The American drama film, “Crash”, which is co-written, produced and directed by Paul Haggis, highlights many social psychology concepts. One of such concepts is stereotypes. Stereotypes as term by Baron, Branscombe and Bryne (2006), refer to the beliefs about social groups in terms of the traits or characteristics that they are deemed to share. Stereotypes are cognitive frameworks that influence the processing of social information (p.571). In the movie, stereotypes which are distinctively directed towards race are evident. The Whites and Persians all created stereotypes based on race; thus, the aim of the paper is to discuss how this social psychology concept is illustrated in the movie.
Firstly, stereotype is evident in the scene where the Persian man (Farhad), along with his daughter, visits a shop with the intention of purchasing a firearm. The owner of the shop, a white Caucasian, refuses to sell the Farhad the gun and assumes he is an Arab. The shop owner goes as far as to theorize that Farhad may even be a terrorist; this is evident when the shop owner states: “Yo Osama, play the jihad on your own time”. When Farhad tries to declare that he is Persian, he is thrown out of the store by the security. In this scene, Farhad is being stereotyped because of his accent and the fact that he does not speak English well, but in fact, Farhad is only interested in having a gun for his safety.
In addition to the encounter with the shop owner at the gun store, Farhad is once again stereotyped. In this scene, Farhad comes to open his store when he realises that it has been vandalised. Farhad sees the graffiti “Arab” on the walls which stereotypes him as being an Arab. Farhad’s wife hurriedly tries to get rid out the graffiti and in her distress mutters to her daughter “When did Persian become Arab?”
Not only is Farhad a victim of stereotype but he also creates his own stereotype. In this scene, Farhad after his shop has been vandalised, accuses the locksmith, Daniel, a Latino, of the cause of the vandalism. Although Farhad had been advised by the locksmith in a previous scene that the door itself is need of changing, he argues and insists that the locksmith should do his job. Farhad states: “Go and fix the lock you cheater!” Farhad’s words suggest that the Daniel is a dishonest person, and it is as a result of this stereotype why he sees Daniel as the person responsible for the break-in. However, the break-in is because of Farhad’s pigheadedness. This could have been prevented if he had only changed the door.
Similarly, to his encounter with the Persian storeowner, Daniel is also stereotyped as being a member of a gang. The couple Jean and Rick Cabot after having their car hijacked decide to change their lock as a precautionary method. When the locksmith, Daniel, comes to change the lock, the American, Mrs. Jean Cabot complains that Daniel is a gang member and she fears that her family is still in danger as he is going to give a copy of their keys to his gang members. Mrs. Cabot confronts her husband about her fear. She states: “Next time I’d appreciate it if they didn’t send a gang member”. She further adds: “Yes, the one in there with the shaved head, the pants around his ass, the prison tattoos.” It is evident that in this scene Daniel is being stereotyped by Jean because of his appearance and race. However, that is not the reality as Daniel is a father and a husband who is trying to provide for his family by earning an honest income.
The blacks are no exemption to stereotype. In a scene of the movie, it is evident where Peter, a black young man, dies at the hands of Tom Hansen, a white policeman because of stereotype. Tom, in his efforts not to be racist, offers Peter a ride when he beckons to him on a lonely road. While in the car Peter sees a figurine of St. Christopher and begins to laugh, Tom not knowing his cause of laughter and assumes that he may have been the laughingstock tells him to get out of his car. When Peter reaches into in his pocket with the intention of showing Tom that he was merely laughing because he too travels with a St. Christopher statue, he is shot abruptly by Tom. Tom has created the stereotype that once a black man reaches into his pocket the output would be that of a gun so in fear of his safety he fires before the anticipated shot. In this scenario, Peter is stereotyped because of his race and behaviour.
Though fictional, the movie, “Crash”, realistically presents instances where stereotypes could have been readily created in today’s society. The examples which were illustrated demonstrate how stereotypes can be created by race and likely behaviour.

Reference
Baron, R. A. Bramscombe, N.R., & Bryne, D. (2006). Social Psychology (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn Bacon