CRASH

1. Crash was an outstanding movie. First off, racism exhibited by the characters dominated the movie. In Crash, Matt Dillon is seen as a racist person. I believe Dillon's character is the most racist in the movie. There are many examples of this. Someone else who is racist to be compared to Dillon is Sandra Bullock. These two characters portray racism throughout the movie. My first example is when the cop, Dillon, pulls over the black couple. He makes them get out of the car for no reason and searches them. He feels up the African American woman. Another example of Dillon's racism is when he goes into that office to get his dad better care. He disrespects the African American and asks the black woman if he can speak to a white person. That is like a slap in the face for the woman, being that someone doesn't want to talk to you because of your skin color. Dillon's character learns his racism from his dad, who worked in a shop with minorities. So in this case racism was in their genes. His dad passed it down to him. Sandra Bullocks character also has racism towards minorities. The first example of her showing racism is in the beginning of the movie, she kinda gives Ludacris and his buddy a bad glance. This shows that she fears black people. A second example is when her house is getting its locks changed. There is a Hispanic man changing them and she demands to her husband that they are changed the next morning. The Hispanic man overhears her, and is shocked to her that it seemed. When he leaves he gives her allll the keys. This proves that she can't have any minority try to protect her, she needs a white person to redo the locks. Finally the last example is when she just flat out disrespects the cleaning lady who is a minority. She wouldn't have done this if the person was white. She thinks she is superior or has the power over someone who has a different color skin than her. Overall, Matt Dillon and Sandra Bullocks characters are extremely racist. In Dillon's case, his racism was learned from his father. And in Bullocks case, previous instances with minorities have left her scared in which she has to let out her anger on minorities.

2. But there's more!! An example of stereotyping in Crash is in the opening scene one of the ladies involved in the crash said to an Asian woman, "you can't even see over the wheel!" Her reaction was she started yelling back at the lady and the situation escalated even more. Another example is when Peter hitches a ride from Hanson late at night. While in the car, Peter compliments the country song that's on. Hanson kind of gives Peter a dirty look like yeah right. This is stereotyping African Americans and that they don't like country music and they only like hood music. This made Peter feel angry that Hanson didn't believe him in that he actually did like country music.

3. I don't believe 90% of today's population is racist.... But there could still be a very high percent of racist people in the country (50-75%). I believe many people are racist but they just don't show it...for example if someone is driving slow, someone might say, "is that person Asian or something??" This is being racist and many people say things like this everyday. I don't think racism will ever stop. You learn it from the people you are around and the media. It will never go away. An example from the movie would be in almost every scene...someone is being racist to someone else in almost every scene....and in the scenes where people aren't racist..they would represent the 25% of people who are not racist in our population.

4. Stereotypes come from many places such as the media, people who are around you, and personal experiences. Stereotypes started from people associating minorities with certain actions. Such as all bad drivers are asian...or all criminals are black. I believe the media poorly portrays black people to be robbers, drug dealers, and gangbangers through what they show. This relates to the movie, when Peter reaches into his coat, Hanson automatically thinks he's going to pull a gun. Peter thought that all blacks were gangbangers and robbers who would kill a person. Hanson ended up shooting Peter because of stereotyping. Hanson thought Peter was a gangbanger, and this is due to the media.

5. I think that it is natural within our genes to be racist. All people create views on certain people and stereotype them. They may not express it, but many people think about it..that's where being racist comes in...I think if you express it vocally to where someone hears you, you are being racist...but if you just think about it..your not really being racist...just a little bit but at least your not expressing it to where other people hear you.

6. Race is learned through everything...movies, media, sports, past experiences, history, and the people around you. Types of racial messages that your family gives you is not to be racist, and to not categorize people based on their color. Racial messages learned by the media is that all black people are either poor or are criminals.

7. It is not possible to end racism. There will always be racism in the world...people will always have certain grudges against certain people based on the color of their skin. It will never end because of how it is portrayed in the media, such as the news, magazines, movies, newspapers, and the internet. It is being showed to young people who may not agree with it, but they might here it over and over again, and that might lead to them being racist one day.