The movie is about the prejudice and fear that causes races (Black, White, Latinos, and Asians) in Los Angeles to crash in scenes or episodes of drama that are taking place simultaneously. This movie isnÂ’t supposed to represent the real life in Los Angeles because this movie isnÂ’t a documentary but itÂ’s a movie that was made to entertain and make money. And although major races were featured in the movie some were poorly represented and some totally left out such as (American Indians).
I will look this movie from the perspective of a white person since the bulk of the audiences they were targeting are whites.
From the perspective of the European American the movie crash portrays whites as racist at first like everyone else but then undoes some of that racism by either justifying or giving grounds. The main white characters in the movie depict the scenes as follows.
A racist white cop (Matt Dillon) sexually molests a black woman (Thandie Newton), but is really a good guy because he saves her from a car crash. His partner's (Ryan Phillipe) anti-racist protests are really irrelevant because he ends up killing an innocent black teenager (Larenz Tate). Meanwhile, a rich, racist white woman (Sandra Bullock) unfairly suspects a Latino locksmith (Michael Pena) of being a crook, but it's okay because her Latino maid (and best friend) takes care of her when she injures herself.
when Sandra bullock grabs her husband in downtown but then gets robbed, later she says “but if a white person sees two black men walking towards her, and she turns and walks the other direction she is a racist right! Well I get scared and I didn’t say anything and in ten seconds later I had gun in my face.”
Matt Dillon portrays whites as people that lost everything to blacks and other minorities that didn’t earn their position but get it as affirmative action, he claims, “and then the city council decides to give minority own companies preferences in city contracts, and overnight my father looses everything, his business, his home, his wife; everything! And not once does he blame you people.” referring to the black woman at the office who refuse to sign him a medical insurance paper because his father wasn’t with him. And then he makes himself more clearly and says “I can’t look at you without thinking the five or six more qualified white men that didn’t get your job.” This is what fuels his racism as a white cop, this poor guy can’t get insurance for his sick dad because this black woman isn’t feeling compassion for him and he must be the victim of affirmative action.
I can say that no race is portrayed decent in this movie but when it comes to European Americans their depiction was generally not that bad because they were victims of racism themselves but if they try to do something about it they will be seen as racists.
