Crash - the Movie

[John Galt]

I searched and didn't see a thread on this, but if I missed it, I'm sure someone will point it out.

Anyway, I saw Crash last Friday and I can honestly say it is one of the best movies I've ever seen. I was shocked to see the reviews are relatively mixed (including a very negative review by A.O. Scott in the NYT where he totally drops the ball). I think my appreciation for the movie stems from it almost perfectly matching my conception of humanity. The movie doesn't provide answers and doesn't moralize (despite Scott's belief that it over-moralizes), but instead explores race and urbanization with a very intelligent and nuanced bent. I can't say enough good stuff about the film, but I highly recommend everyone go and see it. And I know lauding the film creates unreasonable expectations, and the film won't be for everyone, but I think it is astonishingly good and one of the best movies I have seen in years.

[sovereignstar]

I'm assuming you're not referring to the erotic NC-17 flick directed by David Cronenberg and starring James Spader, Holly Hunter, and Rosanna Arquette. Now that was a good flick. At least in a fucked-up sort of way.

[Calis]

I will second the praise, my movie of the year and one of the more moving films I've seen in quite a while. Just all around great, I can't even explain it properly..so just go see it.

Very very Magnolia-like.

Surprised at how little I'm seeing about this flick, very under the radar I guess. I was going to post a thread about it the weekend it came out, but kept putting it off sure that someone else would and I could just chime in. Didn't happen until now.

One of those movies where you find yourself sitting in the theatre 10-15 minutes after it's over just silent, soaking it all in.

[Pyser]

it was everything Magnolia wasn't, and in half the time. And I like Magnolia.

Crash will win awards come Oscar time. Mark it. It was excellent.

[Karlifornia]

Agreed. As soon as I saw critics praising a movie that featured a large role from "Ludacris" (yes, you read it right-the rapper), I knew it had to be good, because that would normally be an automatic strike against you.

Go see it. Stat.

[rexallllsc]

And here I thought it was a horrible Magnolia rip (the snow part capped it). The part where the Director got out and was screaming at the cops was especially "meh"

[QuikSand]

Very well done... really difficult at times... thanks for the recommendation, I doubt I'd have caught it without reading about it here.

[ThunderingHERD]

Haven't seen it yet. From what I've heard and seen of it it looks very Magnolia-ish, only half as good :) . Cause Magnolia is the greatest film ever made.

[Suicane75]

I like the film, like it a good deal, but i echo TH's statement, it's Magnoliaesque, but of course Magnolia= Teh Best movie ever.

[John Galt]

Very well done... really difficult at times... thanks for the recommendation, I doubt I'd have caught it without reading about it here.

I'm glad you liked it.

[John Galt]

I like the film, like it a good deal, but i echo TH's statement, it's Magnoliaesque, but of course Magnolia= Teh Best movie ever.

I like Magnolia and even own it, but I think Crash has a couple areas where it is stronger. First, it tackles much tougher issues. Race and urban conflict are thorny and hard to address topics. Magnolia focused on relatively easy plotlines (of course parents should treat their kids better instead of using them). Second, I think Magnolia's great and bizarre ending actually made it an easier movie to resolve. It didn't leave any tough questions and got to wind things up rather easily.

So, I like Magnolia a lot, but feel Crash is a better movie overall.

[Alf]

Surprisingly, Crash is the only movie I went to where I left the cinema before the end of the film. I just didn't get into it (I went there with another friend, and if it weren't for that, we both would have left even earlier than what we did).

I might give the film another shot...

[Alf]

dola, is that the Cronenberg Crash you are talking about (a movie that's about 10 years old) ? Or another one ?

[Coder]

I think he's talking about a "new" movie (2004).. with, amongst other, Sandra Bullock and Matt Dillon in the lead.

hxxp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375679/

I also hated the Cronenberg version.. but I didn't leave the theatre.. wish I had though..

[KevinNU7]

It was boring, predictable, and had many unrealistic scenes. And it "made you think" only works if it makes you think of something that you didn't truely know about.

Really there's still a lot of racism out there in the US? Karma is a bitch? Who knew? Apparently many of you didn't.

[ThunderingHERD]

I like Magnolia and even own it, but I think Crash has a couple areas where it is stronger. First, it tackles much tougher issues. Race and urban conflict are thorny and hard to address topics. Magnolia focused on relatively easy plotlines (of course parents should treat their kids better instead of using them). Second, I think Magnolia's great and bizarre ending actually made it an easier movie to resolve. It didn't leave any tough questions and got to wind things up rather easily.

