Crash: A Disturbing Mirror on Humanity

Does everyone hate or dislike a certain type of person? Do people continuously make snap judgments of others based upon their appearance? Do people really believe in stereotypes they hear about other ethnicities? Are individuals naturally afraid of unfamiliar cultures? These questions are explored by Director Paul Haggis in the provocative 2005 film Crash. Set in contemporary Los Angeles, Crash is an explosive exploration of prejudice.

The plot of Crash consists of a series of inter-related vignettes about people of assorted ethnicities and socio-economic groups who come into contact with one another—often violently--over a 36-hour period. In the film the interaction of the characters causes viewers to question stereotypes while at the same time acknowledging the grain of truth they contain. Because the vignettes are all related, with characters in one reappearing in another, viewer are able to see various sides of a character: a character shown committing a racist act in one scene is depicted in an act of kindness in another. This structure stresses the interrelationship of human-beings and underscores the complexities of prejudice and racism.

The title of the movie Crash is a metaphor for the content. The most obvious meaning of the word crash in contemporary society is an auto collision, and the movie begins and ends with car accidents. But the idea of collision, as it pertains to the film, has a much broader application. This film is about collisions between ethnic groups, classes, ideologies and even age groups. For example, the first car accident occurs between a Latina and an Asian American, both of whom exchange racist remarks. The term crash also suggests an accidental occurrence. A great deal of the plot revolves around chance meetings between various characters. For example, the same Latino locksmith is called to do repairs following break-ins for both a well-to-do district attorney and an Iranian-American store owner. Scott Denby, film critic for the New Yorker, notes that Haggis “is pushing the word ‘crash’ beyond the literal: he means any kind of rough contact between folks from different ethnic groups” (312). The term crash implies destruction, and the interaction of the characters in this movie results in the destruction of both property and life. A crash also connotes contact and contrast. In the film, contrasts between characters are highlighted by the contact that occurs when disparate people are thrown together in a large urban setting.

The film contains powerful symbols, ranging from objects to people. Cars are an obvious symbol in a movie titled Crash. The vehicles in the film range from an expensive SUV to a public bus. The SUVs suggest class and wealth, as well as a sense of entitlement to drive a gas-guzzling automobile in an energy strapped environment. The bus, as one character points out, is associated with the working class who cannot afford their own cars. The movie is set at Christmas time, and contains the Christian symbolism of peace, forgiveness, redemption and love, as suggested by a Nativity scene on a garage door. The characters themselves function symbolically. For example, characters who symbolize power include the director representing the power of the film industry in L.A., the detectives and police officers representing the power law enforcement, and the district attorney representing the power of politics. The presence of snow in the movie suggests purification, as does the imagery of fire and ash. The fire and ash suggest death, the ultimate tragic outcome of hatred, as well as the anger, passion, and violence associated with racism in the film.

The themes of the film are related to the various aspects of prejudice. The most pervasive theme is racism. The white policeman--whose father lost his janitorial business due to preferential affirmative action practices--is angry at African-Americans. A young African-American carjacker spouts the inflammatory Black Power rhetoric of the 1970s. Stereotyping is another theme in the film. For example, the white DA’s wife suspects the locksmith of being a gang member because of his ethnicity. The clash of cultures is illustrated by the Iranian store owner who interprets the well-meant remarks of the locksmith about a damaged door as a shake-down for more money. The theme of class disparity is explored in the contrast of characters. For example, the African-American director and his wife are upper class in terms of education and income while the African-American detective has worked his way into a middle-class job and his mother is a drug addict and his brother a criminal. The DA’s wife, who lives in the wealthy Brentwood area of Los Angeles, is constantly complaining about her housekeeper/nanny, a struggling Latina. Inhumanity is yet another idea explored in the film: a policeman sexually humiliates an innocent woman, an HMO representative capriciously denies services to a suffering man, an outraged man buys a gun to get revenge against an innocent man he thinks has wronged him, and another man is engaged in the modern slave trade. In fact, the pervasiveness of people’s inhumanity is perhaps the most constant motif. Conversely, however, the film also contains images of people’s humanity as well, as the housekeeper comes to the aid of her employer, the policeman risks his life to save the same woman he assaulted, and the carjacker gives up a chance to sell a van-load of people into slavery.

By depicting so many aspects of prejudice, and by showing both the causes and effects it has on a variety people and their interactions with one another, Crash forces the audience to confront their own prejudices. Each viewer must ask himself or herself: “Do I judge others based on stereotypes? Do I fear people who are different from myself?” For most viewers, the answer is uncomfortably “Yes.”