The film "Crash"

Wow, I don’t know where to begin – there’s so much to think about after seeing the movie, Crash. Deb and I were moved to make comments to each other during the movie in addition to afterwards. There are some very powerful and emotional scenes. I ended up watching it two more times (once alone and once with my brother), neither time did I have any more discussion, but I saw things I hadn’t noticed the previous time, like that some of the characters show up in other scenes in the “background.” I hope everyone gets a chance to see it soon.

When Deb and I watched, we couldn’t remember any names. Upon watching again, I really do think that none of the main characters are named for most of the movie. When we (the viewer) get to “know” them, when they become “real,” not just a representative from a racial group, then their names get used. Interesting. I went on line and found a site which lists of all the characters: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375679/fullcredits. I also copied some quotes from the movie at the end of this email.

Another thing we noticed was that many of the “key” issues for the racial/ethnic groups represented were shown. For me, needing to show your hands at all times when a police officer is there is something I was taught, but I was never kept up at night for fear of being shot, so that a parent had to have of a conversation about guns and bullets, but it appears that this is part of the experience for the Latino/a group. We were also reminded that we’ve all internalized the misinformation and use the stereotypes against everyone, so, for example, people of color mistreat other people of color just as easily. Only, as we know, white folks still benefit the most.

Some of the questions that came up and we discussed were:
What changed within people between the first interaction with a person from a different racial group to the next, as characters kept “crashing” into each other?
How does having a “relationship” with someone of another racial group affect your interactions?
The emotional component was huge. So much was motivated by anger, guilt, and fear. Was this due to assumptions we/the characters have? The history of institutional racism? Or our/the characters’ real experiences?
Who were the allies? Particularly, the white allies.

One thing to keep in mind for the future, is that movie night is a longer night than “just a book” night.