So, I like Magnolia a lot, but feel Crash is a better movie overall.

Once again, I haven't seen the movie, but I fail to see how "race and urban conflict," even if done brilliantly, can be heavier than life, death, sex, cancer, regret, abuse, and the basest human emotions that Magnolia tackled. As for the ending, while I find it the weakest part of the film, I certainly don't think it cheaply resolved anything. Yes, many of the storylines were resolved in a dramatic sense, but what did it take? Quite literally an act of God. It took an act of God for humanity to resolve its problems--to stop coasting by on it's bestial instincts. And those who didn't witness the act, the boy's father for example, were unchanged. "Dad, you have to be nicer to me," Stanley says, waking his father up. His father, who has presumably missed the downpour, replies tersely, "Go back to bed."

As an atheist who isn't expecting an act of God any time soon, I don't see Magnolia's ending as an easy resolution.

[John Galt]

Once again, I haven't seen the movie, but I fail to see how "race and urban conflict," even if done brilliantly, can be heavier than life, death, sex, cancer, regret, abuse, and the basest human emotions that Magnolia tackled. As for the ending, while I find it the weakest part of the film, I certainly don't think it cheaply resolved anything. Yes, many of the storylines were resolved in a dramatic sense, but what did it take? Quite literally an act of God. It took an act of God for humanity to resolve its problems--to stop coasting by on it's bestial instincts. And those who didn't witness the act, the boy's father for example, were unchanged. "Dad, you have to be nicer to me," Stanley says, waking his father up. His father, who has presumably missed the downpour, replies tersely, "Go back to bed."

As an atheist who isn't expecting an act of God any time soon, I don't see Magnolia's ending as an easy resolution.

It's not that race and urban conflict are "heavier" - it is that that they are "thornier." Doing a redemption story revolving around a dying father carries emotional weight, but there really aren't sticky issues with it. This is not an attack on Magnolia - I just believe Crash gets "bonus points" for refusing to give easy answers.

I agree the ending to Magnolia is unexpected and very good in many ways. I was just trying to point out that it made resolution of many of the plotlines easier.

[John Galt]

It was boring, predictable, and had many unrealistic scenes. And it "made you think" only works if it makes you think of something that you didn't truely know about.

Really there's still a lot of racism out there in the US? Karma is a bitch? Who knew? Apparently many of you didn't.

Someone might think it is a good idea to at least identity the biggest themes of the movie (which I would say definitely aren't "Karma is a bitch" and "there's still a lot of racism") before you condescend toward everyone who liked the film. And if you believe calling this film "predictable" (ie it has no way cool secret plot twist) is an insult, I think you are looking for a different kind of movie.

[jbmagic]

wow

i just watch it.

it was really a good movie.

[jbmagic]

I never seen Magnolia. is it similar to Crash?

[ThunderingHERD]

I never seen Magnolia. is it similar to Crash?

If I really like something I will say that I really liked it. If something is my favorite i will say that it's my favorite.

I won't say either of those thigns about Magnolia.

Magnolia is the greatest movie ever made.

[Yossarian]

I thought crash was a bit rubbish.

I did like the irony and it wasn't void of merit but they piled it on good and thick. So much so that I couldn't suspend my disbelief - all the characters looked to... deliberate.

dunno. just couldn't get past that i guess.

[QuikSand]

I thought crash was a bit rubbish.

I did like the irony and it wasn't void of merit but they piled it on good and thick. So much so that I couldn't suspend my disbelief - all the characters looked to... deliberate.

dunno. just couldn't get past that i guess.

Over time, I am moving toward this position as well. The movie was very well acted, and it was nominally powerful, but given a little distance I am inclined to agree that it was piled on too thick and was just too deliberately heavy-handed.

[Yossarian]

When I went to see it, I didn't actually know what it was about. I just had heard it was good.

After five minutes - still not KNOWING it was a racism movie I was thinking. Man, it's really really heavy on the racism. It was like getting hit with a sledgehammer. Point made but not particularly surprising or enlightening.

[Arles]

I would really like to see this movie and plan on doing so in a few days.

[chinaski]

I thought crash was a bit rubbish.

