locks in the morning because this Mexican, who has tattoos, is going to break in with his gang. He continues to finish his work and then returns the keys to Sandra. You later find out that in the movie, he has a young daughter and he has a very loving family, including a wife. They had moved into a better neighborhood to avoid crime. He was nothing of what Sandra's stereotype had earlier suggested, and this is an example of why you cannot label someone based on a stereotype that applies to every person in an entire race.
The two characters in which I would like to talk about is The Mexican locksmith and Sandra Bullock’s character; the wife of a Caucasian politician. The Mexican locksmith is a hardworking, loyal, honest man who is stereotyped because he is Mexican. In the beginning of the film, Sandra Bullock’s character and her husband get robbed by two African Americans who take their truck leaving them stranded. So terrified by what happened, when they get home her husband hires the Mexican locksmith to change the locks on their doors. Noticeably irritated and uncomfortable about the locksmith being Mexican, she demands that her husband change the locks again the next day because she suggest that he will sell the extra keys to his friends who will break into her house. The Mexican locksmith proves her wrong by placing the keys right next to her when he leaves. He is also stereotyped by the Persian man who owns the store. The Persian man thinks that the Mexican locksmith is trying to cheat him out of money when the locksmith told him that he needed a new door and not just a new lock. The locksmith and the store owner have a little debate and eventually the locksmith leaves and charges the owner nothing. The next day the store gets broken into and the Persian store owner automatically assumes that it is the Mexican man who has done it, so he tries to retaliate, luckily he fails. The stereotypes about him were proven to be wrong throughout the movie. Sandra Bullock’s character was not one to be stereotyped, but she did stereotype other characters in the film. She stereotyped the two black males in the beginning who stole her car, and also the Mexican locksmith. Although she did stereotype the two black males and were right about them, she soon found out that you cannot stereotype everyone because the Mexican locksmith proved her wrong.
The method that was used to teach us that we cannot judge others by race or ethnicity was that they took many races and ethnicities and they gave them characteristics of which people stereotype them as, for example the two black African American males, they played the role as trouble makers, thieves, no job, etc. because that’s what people stereotype them the most as when they think of African American males. But on the other hand, they switched it up when it came to the Mexican locksmith, the filmmakers did just the opposite. With the Mexican locksmith they made him, loyal, nice, honest, he was a good guy. But people usually don’t associate Mexicans to be like that, people think them to be what the characters thought the locksmith to be in the movie, the complete opposite. They used this with all of the other cast members too, some took roles as what many stereotype them as and others were the opposite. This showed that you can not judge people by what their ethnicity or race, because the stereotypes are not always right. What the movie suggested about stereotyping others is that just because you hear others stereotyping, or that the majority of the people who are that race or ethnicity, does in fact give you reason to believe that all of the people of that race or ethnicity is that way, doesn’t mean that it is true, you shouldn’t judge someone off of what they look like, but by who they are.
The first character in the movie CRASH was a white police officer named Officer Hanson who was influenced by the other cop the had sexually assaulted a black women. The cop was not racist at all instead he believe that we should all be treated equally no mater the race or religion. His thoughts on racism did cross his brain for one minute when the racist cop pulled over the young black couple in the navigator. He hated his partner and complained about him, so he switched partners because he didn't like that his partner was racist. When he switched partners, his old partner told him something that probably changed his mind about his view towards black people. At the end of the movie he picked up a black hitchhiker, Peter, who needed a ride somewhere. During all this talk Officer Hanson got mad and told him that he was dropping him off on the side of the rode and that he could find his own ride somewhere. Peter puts up a hassle and starts arguing with Officer Hanson, than starts to pull out something in his pocket. Quick to assume that Peter had a gun the officer shot him. He did this because he started to believe his old partners stereotype and thought he was about to pull out a gun and kill him. This should teach people that you should not judge someone and that you should get to know them before making any assumptions.
The second character I would like to talk about from the movie CRASH is the character of Officer Ryan. This character pulled over a black male for driving while black. The other cop Officer Hanson, a non-racist cop didn't really have a reason to pull them over but instead just stayed in the car because its was not right. As this scene goes on Officer Ryan is sexually harassing the movie directors wife. When he is about to arrest them the other officer comes up and knows they did nothing wrong and that they were just black, that's the reason why Officer Ryan pulled them over. A couple scenes later that same girls gets into a bad car accident. Officer Ryan come to save her but she doesn't want to be touched by the cop that pulled that over for nothing and had molested her. The cop realizes who it is and has a change of heart and saves the women. The women thanks him.
