Intersectionality in Crash: A Look into Anthony In the world of sociology and the studies of human interaction, the term intersectionality has been defined as, “the idea that various biological, social, and cultural categories – including gender, race, class, and ethnicity – interact and contribute towards systematic social inequality” (“Definition of Intersectionality – Sociology”). However, as Dr. White defined the term on the Spring 2014 Final Writing Assignment sheet, these categories that make up one’s identity can “intersect or interact in ways that can either advantage or disadvantage the person’s well-being and development” (White). In regards to the text, David M. Newman’s Identities & Inequalities: Exploring the Intersections of Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality, Newman progressively explores the concept of intersectionality throughout the entirety of the text, but he does not ever actually define the term itself. Although an exact, clear-cut definition of the term “intersectionality” has not been officially established, the concept of the term is fairly simple to understand. Every person has different social identities that they carry to their name. Intersectionality is simply an analysis of how those different identities play off of each other and how they affect the person they are describing. In the 2004 film Crash, directed and written by Paul Haggis along with fellow screenplay writer Bobby Moresco (“Crash: Full Cast & Crew”), the entire storyline of the film is heavily influenced by intersectionality and skewed perceptions of other social groups within society. The character that I am choosing to focus on specifically is the character Anthony, played by Christopher Bridges (also known as Ludacris). Anthony’s ... ... middle of paper ... ... that the film opens with. While the story may be slightly dramatic and pieces of the story “coincidentally” seem to fall into exactly the wrong place at the wrong time causing the tragedies in the film to happen, the events in this film are entirely capable of being a reality. Racism and prejudice continue to be prevalent issues in our society, but like Anthony, we can learn to overcome anything that holds us back from putting unity into practice and making our world a better place for everyone. Works Cited Crash. Dir. Paul Haggis. Lions Gate Entertainment, 2004. DVD. "Crash: Full Cast & Crew." IMDb. IMDb.com, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 2 May 2014. "Definition of Intersectionality - Sociology.” Boundless. Boundless.com, n.d. Web. 2 May 2014. White, Sharon Lee. "Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality in the film Crash.” Blackboard, 28 Apr. 2014. Web. 2 May 2014
...enarios where mainly Derek breaks away from what is socially accepted in his (before) social group. Race is a main focus in the film, there’s an encounter where a black male does something good for Derek, making him realize not all black people are restricted to their
This demonstrates to us that no matter how much your legal or moral laws are violated, what matters is how you as an individual react to the situation, justly or unjustly. This movie is centered around the notion that if you are a person of ethnic background, that alone is reason for others to forsake your rights, although in the long run justice will prevail
The 2004 movie, Crash, involves stories about Caucasians, African Americans, Koreans, Iranians, Hispanics, rich, poor, criminals, cops, powerless, and powerful, and the actions and effects of racism. Funny thing is, all the characters are both victims and guilty of racism. These feelings of resentment and prejudice causes the characters to “crash” against each other, and the consequences are observed all throughout the movie. In the beginning, a black male, who is a detective, talks about how people need to “crash” into each other in Los Angeles to feel the sense of touch from people. The first scene involves Ria, a Latina woman, who gets hit from behind in a car accident, by an Asian woman. Both of them blame and makes racial
The movie Crash follows the lives of several different people living in Los Angeles within a two day span. Each character faces different conflicts in their daily life majority of them being caused by racism. The characters of the movie all have separate stories, but each story will connect them with another person in the movie. Some people are discriminated against because of their race but also say racially insensitive comments towards another person in the movie. The main issue explored in Crash is the racism people deal with in their day to day life. Almost every character is either a victim to racism or prejudiced.
At its best, Crash as a microcosm of America’s racial climate. It emphasizes and upholds many of the country’s beliefs on race, and shows true stereotypes that plague the minds of some people today. Individually, each of the films characters, develop generalizations show some type of discrimination or racial aspect that we can learn from.