I did like the irony and it wasn't void of merit but they piled it on good and thick. So much so that I couldn't suspend my disbelief - all the characters looked to... deliberate.

dunno. just couldn't get past that i guess.
watched the dvd last night and I feel the same. The actual crash scene I liked quite a bit, but everything else seemed so over the top.

[gottimd]

I just saw it last night as well. I thought it was well done and worth the rent. I'd recommend it.

[Karlifornia]

It's a movie!! OF COURSE IT'S OVER THE TOP!!! HELLO!?!?

[B & B]

An ensemble piece that came together for the most part. Acting was very strong all around. Good flick.

[gottimd]

An ensemble piece that came together for the most part. Acting was very strong all around. Good flick.
http://www.siteforless.com/photos/People-Smiling_teenaged_boy_giving_two_thumbs_up.gif

[Raiders Army]

Just saw it and thought it was good portraying the good and evil in all people.

Why was it called Crash?

Also, I agree it felt a little contrived.

[gottimd]

Just saw it and thought it was good portraying the good and evil in all people.

Why was it called Crash?

Also, I agree it felt a little contrived.
Doesn't Don Cheadle say something about people crash into eachother just to feel something, or he says something like that in the movie.

[Raiders Army]

Doesn't Don Cheadle say something about people crash into eachother just to feel something, or he says something like that in the movie.
Yeah at the beginning, but maybe it was too "artsy" for me to understand why that's the title of the movie. I'd probably name it Chained or something that connects people.

[cthomer5000]

When I went to see it, I didn't actually know what it was about. I just had heard it was good.

After five minutes - still not KNOWING it was a racism movie I was thinking. Man, it's really really heavy on the racism. It was like getting hit with a sledgehammer. Point made but not particularly surprising or enlightening.
I happened to just watch it myself on Friday and would take your point a lot further. I thought the movie was offensively bad and a total insult to my intelligence. It's a steaming piece of shit.

[Super Ugly]

I saw it at the cinema and, after reading all the advance reviews, thought it was totally overrated. The acting was impressive, but the plot just creaked, and some of the characters were just stereotypes (the locksmith, the shopkeeper). It was good to see a film that touched upon race, but it didn't go far enough in my opinion. It felt like they chickened out.

I can see the comparison to 'Magnolia', but I think 'Grand Canyon' is probably more appropriate. But 'Crash', alas, doesn't have Steve Martin ...

[sabotai]

I just watched this a week or so ago and agree with the overrated crowd. Well acted and normally a kind of movie I like, but like others have said, put it on too thick and went over the top. All of the characters were pretty much the same and pretty much every scene was the same. 4/10.

[kingnebwsu]

Best movie I've seen this year.

[korme]

Good movie, I really liked the concept of some of things (like the communication breakdown by the lock fixer and store owner)... wasn't blown away, but it was very good.

[FF]

ridiculously bad i thought

i loved how it was written so that characters would put themselves in situations where their racist attitudes would come out

[yabanci]

I thought it was a wannabe Magnolia by screenwriter who lacks the talent to pull it off.

[KWhit]

Just saw the movie tonight on DVD. I really enjoyed it. Wasn't the greatest movie I have ever seen and it was very reminiscent of Magnolia (as many have already said), but I did think that it was pretty powerful.

The storyline surrounding the impenetrable cloak was especially powerful to me since I am a fairly new father. That was very intense and handled quite well, I thought.

[judicial clerk]

I would recommend it, but I agree with everyone else that it came off as contrived or something. It seemed to be good performances wrapped around an 'OK' but amatureish screenplay.

Ludacris did a good job in this movie. Just like eminem did a good job in his movie and Courtney Love did a good job in Larry Flint and Whitney Houston did in her movies. I wonder if it is totally easy to be an actor and you just need to be hot, blow the right people, or already be famous for something else to get a movie career going.

[Vince]

I had heard raving reviews from many people, so I tried to go in with tempered excitement, because that usually leads me to be underwhelmed by a movie.

While watching, and after watching the movie, I thought it was amazing. Very difficult at times (specifically the confrontation between the Persian store owner and the locksmith near the end, but tough at other times as well), and pulled off well. Since digesting it last night, I still really like the movie, but I think that Yossarian and Quik hit it pretty well -- it's a bit much. Not so much that I dislike the movie, but a bit much.

[John Galt]

bump for the Oscar win. I actually picked a winner for once. I'm glad Crash won last night - it was a great and unique movie.