Through these examples of the movie, everyone is quick to stereotype someone even if you don’t think you are. Its okay we as people are stereotyping people left and right. We just have to learn not to listen to others stereotypes and actually get to know someone.
Two characters that stereotyped others incorrectly were Sandra Bullock's character and the older white cop. Sandra felt that she wasn't at fault for stereotyping others because of the incident she was in at the start of the movie. Initially she felt that she was wrong for feeling uncomfortable around the two African american males on the street thinking they were up to no good. However, eventually, she felt justified in her thoughts. Her situation forced her to believe that her perceptions of other races were correct. Unfortunately these perceptions made her live a paranoid life and she couldn't have a peace of mind. She offended several people that were trying to help her like the Latino locksmith. And eventually she came to find that people that she held low esteems for, like her maid, were the ones that had her best interest in mind. The older white cop in the movie let stereotyping get in the way of improving the health of his father. He chose to blame all African Americans for his father's financial misfortunes. With that thought set in mind he treated Shaniqua Johnson with total disrespect and consequently lost a chance at getting treatment for his father. If he had spoken to her with the respect a human being should ultimately receive, she would have heard him out and possibly given him what he wanted.
This movie suggests that the nature of stereotyping others can ironically hurt you more than the person you stereotype. We can see this play out in Sandra's and the white cop's situation. Sandra ended up wasting money on several locksmiths and the white cop ended up having to watch his father suffer. We come to see that such irrational thoughts and assumptions of a person's character based on the color of their skin can bring out the worst in people.
Two characters that were discriminated against in Crash were the Mexican locksmith and the black man who liked hockey. The Mexican was a hard working man and was discriminated against because he was looked at as a gang member. His daughter almost paid the price of being shot just because a Muslim thought that he robbed his store. The Mexican would not have been thought as a gang member if he were white. The black man who was Ludacris' friend was just along for the ride. He ended up being shot because a white cop thought he was reaching for a gun when he was actually just reaching for a little man in his pocket to show the cop that they both had the same thing. Also, the black man liked hockey which Ludacris made fun of him for because black people aren't supposed to like hockey.
The methods that were used to teach us that we cannot judge others by their race or ethnicity are that if you stereotype, you can cost people their lives. The movie suggests that stereotyping others is bad and good at the same time. Sometimes stereotypes can be right and sometimes they can be wrong.
The Persian storeowner thinks of the Mexican lock repairman as a cheating man who’s trying to earn extra money by telling him that the door was broken. The truth was that he is a hard working man who wants to provide for his wife and daughter. He has no ill will towards the storeowner, he was just trying to help him by telling him that the door was broken. When the store is broken into later that night, the storeowner assumes that the lock repairman was involved. The stereotype that he was not an honest worker was very wrong, as he turned out to be an honest man who cares deeply for his family. Another character that is discriminated against for his race is Peter Waters. When he is picked up on the side of the road by the white cop he his harshly discriminated against for the color of his skin. Because he is black, the officer assumed that Waters was reaching for a gun when he put his hand in his coat and the officer shot him before he could see that Waters was just pulling out the same figure that was on the dashboard of the car. A less significant incident, but a stereotype all the same, was when Waters said that he liked hockey and nobody believed him because he is a black man.
By showing that many of the characters were judged unfairly and showing that they were not the people that others saw them as shows the viewers that assuming stereotypes belong to certain people is a very narrow way to look at the world. The movie suggests that it is unfair to judge people based on their race and doing so will give you a false impression of who that person is. This movie taught me that you should judge people based on their actions rather than their race, because it was very clear that all races are capable of doing bad things as well as good things. People will act badly because they are bad people, not because they belong to a particular race.
One character was the hispanic locksmith, who was stereotyped by the white women as a gang member. In actuality he was a caring father and an honest person. He was stereotyped because of his ethnicity and his tattoos. The women assumed because he was a young hispanic man with tattoos that he was a criminal and a gang member. This shows that you cannot judge a book by its cover because even though he looked dangerous he was actually a good, honest person and father.
