Crash

Crash is a 2004 drama film that won the Oscars for "Best Picture." It focused on racial and social tension and connected all the different characters together. The characters came from all kinds of backgrounds and the movie tried to portray people's honest, and usually cruel, opinions of other races. Sometimes the movie became     too overbearing and in-your-face about the message they wanted to come across but their were a lot of sad truths to it as well. This movie had an example for each frame of colorblind racism. The rich black director, Cameron, exemplifies abstract liberalism. He worked very hard to get where he is in his career but at the cost of forgetting  his roots. His wife accuses him of this when she is felt up by a racist police officer in front of Cameron and he does nothing about it. He is terrified of white people and obeys whatever they tell him to do. A white actor in his television show asks Cameron if the other black actor can talk more black to fit the character and Cameron makes them redo the scene.< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsPWAw4kitQ > A perfect example of cultural racism and naturalization is made by a criminal named Anthony. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue8XaSWYDaQ> He talks to his friend, Peter, about the unfair way white and even black people treated them at the restaurant. When he notices  the district attorney's wife grab her husband's arm as soon as she sees them he complains that they're not even dressed like hoodlums and she's simply judging them because they're black. Anthony and Peter still threaten them with guns and hijack their car, despite their acknowledgement of stereotypes made about them. They follow the stereotypes anyways because it's what they believe people expect from them. LAPD officer, Tom, may be the only example in the movie of minimization. He honestly believes that he does not judge people by their ethnicity and even asks to work alone after his partner feels up Cameron's wife. When Cameron is about to get shot by other cops, Tom goes out of his way to talk him down and help him out. However, when he picks up a hitchhiking Peter he realizes how racist he actually is deep down. Tom shoots Peter because he thinks he is reaching for a gun. It's actually very disheartening to watch because viewers want to believe that there are people in this world like Tom who really don't discriminate internally about other people. It's an important topic to discuss about because awareness is the only way it can be fixed.