crash movie analysis sociology

Sociological Principles in the ‘Crash’ Movie Research Paper

Introduction, sociological themes.

‘Crash’, the movie, brings together characters with unrelated backgrounds and experiences. Their narratives appear parallel, but, as the plot unfolds, their lives become entangled turning into a complex tale spanning 24 hours. It brings to the fore the issues of racial tension and prejudice inherent in American society. The main sociological principles seen in the movie are ethnic stereotypes, gender roles, cultural/racial identity, ego-defensive prejudice, and social aggression, among others.

Ethnic Stereotypes

A major sociological principle evident in the movie is ethnic stereotypes. Stereotypes are the overgeneralizations people make the “behavior, appearance, or traits” of persons from a particular ethnic or social group (Benshoff & Griffin, 2009, p. 12). Ethnic stereotypes in ‘Crash’ emerge from poorly conceived notions and perceptions of racial or ethnic groups. The white police officer, John Ryan, holds overt stereotypical beliefs about black minorities. He believes the operator, Shaniqua Johnson, was favored over “five or six qualified White men who didn’t get the job” ( Crash 2005). He sees her as an operator not keen on assisting others because she was not hired on merit. Further, the cop abuses his power by indecently touching a black woman in the presence of her husband who was subdued by a second officer. These episodes portray the officer as a person with ingrained stereotypical beliefs about minority populations.

The ethnic stereotype is also seen when Jean grabs her husband’s arm when they see two African-American men approaching their car. Her fear stems from preconceived notions about black men. She tells her husband that, as a white woman, walking away from black men is not a sign of racial intolerance. The two African-American men turn out to be carjackers, reinforcing Jean’s stereotypical beliefs. After the incident, the couple calls a Hispanic locksmith to replace the locks in the house. Again, Jean argues that the locksmith could be a “gang member with a shaved head and pants around his ankles” who could give the keys to “gangbanger” members ( Crash 2005). Her comments portray her as a person holding stereotypical beliefs about minority groups. Other examples of stereotypes include the white pawnbroker believing the Persian male has terror links and the Persian linking the Hispanic to a break-in at his store.

Traditional Gender Roles

The second sociological theme evident in the film is traditional gender roles. The film depicts how inflexible gender roles influence social behavior. The traditional male gender role as the protector is illustrated in an episode where Officer Ryan frisks the wife of a film director, Cameron, ostensibly to search for weapons. She accuses her husband of not protecting her from the humiliation because he does not want people to “realize that he is actually black” ( Crash 2005). She is unhappy that Cameron failed in his protector role. The male’s protector role is also seen when the Persian American shopkeeper purchases a firearm to protect his family from burglars. However, her daughter gives him ‘blanks’ for the gun instead of ammunition. Her action saves a locksmith’s daughter when the gun goes off after a confrontation between the shop owner and the locksmith following a robbery incident. Thus, the episode reiterates the traditional female gender role of intuition and non-violence.

Cultural Identity

Another sociological theme in the movie is cultural identity. Farris (2007) defines identity as an “abstract, multifaceted concept” present in all intercultural interactions. In ‘Crash’, two black young men are seen arguing endlessly about the history and rise of black culture from the 1960s to modern-day rap music. Their debate also focuses on socioeconomic disparities and social classes. According to Farris (2007), the two men are attempting to define their cultural identity and place in the larger culture. Another dimension of cultural identity development is racial identity. The race is a “social construct” that resulting from an attempt to separate people into categories (Farris, 2007, p. 347). The film director, Cameron, is seeking to find his place as a minority in a world dominated by white filmmakers. He feels estranged from either group and appears to be in a racial identity crisis.

Ethnic identity is a recurring theme in the movie. The characterization of the whites, blacks and Latinos, Asians, and Middle Easterners relates to their ethnic identities. Whiteness is portrayed as superior and conforming to the image of a protagonist (Ray, 2007). The white characters in the film come across as the officials or prejudiced persons. On the other hand, blacks and Latinos are depicted as less sterling individuals in society. The two black men walking towards the white DA and his wife are seen as carjackers. The white cop also belittles Shaniqua due to her ethnic background. Benshoff and Griffin (2009) observe that, in the film, the whites see Latinos as “radicalized stereotypes” with most of them becoming assimilated by the white majority (p. 5). The film paints a picture of the cultural identities associated with Latino immigrants.

Ego-defensive Prejudice

Ego-defensive prejudice also occurs as a sociological theme in the film. It is the social prejudice that people display without feeling the need to justify it (Benshoff & Griffin, 2009). In the film, the black police detective calls his girlfriend ‘Mexican’. This could be understood as a clever way of being derogatory in a subtle way. This subtle prejudice is also seen when the officer tells her that she should know that her people are not allowed to park in their yards (Benshoff & Griffin, 2009). In ego-defensive prejudice, people disparage others through casual and offhand remarks or actions.

