The film Crash is full of examples of the complications of Race, Class and Gender within various contexts (The notion that stereotypes and generalizations tend to become more dynamic as the individual’s context changes). Write about the way the movie as a whole connects with our notions of difference and circumstance from Unit 1. To do this, provide specific references from the movie as evidence to your central argument or thesis. Finally, end your blog post with a quesiton.

            In the film Crash, we see many interactions of people with different race, class, and gender. In most of the interactions we also see discrimination. In Unit 1, we went into detail about the social hierarchy, this same hierarchy was demonstrated in the movie Crash. A scene that really demonstrated the tensions between races was the scene where Jean Cabot, played by Sandra Bullock, gets carjacked. Mr. and Mrs. Cabot were a wealthy white couple, walking in a nice neighborhood in LA, however immediately when Mrs. Cabot sees the two black men, she felt uncomfortable. They did not look dangerous, they just looked like two normal UCLA students, however the fact that they were black made them not “normal” to her. In class we discussed how if one is black they have to “act black.” In our discussions we realized that acting black had to do with being violent. This violence is only encouraged when the rest of society expects it. That is exactly what played out in the scene. When Jean Cabot assumed the two men were violent because they were black, she reinforced violent behavior. Cabot is among many who help give groups, races, classes, genders, and people a self-fulfilling prophecy. A self-fulfilling prophecy explains why humans do what they think others will expect them too, positive or negative. Many expect black people to act more violent, which can cause many black people to feel that is their role. And when one stereotype is confirmed, a person may just begin to stereotype for everything. We see this right after the robbery. Jean Cabot comes home and notices that a Hispanic man is changing their locks. Immediately she has a panic attack to her husband and says that the man is a ‘gang member’ and is going to ‘sell the key.’ Again, she was not basing these stereotypes off the man himself, rather what is known of the Hispanic race. With the ladder in mind, it would be clear to her that she is much higher than the Hispanic locksmith. If she knew him, rather then blindly judged him, she would have found out that he was a quality man with great family values. However, after being mugged, she began to trust the stereotypes too much, making the infamous yet subconscious hierarchy dangerous.

If behavior can be influenced so easily by negative expectations, can we change society by expecting good from everyone?