Film Analysis Essay on Crash (2004)

The moving-picture show Crash from coach and producer Paul Haggis pictures single day in the lives of various characters in Los Angeles, all of them from different social and racial backgrounds but nevertheless affiliated and intertwined by step forward the story. The movies story is being told in a mostly chronological way, except that it puts one scene to the very blood line of the film and then cuts back to the day prior, indicated by the optic schoolbook yesterday.In this first gear sequence, detectives Graham Waters and his partner Ria have been re arended when they draw at a crime scene, leading to a fight among Hispanic Ria and the accident responsible, furious Chinese Kim Lee, involving race-related insults towards each other. Breaking through the temporal order and showing everything that has happened prior to this fight gives the explanation why Kim Lee is so furious and why she was in such a hurry, as her husband is in hospital for being run everywhere by a auto.This strategy of playing with the viewers sagaciousness and sympathy a rent the single characters is one that is central for the movie. Therefore a lot of prejudices are implicitly and explicitly presented through the narrative and the movies surface. Anthony and barb for example are being pictured as two young adolescents just leaving a diner and discussing the (non-)discriminating give-and-take of the waitress. In Anthonys opinion as yet other black race are racist towards Afro-Americans and that white heap are scared of them although they are not even dressed like gang-bangers.This gives the impression of young people being worried and angry about ungrounded racial discrimination. Then the duologue abruptly motleys, both of them pull a gun and they steal the car from Rick and Jean Cabot the two white people they just charge of having prejudices about them leaving the viewer with a sudden change in the characterization they were given before. The movie continues like this when it shows the Hispanic locksmith Daniel Ruiz mean-looking, tattooed and with a neaten head.Jean Cabots assumption about him being a Gang genus Phallus who will sell the keys to their house as soon as he is out the door is consistent with his outward appearance. It is not until later in the movie, when he arrives at home taking loving care of his miss, that the first impression is negated and turned into the opposite. Most of the characters in Crash turn out to be different than the first picture that is drawn of them all the snip turning the story towards unanticipated events and disclosure important information bout character backgrounds. Beyond that, it is important mentioning the complex net of connections and entanglements that occur between the characters and their stories and events. There is Jean Corbet, accusing her locksmith Daniel Ruiz of being a gang member, whose girl is almost shot by the Persian shop owner Farhad, whose daughter works in the mortua ry where Detective Graham Waters at peace(predicate) brother is identified as Peter, who stole Jean Corbets car, making her change the locks in her house in the first place.This list of connections could be go on with for another while, as there are more characters involved with even more links between them. This motive of connection is also shown by the cuts from one scene to the next via an audible and/or a visual connection. For instance when Ria storms out of Graham Waters apartment and slams the door later her, the film cuts to Officer John Ryan lying in his bed suddenly being woken up by his Crash 2004 Identity and Diversity in American Film Miriam Keller 05/30/2012 Miriam Keller 05/30/2012 groaning father.To the viewer it looks like he is wakes up from the slamming door, although there is no diegetic connection. Another example is the cut from Anthony and Peter just having stolen the black navigator, to the crime scene of the shooting between two drivers. As the car wi th Anthony and Peter drives through the picture it cuts to a patrol car passing by in exactly the same camera-shot and revealing the crime scene behind it. Match-cuts like this are a reoccurring stylistic element, emphasizing the just specified net of entanglements.The central topic of racism and prejudices in the movie Crash is shown from various different angles, pointing at the complexness of this issue. It states that nothing and no one can be easily characterized and the grandeur of looking at the bigger picture instead of pigeonholing someone. any the different characters with their intertwined stories make it clear that everyone is connected and the range of influence of one persons behavior is further than one would expect.