by Maribeth Woods

Created on: April 28, 2009

Crash is a movie set in Los Angeles, California that has heightened racial and social tensions which are depicted through some of the major characters in the movie. The movie starts with a white couple, by the name of Rick and Jean Cabot who are about to drive home until two African Americans carjack them. Rick is a district attorney for LA, and tries to campaign the fact that he is racially open to all, even though he had just been carjacked by African American males. Jean is openly racist, and wants the carjackers captured and orders all of the locks on the house be changed. During this time, her racy attitude heightens and she often will blame their Hispanic maid, Maria for little things such as forgetting to empty the dishwasher. The two carjackers are Anthony and Peter who are not only friends but partners in their crime activities as well. Anthony believes that everyone is racist, and feels that African Americans have no place in society within sections of LA. Peter feels that sometimes Anthony is too obsessed with this racist notation and often laughs about how much he stresses over it. Peter is also the younger brother of Graham, who is an African American detective, and who is trying to restore the faith in diversity among the law. He is the son of a drug addicted mother, and also does not want to acknowledge the truth of his brother's crimes.

Rick is probably the least deviant out of this mentioned characters so far, because he just wants to promote his campaign and he wants the public to know that he accepts all races. His wife on the other hand, is racist towards almost everyone that does not fit her standards. She finally sees her ways, when it is Maria who runs to her aid after she is injured and is the only one that is willing to listen to Jean's comments. Anthony is considered criminally deviant, because of his actions of stealing cars, willing to shoot people, etc. In a way he makes up for this, by releasing the immigrants in the end and not selling them for a profit. Peter is also criminally deviant, because he is involved in the same actions as Anthony, but not as severely. Anthony can almost appear innocence in the sense that he always travels with his St. Christopher figure, and cracks jokes constantly. He ultimately is killed in the end, by a rookie cop. Graham often goes against the flow of things, and wants to settle racist accounts. He wanted to prove that a racist white cop had shot a corrupt black cop, and didn't stop at anything to

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