“Crash” Writing Assignment
[This is a short essay comparing the movie Crash and my views of Racism today that i wrote in last year’s English class. I argue that the movie portrays racism a lot worse than it really is.]
Reality of Racism vs. Crash
One scene in Crash that has strong racial tension is one of the first scenes. It takes place in the home of the District Attorney of Los Angles, Rick. Jean, Rick’s wife, wanted the locks changed on their house. The locksmith, Daniel, changed the locks and Jean didn’t like the idea of a Hispanic locksmith, and she made her views clear. Jean was being very racist towards Daniel which was very wrong. She instantly judged him in the wrong way. In this case, I was favoring the locksmith because he didn’t do anything wrong, all he was doing was his job. The things Jean said was far from politically correct. “I want the locks changed again, in the morning…You might mention that we would appreciate it if next time they didn’t send a gang member…Yes, the guy in there with the shaved head, the pants around his ass, the prison tattoos… Oh and he is not going to sell our key to one of his gang banger friends the moment he is out our door.” Jean is clearly making assumptions purely on the locksmith’s looks. She takes one look at Daniel, and thinks he is a gang member because he is Hispanic and how he is dressed. The baggy clothes and tattoos, and Daniel is immediately a criminal. Her husband Rick is listening to what Jean is saying, and he is obviously calmer about the situation. Rick thinks that Daniel is just another locksmith, not a ‘gang banger.’ “Now I’m telling you that your amigo in there is going to sell our key to one of his homies.” Jean ends her very opinionated argument with that line. Now she is being ignorant towards Daniel by calling him an ‘amigo’, which is the word for friend in Spanish. She also labeled Daniels friends by calling them ‘homies’, a popular slang word for friends. The whole speech she gives is filled with derogatory statements and racist comments. I was surprised to hear this in the movie, and would be extremely surprised if that were to happen out of the movie, in real life. I don’t think it’s fair to compare this scene or entire movie to the race relations now, in 2006. This movie is an extreme example of racism today. I believe that racism does exist, but not to that extent. The movie is taken place over one day, and that much racism with the same group of people doesn’t happen everyday. Racist tension is always going to be around, but Crash over exaggerates how it exists today.