[Yossarian]

I can't believe it won. It was tripe, cliche'd and completely predictable.

:-)

[Blade6119]

I think it totally deserved it...Paul Haggis is a monster after this and Million Dollar Baby last year

[chinaski]

I can't believe it won. It was tripe, cliche'd and completely predictable.

:-)amen brother

[chinaski]

I think it totally deserved it...Paul Haggis is a monster after this and Million Dollar Baby last yearNo wonder I didnt like it, Million Dollar Baby was another steamy pile of doo with 1.. maybe 2 good scenes, tops.

[yabanci]

bump for the Oscar win. I actually picked a winner for once. I'm glad Crash won last night - it was a great and unique movie.

unique if Magnolia didn't exist.

[cthomer5000]

unique if Magnolia didn't exist.or any Robert Altman movie...

[KWhit]

unique if Magnolia didn't exist.
I thought Magnolia was a far better movie. Magnolia was much less preachy, and the direction was much more creative and effective, IMO.

[yabanci]

I thought Magnolia was a far better movie. Magnolia was much less preachy, and the direction was much more creative and effective, IMO.

Agreed.

[ThunderingHERD]

I like this piece by Scott Foundas, a response to Roger Ebert's response to Foundas' calling Crash the worst movie of the year:


Dear Roger:

Save for the storied contretemps between Pauline Kael and Andrew Sarris, film critics are generally far too busy reviewing the new movies that open each week to spend much time reviewing each other. So I was understandably surprised to read your January 8 Chicago Sun-Times editorial “In Defense of the ‘Worst Movie of the Year,’” in which you lambasted my opinion of Crash, a movie you have repeatedly praised as being the best of 2005. Specifically, you were referring to comments I made in the recent Movie Club forum at Slate.com — a discussion about the past year in film that also included contributions by critics A.O. Scott of The New York Times, Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader and Slate’s own David Edelstein. As your headline suggests, I wrote in the forum that Crash was among my least favorite movies of 2005 and called it “one of those self-congratulatory liberal jerk-off movies that roll around every once in a while to remind us of how white people suffer too, how nobody is without his prejudices, and how, when the going gets tough, even the white-supremacist cop who gets his kicks from sexually harassing innocent black motorists is capable of rising to the occasion.”

I stand by those words and, as you point out, I am not alone in such sentiments. Your essay quotes negative Crash reviews by MSNBC critic Dave White and even the editor of your own Web site, Jim Emerson. To which I would add that, upon its release back in May, Crash received mixed-to-negative reviews from Edelstein in Slate and Scott in The New York Times, as well as from many other critics writing in the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and The New Republic, among other publications. In the 2005 Village Voice poll of more than 100 major North American critics, Crash was cited by only four participants as one of the year’s ten best films, for an overall 66th-place showing in the survey. And lest anyone surmise that this amounts to some sort of contrarian backlash against a widely praised film, I should note that way back during the 2004 Toronto Film Festival, three-quarters of a year before Crash arrived in commercial cinemas, Variety critic Todd McCarthy wrote that the movie offers “a narrow, ungenerous and, finally, unrepresentative view of the world, one that suggests people are correct in suspecting others as having only the worst motives.”

I couldn’t have put it better myself, but maybe you, Roger, could have. In describing Crash, you’ve written: “A white racist cop sexually assaults a black woman, then the next day saves her life. His white partner, a rookie, is appalled by his behavior, but nevertheless later kills an innocent man because he leaps to a conclusion based on race. A black man is so indifferent to his girlfriend’s Latino heritage that he can’t be bothered to remember where she’s from. After a carjacking, a liberal politician’s wife insists all their locks be changed — and then wants them changed again, because she thinks the Mexican-American locksmith will send his “homies” over with the pass key. The same locksmith has trouble with an Iranian store owner who thinks the Mexican-American is black. But it drives the Iranian crazy that everyone thinks he is Arab, when they should know that Iranians are Persian. Buying a gun to protect himself, he gets into a shouting match with a gun dealer who has a lot of prejudices about, yes, Arabs.” That, in a nutshell, is as succinct a summary as I’ve read of everything that’s wrong with this picture. If only you’d managed to mention that the two carjackers who, when they’re not perpetrating grand theft auto, engage in animated debates about black-on-black racism and hip-hop as “music of the oppressor” — scenes aptly described by the name of one of the actors featured in them: Ludacris. (To answer your rhetorical question, Roger: If I were carjacked at gunpoint by these two guys, I wouldn’t “rise to the occasion with measured detachment and sardonic wit.” I’d merely wait for Ashton Kutcher to appear and tell me I’d been punk’d.)

