Paul Haggis’ movie Crash examines the prejudices and stereotypes of race and gender people have towards others from diverse cultures. These preconceived notions we create, alters our perception of people and the world around us negatively. Racial intolerance and prejudice is the underlying theme through out the movie with the intent to convey awareness against false assumptions. Viewing Crash was an eye-opening experience for me. The movie portrayed strong underlying messages that made me question if I too am guilty of these unjust thoughts and behaviors towards ethnically diverse communities. In the beginning scene, we were introduced to a Muslim man named Farhad who was in a firearms store trying to purchase a weapon. The white shopkeeper assumed Farhad belonged to a terrorist group because of his Muslim background and interest in buying a gun. The typical stereotype that all Muslims are terrorists is one of the many prejudices seen in the film. My favorite scene in the movie was the story of the Hispanic locksmith named Daniel. By appearance alone, he was judged by outsiders as a “gang-banger” due to his innumerous tattoos, shaved head, baggie jeans, etc. Many people judged Daniel inaccurately; especially the white woman that employed him to change all the locks on the doors after two black males robbed her. She had said aloud that she wanted to change the locks once again in the morning because Daniel would sell the key to his gang member friends. These racial stereotypes are most often than not false, yet we as ignorant people are guilty of creating stigmas about others outside of our own social and racial group. Daniel in reality was a caring father to his daughter Lara. He was also a hardworking employing trying to earn a decent living to provide for his family. This is yet another example of racial profiling seen throughout the film.
Living in a multicultural country such as the United States, many people are either fall victim to stereotyping or are guilty themselves for creating false stigmas of others. My parents are both immigrants to the United States from Turkey, where the culture and lifestyle differ tremendously across nations. Like the Persian man in the film, my mother and father are Muslim and because their native language is not English, they are often stereotyped as “towel heads,” gas station workers, and even terrorists. Of course this is not true of them. It is truly sad to see members of society think so poorly of one another without getting to know the true person inside before making such discriminating judgments.
I believe that racial intolerance stems from ignorance. People who make ignorant comments about others are uneducated and are not open minded about the good sides of different