Crash focused on race and the effects it had on the lives of people living in the Los Angeles area. The movie showed how everyone was effected by race weather they there racist themselves or a victim of racism; many times they were linked. Despite what many people thing, or would like to believe, the world has not changed as much as we would like to think. Marilyn Fryes essay Oppression said that “The experiences of oppressed people are that the living of ones life is confined and shaped by forces and barriers which are not accidental or occasional and hence avoidable.” (Rohenberg CITE) Throughout Crash you see examples of this over and over again. Racism and oppression are still a major issue in the world and unfortunately a lot of the time
Crenshaw explains the concept of intersectionality as a description of the way different types of oppression can be experienced by one person all at once. She uses the analogy of traffic at an intersection to explain intersectionality. Consider a situation where there is traffic in a four-way intersection where the traffic is coming from all four directions. Discrimination is each flow of traffic. If an accident happens in that intersection, it could be caused by cars traveling from any one of those directions or from all directions. Crenshaw’s central argument is that Black women in particular are discriminated against in ways that often do not fit neatly within the legal categories they are often put in and because of this legal and institutionalized framework, Black women are often rendered legally “invisible”. Crenshaw describes several discrimination-based lawsuits to illustrate how Black women’s complaints often fall between the cracks precisely because they are discriminated against both as women and as black persons. The ruling in one such case, DeGraffenreid v. General Motors, filed by five Black women in 1976, demonstrates this point
Crash is an Oscar winning, American drama from 2004 written, directed and produced by Paul Haggis. The film is about racial tensions and the effect it has on people showing their daily lives in Los Angeles, California post 9/11. The film asks hard hitting questions about racism and shows harsh realities that are normally avoided. Has an in your face approach, very raw and heart heavy. Shows reality that is normally avoided. Crash actually evolved from a real life incident where Haggis had his porsche stolen outside of a video store in 1991 in Los Angeles. There are a variety of races in this movie, hispanics, blacks, whites, asians and a particular persian family. Instead of
In order to contextualize the issue of intra-group violence against Black women, it is important to understand the role that intersectionality plays on these women. There are many factors that can make a person who they are. These factors can include race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, etc. Nevertheless, a person cannot di...
The term ‘intersectionality’ was originally used by Crenshaw (1989, 1991), a legal theorist, in a discussion of the lack of explicit non-discrimination protections for Black women (reference to article). In the early twenty-first century, the term is generally used as a way of understanding and analyzing the complexity in the world, in human connections and experiences (reference book what is intersectionality). As Audre Lorde (1982) states, ‘There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not live single-issue lives.’ (slide 9- reference ppp) Struggles of social inequalities are shaped by various factors in diverse, dynamic and mutually influencing ways (reference book). Thus, in order to examine them, we need a tool that
Basic human rights issues need to be addressed; with a feminist’s perspective, the oppression of people based on class, race, gender, sexuality, nationality, and physical ability can be clearly examined and abolished. A feminist’s ideological tool, “Intersectionality”, can help us better understand systematically determined levels of oppression. Redlined real estate developments, discriminating businesses, and racist incarceration rates, need to be examined with an intersectional lens. Intersectionality, the concept behind the intersectional lens, is an elaborate equation of one's intersecting traits. These intersecting traits are as follows: class, race, gender, sexuality, nationality and physical ability. Monique Wittig addresses how intersectionality
Another scene in “Crash” shows an individual in the film being racist, and employing prejudice towards others simply because they believe they have the right to do so. One of the scene is, Daniel, a Hispanic locksmith is assumed to be a member of a gang simply because he has a shaved head and tattoos. His appearance causes doubts and mistrust. For example, Jean, a white middle class woman fears Daniel will give copies of keys to the gang. In her case, it confirmed that Jean holds negative outlook towards dark-skinned men. Her comments about Daniel going out and giving the keys to his “homies” are racially
The film, Fruitvale Station, is based upon a true story of a young, unarmed African American male, Oscar, who was shot by a Caucasian BART police officer. The film displays the final twenty-fours of Oscar Grant’s lives going through his struggles, triumphs, and eager search to change his life around. There will be an analysis of the sociological aspects displayed throughout the movie that show racism, prejudice, and discrimination.
There are numerous race and social issues from the film that relates to real world terms such as the struggle of poverty, obtaining power and wealth to discrimination.
In the Oscar award winning movie Crash, directed by Paul Haggis, a network of characters portray the lifestyles of different races in Los Angeles. In the movie, characters “crash” into one another, similar to pinballs, to spur new emotions and explain their actions. A main character Anthony, an African American male, steadily tries to prove why he does not and will not fall into the black male thug stereotype. He was slightly close minded and repeatedly had a negative outlook towards his environment. Anthony created contradictions between what he said and what his actual intentions were. His actions were guided by his environment and further analysis of them will prove his motivation.