I’ve said that Crash, which was co-written and directed by Paul Haggis, doesn’t accurately reflect the city of Los Angeles as I’ve come to know it after more than a decade of living here (during which time I’ve made lots of meaningful connections with others, none of which have been the result of a car accident). But as I think back on the film, I’m not even sure that it reflects life as we know it on planet Earth. The characters in Crash don’t feel like three-dimensional, flesh-and-blood human beings so much as calculated “types” plugged by Haggis into a schematic thesis about how we are all, in the course of any given day, the perpetrators and the victims of some racial prejudice. (Nobody in Haggis’ universe is allowed to be merely one or the other.) They have no inner lives. They fail to exist independently of whatever stereotype they’re on hand to embody and/or debunk. Erudite carjackers? A man who can’t remember his own girlfriend’s ethnicity? You may see such things as “parables,” but I call it sloppy, sanctimonious screenwriting of the kind that, as one colleague recently suggested, should be studied in film classes as a prime example of what not to do.

But then, Roger, perhaps all of us detractors are simply, as you put it, “too cool for the room.” According to you, we critics must bear in mind “the ways in which real people see real films,” the same people who you say enjoy paying to be manipulated. (And who’s to argue, when the officials currently holding our nation’s highest elected offices offer living proof that many of us enjoy being manipulated for free?) You go on to say that you’ve talked to dozens of viewers who were touched by Crash, and while I don’t deny that, I have had my own conversations about Crash with plenty of “real people” who feel less touched by the film than manhandled by it. Among e-mails I’ve received from Slate readers, one goes so far as to speculate that people are afraid to admit they don’t like Crash for fear of being considered racists themselves — and I think the film is engineered to make viewers feel that way — while another, somewhat more charitable correspondent quotes Oscar Wilde’s maxim that “all bad art is sincere.”

Finally, you express surprise that anyone could feel contempt toward a movie like Crash in the same year that witnessed the release of Chaos and Deuce Bigalow, European Gigolo. But as I stated in Slate, by calling Crash the worst movie of the year, I don’t mean to suggest that it’s entirely incompetent or even a catastrophic all-star debacle on the order of The Bonfire of the Vanities or Town & Country. No, Crash asks (and expects) to be taken much too seriously for that kind of rote dismissal. So, why contrast Crash against two unrepentant, bottom-of-the-barrel stinkers — one a no-budget horror movie that took pride in using bad reviews as part of its promotional campaign and the other a lowbrow Rob Schneider comedy — rather than placing it in the context of those other movies from 2005 that so much more subtly and intelligently (and no less sincerely) grappled with the effects of race and class on our daily lives? I’m thinking, of course, of Michael Haneke’s brilliant Caché — my own pick for the best film of last year — and also about George Romero’s Land of the Dead, both of which are studies in how (mostly white) people of privilege attempt to seal themselves off from society’s “undesirable” elements (who just so happen to be people of color). And while we’re on the subject, I might as well mention Lars von Trier’s soon-to-be-released Manderlay, which premiered at festivals in 2005, and is about the very kind of psychological enslavement that might lead a group called the African-American Film Critics Association to present Crash with a best-picture award.

Haggis is right about one thing: None of us is without prejudice. You’re right that in my notes on Crash, I neglect to mention the name of the actor who plays the Mexican-American locksmith; in your editorial, you say with the utmost certainty that “when two white cops stop you for the wrong reason and one starts feeling up your wife, it is prudent to reflect that both of the cops are armed and, if you resist, in court you will hear that you pulled a gun, were carrying cocaine, threatened them, and are lying about the sexual assault.” These are indeed troubled waters, but if Crash is what qualifies as “a bridge towards tolerance,” excuse me while I phone my auto-insurance agent and increase my premium.

Sincerely, Scott Foundas

[John Galt]

unique if Magnolia didn't exist.

What made Crash unique wasn't that it had multiple, interweaving story lines, it was its discussion of race. I don't see how Magnolia's existence (or any Altman movie for that matter) detracts from what Crash does.