Another missed judged character was the young black man, who was shot because he was thought to be pulling out a gun. The young man was stereotyped as a violent person, who probably had a gun because of the color of his skin. In reality he was just pulling out a statue that was the same as the one that the white man who shot him had. He was not going to harm the white man, but because he was black he was shot and killed.
Crash Reflections
The first character that really stood out to me was Officer John Ryan. At the first look the viewers meet a racist officer who violates an innocent women during a traffic stop. Ryan is seen as a antagonist throughout the whole story, but the writer progressively introduces the viewer to more of his background story. We learn that he has a very sick father and we also find that his racism is rooted in something much deeper than simply not liking black people. Officer Ryan believes, and maybe it is the reason, that affirmative action destroyed his fathers company and a left him alone and broke. At the end the movie, even though he is seen as somewhat of an evil character, he becomes a hero when he pulls the same women who violated, out of a burning car. Despite the way he feels towards African Americans Officer Ryan shows that at the end of the day he wasn’t going to let that feeling be the reason an innocent women dies.
The next character that stood out to me was the maid, Maria. Maria is a Hispanic women who works for Jean Cabot. Jean in a way groups Maria with all other Hispanics. She doesn’t treat Maria as an equal, she treats her as if she is lower than herself, she is demanding, and she is somewhat disrespectful of her. Jean never tries to get to know Maria or accept her for who she is. when Jean falls down the stairs the person who she thought was her friend won’t even come pick her up because she is getting a massage but Maria goes out of her way to help Jean. I though it was a real break through when Jeans tells Maria that she is her true best friend. Maria is a loving and caring women and the fact that Jean is white doesn’t change that. Often time was pick the people we associate with based on their occupation, their money, and their color, instead of trying to associate ourselves with people who are overall good human beings.
Crash Reflections
The first character that really stood out to me was Officer John Ryan. At the first look the viewers meet a racist officer who violates an innocent women during a traffic stop. Ryan is seen as a antagonist throughout the whole story, but the writer progressively introduces the viewer to more of his background story. We learn that he has a very sick father and we also find that his racism is rooted in something much deeper than simply not liking black people. Officer Ryan believes, and maybe it is the reason, that affirmative action destroyed his fathers company and a left him alone and broke. At the end the movie, even though he is seen as somewhat of an evil character, he becomes a hero when he pulls the same women who violated, out of a burning car. Despite the way he feels towards African Americans Officer Ryan shows that at the end of the day he wasn’t going to let that feeling be the reason an innocent women dies.
The next character that stood out to me was the maid, Maria. Maria is a Hispanic women who works for Jean Cabot. Jean in a way groups Maria with all other Hispanics. She doesn’t treat Maria as an equal, she treats her as if she is lower than herself, she is demanding, and she is somewhat disrespectful of her. Jean never tries to get to know Maria or accept her for who she is. when Jean falls down the stairs the person who she thought was her friend won’t even come pick her up because she is getting a massage but Maria goes out of her way to help Jean. I though it was a real break through when Jeans tells Maria that she is her true best friend. Maria is a loving and caring women and the fact that Jean is white doesn’t change that. Often time was pick the people we associate with based on their occupation, their money, and their color, instead of trying to associate ourselves with people who are overall good human beings.
The first character that really stood out to me was Officer John Ryan. He decides to pull over two innocent African-Americans despite knowing that they were innocent due to his partner telling him. He told the two innocent people to step out of their vehicle and began to violate the man's wife. This led to her husband believing that he didn't do the right thing when he refused to stop the officer.
Another character that stood out is the Hispanic man. He tries to fix the middle eastern man's shop, but he is then criticized for not fixing the door. After the shop was vandalized, the Hispanic man was automatically blamed, even though there was no proof that he did it. This leads to the middle eastern man getting his handgun and fortunately shooting a blank at the daughter. The movie Crash just shows that you shouldn't judge people no matter what without getting to know them first.
The character in the novel that suprised me most was the one Ludicris played. At the beginning he was interested in stealing cars and getting paid. By the end though he didn't care so much about the money and cared more about doing the right thing. That can be seen when he could have made a lot of money from the illegal immigrants in the back of the white van. Inatead he chose to do the humane thing and let them go.
Also I liked how the hispanic guy changes. He was so set on getting revenge on the guy who he was changing locks for. He realized his prioritiy is his family though when the persian guy came and his daughter stepped in to "save him". I think this had a big influence on him because he realized that his daughter could have died due to his stupidity.
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