Crash is a remarkable movie that intertwines several stories of various people in an unexpected and unavoidable manner. The movie is set in the city of Los Angeles which tells the diverse story of Whites, Latinos, Blacks, Koreans, Persians, authoritative figures and politically ineffective individuals. Many of them lead different lives and have a widespread background, yet in one way or another they eventually encounter each other in a unique form. Through their encounters we can see and examine each interaction and how they represent something bigger than just a random concurrence. The interaction between the people in the film represents how society is shaped in this community. In comparison, the city of L.A is very small and irrelevant to the rest of the world as a whole; but the greatest juxtaposition of the film is that regardless of the entirety of the population, all countries (using beliefs, ideology, and outlook common to their place of origin) are represented through each individual. This goes for the entire nation. Since there is such a high range of citizens and diversity, the United States can be seen as a union of the whole world shaping the functionality and view of our society. This is the backdrop of the film. The socialization of America is due to the differences that each individual has. We live in a world that focuses on differences between one another, and not on what makes them similar.
As the movie plays these individuals eventually encounter each other. The movie deals with race and gender issues which causes a great amount of tension in the characters. Race and gender are concepts created by us human kind. This is one of the biggest conflicts they face. It is not something that we are born with or naturally assigned. We came up with the concept of labeling people in accordance to where they are geographically located, or the color of their skin and appearance. People concentrate heavily on these labels and define each other rather than recognize that despite our differences, we are all humans living the same life. This is the natural and biological law and all humans are essentially from the same descent and ultimately same earth.
The lives of various people are connected through every day activities --- very much like in real life. But in contrast, there is a concentration on what sets these people apart socially through their socioeconomic status and race. The connection goes as following. The black LAPD detective is alienated from his drug addicted mother who is begging him to find his criminal younger brother. The younger brother and partner in crime are car thieves who are always speaking on race and society. The white district attorney and his wife were car jacked which caused her to become irritated and angry at everyone including the Hispanic locksmith that is pointed out as a gang member but is only trying to make an honest living for his family. A racist white veteran cop is partnered with a new young cop. The young cop is disgusted by his partner’s ignorance and decides to ride solo. A Hollywood director and his wife have to go through the hands of the racist cop. A Persian shop owner buys a gun to protect his store and uses it against the Hispanic locksmith. In the end what each character went through caused them to have a positive outlook in life.
In the film there is also a demonstration of formal and informal control. A situation in which it is shown is when the Hollywood director and his wife get pulled over by the policemen. They must, under the law obey the policeman. But under these circumstances, the policeman himself is abusing his power. Either way, the two citizens must obey the officer for the sake of his title and in order to stay out of trouble. In this very same situation, there is an example of sexism and male dominance. The Hollywood Director’s wife is taken advantage of and considered weak. Her husband does not do anything to stop the policeman and even states that he knows if he does anything they will turn it around on him because he is a man of color (racism). The cop’s behavior could even be a result of ethnocentrism.
Over time the characters understood how each ones expectations and ideals were different which caused conflict. This movie constructs social reality. Each one of these characters has always had the same ideology and outlook on other people. Either they were racist or judgmental upon people due to their profession, economic status and overall position in society. They acted upon these relationships with one another on a daily basis creating a reality. One example would be when the district attorney’s wife accused the Hispanic man of plotting a robbery against her family due to a previous experience with a car robbery. The people who attacked her were Hispanic gang members and so she associated him of also being one of these people. She is not in direct conflict with this specific Hispanic man himself, but with his association with these people. Since she is always going to base their relationship off of this situation, she acts upon those feelings instead of the “now” aspect in which he is actually not related to the case or doing her harm.
This movie provides evidence for sociological theory by emphasizing social constructs, gender roles, and problems based upon race, culture and ethnicity. Basically all the characters are fighting to overcome these issues and deal with them first hand. The film truly acts as an eye-opener because things that we do not directly notice or realize are brought to light and we can see how they affect our roles in society and improve upon them. I learned mostly on the social construct of society through the relationships that people had with each other. Social reality is something that I am interested in more deeply analyzing because it helps us to develop our lives in both long term and short term situations that we can progress. This film serves well as an example of many sociological theories and I think they reached their goal in creating it because we can now learn from it.