Crash, to me, is the first major movie to treat racism as something other than conscious hate. In virtually every movie concerning racism, you have a paper-thin character as the racist (unless they are being redeemed as the main plot of the movie). Racism is treated as something "bad" people have. It's almost like a disease. Crash goes beyond that and offers a full version of people who are inevitably race conscious.

By the end of the movie, I think Crash has raised far more questions than it has answered. That is why I find it so strange that people find it overly preachy and complain that they are hit over the head with the message. To me, the movie isn't a message, but a starting point. It doesn't offer easy ideas or solutions. If anything, I think it could be criticized for leaving so much up in the air. But for some reason, everyone here seems to apply the opposite criticism. Strange.

[oliegirl]

What made Crash unique wasn't that it had multiple, interweaving story lines, it was its discussion of race. I don't see how Magnolia's existence (or any Altman movie for that matter) detracts from what Crash does.

Crash, to me, is the first major movie to treat racism as something other than conscious hate. In virtually every movie concerning racism, you have a paper-thin character as the racist (unless they are being redeemed as the main plot of the movie). Racism is treated as something "bad" people have. It's almost like a disease. Crash goes beyond that and offers a full version of people who are inevitably race conscious.

By the end of the movie, I think Crash has raised far more questions than it has answered. That is why I find it so strange that people find it overly preachy and complain that they are hit over the head with the message. To me, the movie isn't a message, but a starting point. It doesn't offer easy ideas or solutions. If anything, I think it could be criticized for leaving so much up in the air. But for some reason, everyone here seems to apply the opposite criticism. Strange.


It may not mean much, but I totally agree with you :) You just said it much more eloquently than I did in the other thread...

[Easy Mac]

I didn't really find the "racism" in this movie any different than anything else we've seen in cinema.

[KWhit]

What made Crash unique wasn't that it had multiple, interweaving story lines, it was its discussion of race. I don't see how Magnolia's existence (or any Altman movie for that matter) detracts from what Crash does.

Crash, to me, is the first major movie to treat racism as something other than conscious hate. In virtually every movie concerning racism, you have a paper-thin character as the racist (unless they are being redeemed as the main plot of the movie). Racism is treated as something "bad" people have. It's almost like a disease. Crash goes beyond that and offers a full version of people who are inevitably race conscious.

By the end of the movie, I think Crash has raised far more questions than it has answered. That is why I find it so strange that people find it overly preachy and complain that they are hit over the head with the message. To me, the movie isn't a message, but a starting point. It doesn't offer easy ideas or solutions. If anything, I think it could be criticized for leaving so much up in the air. But for some reason, everyone here seems to apply the opposite criticism. Strange.
I don't think that the complaint is really that the movie offers easy solutions. When I say that the movie is too preachy and hits me over the head, I am mostly talking about the characters and how they are written. Every character in the movie is really really racist and the filmmakers really really want you to notice how racist they are.

To me, it felt like there was absolutely no subtlety in the characters' actions. The post above yours sums up my feelings about the movie pretty well, but it seemed way to cliche to me. Every character was one dimensional to the extreme when the movie started. They were caricatures. True, some of them grew a bit and changed some as the movie went on, but they felt completely unbelievable, so their growth wasn't compelling to me.

[Dutch]

Just watched the movie tonight with my wife. All in all, I thought it was a really well done movie.

Was the movie about racism? If so, it was really lame.

But I don't believe that was the message the movie was trying to get across. The racism was the movie's equivalent of "action". It was the attention getter. What I think the movie was really about and what it did a fantastic job at portraying was everybody's perceptions about stereotypes and how we deal with them. Stereotypes seem cheesy, but they are what they are and the movie didn't back down from that and try and make up shit. (read: There are tons of Persian/Arab shopkeepers in LA for instance. No need to make that guy from Paraguay....it wouldn't have been a stereotype if they did.)

Can you blame the young cop for shooting the "hitchhiking/young black man/that is angry/that is reaching into his pocket"? That was how we, as humans logically deal with stereotypes. You can think in the theoretical world all day long, but in real life, you always take the smartest course of action for yourself.

That's what I think the message of the movie was, and I give it an A.

I must admit I didn't see a lot of movie's and cannot speak for "Crash"'s competition. But I found it a solid movie. Best Picture may be a stretch, but that may just be my stereotype that "Best Picture" should somehow mean "Epic Picture" as well. ;)

[Easy Mac]

i guess i don't see the difference between racism and stereotyping except that one is a slightly nicer term.

