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thinks it's no big deal and is offended so he proceeds to remove the object from his pocket. As he does this Hanson shoots and kills Daniel and the object in his pocket is revealed as a dashboard statue of St. Christopher. This shows a self discrepency between ones percieved self and actual self(Alcock, Carmen, Sadava 2005 & DiMatteo 2006).

"Per capita, eight times more black men are incarcerated more than white men, schools are a disgrace, there's a lack of opportunity, bias in the judicial system" (Haggis, 2004). This is a quote directly from Crash it describes the racism occurring in Los Angeles in the movie. This shows that everyone is aware of the racism yet it doesn't change. Crash is a movie charged with racism, prejudice and stereotypes. A lot of the scenes in Crash deal with these themes, one in particular occurs at the beginning of the movie. Anthony and Daniel two young black men are walking down a crowded well lit street in Los Angeles at night. Walking on the same side of the street but in the opposite direction is the District attorney of Los Angeles and his wife Jean. As they get closer to the men Jean clings closer to her husband as to act if she was cold. In the movie Jean's body language shows her fear and her true intention of moving toward her husband. The dialogue in this scene is particularly important in explaining the scenes importance: " Anthony: Look around! You couldn't find a whiter, safer or better lit part of this city. But this white women sees two black guys, who look like UCLA students, strolling down the sidewalk and her reaction is blind fear. I mean look at us. Are we dressed like gang bangers? Do we look threatening? No. Fact, if anybody should be scared, it's us; the only two black faces in a sea of over-caffeinated white people, patrolled by trigger happy LAPD. So why aren't we scared?' Daniel: Because we have guns?' Anthony: You could be right.' " (Haggis, 2004) After that dialogue both men proceed to run up to the white couple, threaten their lives and steal their car at gunpoint. A concept that is a central theme in Crash as a whole is the principle of stereotypes. Stereotypes are "ideas held by some individuals about members of particular groups, based solely on their membership in that group." (Alcock et al, 2005). The actions of the characters speak to a self fulfilling prophecy. The same phenomena happens in IQ defecit. People who are discriminated against often speak to those defecits.

This movie is much more than a movie. It provides a social commentary and opens the readers eyes to the world that is often difficult for them to see which is in front of them. Crash gives a modern day view on racism and its vital role in society, it forces the viewer to look at the challenge surrounding peoples' abilities to not judge a book by its cover; even if some books have the same colour cover.

Learn more about this author, Rosalia Dimatteo.
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