[Havok]

me either, im glad 70 year old white/black/asia woman in wheel chairs get searched at the airport, but the 30 year old Arab man with the long beard and turban doesn't.

makes much more sense that way..... really........ ;) ;)

[Dutch]

i guess i don't see the difference between racism and stereotyping except that one is a slightly nicer term.

I think it's easy to confuse the two. For instance, it's not right to assume that all young black men are criminals. That's not fair.

But I think stereotyping goes beyond racism. Stereotyping is something that is built into your human nature. For instance, hitchhikers. Do you pick up hitch-hikers? While it's not fair to label all hitch-hikers as bowie knife weilding pychopaths, we do know that some hitch-hikers are not safe people to have in your car. It's based on data/facts we have collected that tells us not to pick up hitch-hikers. The end result? Not many people pick up hitch-hikers.

But then the cheesy stereotypes this movie talks about are very similar. It's not that the lady was a racist when she saw the two young black men in a traditionally white neighborhood. But it was because of the stereotype that caused her to be a bit insecure. And of course, her being carjacked by said young black men reinforced the stereotype with her (and the audience, no doubt) quite well.

Of course, the irony is that hollywood just gave a movie about stereotypes "Best Picture" when they are quite the masters at perpetuating certain "uglier" stereotypes.

[Easy Mac]

I think it's easy to confuse the two. For instance, it's not right to assume that all young black men are criminals. That's not fair.

But I think stereotyping goes beyond racism. Stereotyping is something that is built into your human nature. For instance, hitchhikers. Do you pick up hitch-hikers? While it's not fair to label all hitch-hikers as bowie knife weilding pychopaths, we do know that some hitch-hikers are not safe people to have in your car. It's based on data/facts we have collected that tells us not to pick up hitch-hikers. The end result? Not many people pick up hitch-hikers.

But then the cheesy stereotypes this movie talks about are very similar. It's not that the lady was a racist when she saw the two young black men in a traditionally white neighborhood. But it was because of the stereotype that caused her to be a bit insecure. And of course, her being carjacked by said young black men reinforced the stereotype with her (and the audience, no doubt) quite well.

Of course, the irony is that hollywood just gave a movie about stereotypes "Best Picture" when they are quite the masters at perpetuating certain "uglier" stereotypes.
But stereotypes aren't a part of human nature, its based on what we've learned in the world. You think we were born thinking "oh, its a young black male in an all white neighborhood, I'd better get away from him..."? Of course not, it's something that's been conditioned over time. I think that people are just scared to use the term racism because it denotes that you are racist. What if we just started classifying everyone as stereotypist instead. It all just depends on the conotation of the words. I'd say in the current times, racism has taken on a different meaning than a true dictionary definition, morphing into what stereotype means... although here are the definitions of the two words.

Racism:
n.
The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
Discrimination or prejudice based on race.Stereotype:
n.
A conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image.
One that is regarded as embodying or conforming to a set image or type.
Printing. A metal printing plate cast from a matrix molded from a raised printing surface, such as type.The modern idea of racism has morphed into the definition of stereotyping.

[Dutch]

I'm confused. If anybody has developed any sort of stereotype than they are racist? Is that what I understand you are saying?

[Easy Mac]

I don't think thats a stretch, though I'm saying that the meaning of racism has evolved over time to mean pretty much anything prejudicial based on race.

[Dutch]

Ah well, maybe I read to much into the movie.

[stevew]

I happened to just watch it myself on Friday and would take your point a lot further. I thought the movie was offensively bad and a total insult to my intelligence. It's a steaming piece of shit.

Finally watched it last night, and agree with you totally.

[WVUFAN]

I thought it was easily the best film of last year.

[rkmsuf]

I thought it was easily the best film of last year.

agree

[bulletsponge]

after reading this thread the movie is either the best movie of the year or a steaming pile of crap.... ill bet its a pile of crap considering how bad hollywood movies have become. btw i havnt seen the movie and dont really give a crap if i ever do

[rkmsuf]

after reading this thread the movie is either the best movie of the year or a steaming pile of crap.... ill bet its a pile of crap considering how bad hollywood movies have become. btw i havnt seen the movie and dont really give a crap if i ever do

Richard Roper you are not.

[bulletsponge]

Richard Roper you are not.

Yoda are you?

[rkmsuf]

Yoda are you?

Of course not. I'm Wayne Brady, beotch.