Racial prejudice is also seen in the way Asians are depicted in the movie. The ‘Chinaman’ is almost killed in a hit-and-run incident involving two African American males. Later, we learn that the ‘Chinaman’ is a human trafficker who houses illegal immigrants in his vehicle. Thus, the depiction of the Chinese as an illegal immigrant trafficking in humans is a prejudiced portrayal of Asians. The movie also makes a mockery of the Arabs as individuals with terrorist ties. The Persian man in the film procures a handgun to protect himself from social ‘othering’ or prejudice. As Ray (2007) puts it, ‘othering’ emerges when a dominant culture associates an “undesirable trait with a specific group of people” (p. 353). Due to the terrorist attacks propagated by terror elements in the Arab world, the Persians suffer prejudice and ‘othering’.

‘Crash’ also brings into the fore the issue of aggression, loosely defined as physical or verbal behavior that harms another person’s emotions or status. The Persian American shopkeeper is hostile to the people he interacts with. He even purchases a handgun to protect his family and property from robbers. His hostility may stem from socialized values and perceptions that social aggression is the only way minorities can survive in America. He pursues a locksmith accusing him of being behind a robbery at his store. During the ensuing confrontation, he fires his weapon. He could have harmed the locksmith’s daughter had the gun been loaded with live ammunition. Thus, the shop owner believes that he has to be aggressive to others to defend himself and his investment from a hostile society.

The movie also depicts racism through the interactions between white and minority characters. Racism stems from stereotypical beliefs and social prejudice (Benshoff & Griffin, 2009). In the film, the white detective that fatally shot a black police officer is said to have also killed two African-American men before believing they had guns. It is clear that his actions are driven by racist motives. Another instance of racial prejudice is seen when the advisor to the DA and a black detective conspire to frame the white cop for murder. The charge of racism is prepared despite a lack of proof linking the white cop to killing black men in multiple cases. In essence, they deny the cop an opportunity for a fair trial and prosecution.

The characterizations and stereotypes in the ‘Crash’ typify the sociological issues the American society is struggling with today. The statement: “You think you know who you are. You have no idea”, captures the perspective of the film director on the cultural influences in a cosmopolitan society ( Crash 2005). We do not know how others perceive us or how other cultures shape our attitudes through interpersonal interactions. All the characters, regardless of their social or ethnic background, suffer prejudice stemming from stereotypical beliefs. The director wants us to reexamine our identities and cultural/personal flaws to change our perspectives, be understanding, and alleviate stereotypes and prejudice ingrained in our minds.

Benshoff, H., & Griffin, S. (2009). America on film : Representing race, class, gender and sexuality in the movies. New York: Blackwell Publishing.

Farris, C. (2007). Crash course: Race, class, and context. College English , 69 (4), 346-350.

Haggis, P. (Executive Producer). (2005). Crash [DVD] . Los Angeles: Bob Yari Productions.

Ray, S. (2007). Crash or how white men save the day, again. College English , 69 (4), 352-357.

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IvyPanda. (2024, January 22). Sociological Principles in the ‘Crash’ Movie. https://ivypanda.com/essays/sociological-principles-in-the-crash-movie/

"Sociological Principles in the ‘Crash’ Movie." IvyPanda , 22 Jan. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/sociological-principles-in-the-crash-movie/.

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IvyPanda . 2024. "Sociological Principles in the ‘Crash’ Movie." January 22, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/sociological-principles-in-the-crash-movie/.

1. IvyPanda . "Sociological Principles in the ‘Crash’ Movie." January 22, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/sociological-principles-in-the-crash-movie/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Sociological Principles in the ‘Crash’ Movie." January 22, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/sociological-principles-in-the-crash-movie/.

• Theory of Attitudes by Katz: Theoretical Framework
• How the Movie Crash Presents the African Americans
• Perpetuating Racism in “Crash” by Paul Haggis
• Suicide by Cop: Exploration, Definition and Issues
• "Crash" (2004) Crime Drama by Paul Haggis
• The "22 Again" Short Movie Analysis
• Police Corruption, Misconduct and Brutality: When a Good-Cop-Bad-Cop Routine Goes Wrong
• Beverly Hills Cop Film Analysis
• How America's Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic
• The Paris (COP 21) Agreement and Oil Mining in Chad
• Challenges Experienced by Syrian Refugees
• Social Work and Cultural Beliefs: Differences That Matter
• Social Welfare and Its Types: Post Analysis
• Social Welfare and Cultural Influences
• Impact of the Populace on Funding Sources

by Paul Haggis

• Crash Summary

The film opens with a commentary by Detective Graham Waters . He and his partner, Ria , have been involved in a car accident with an elderly Asian woman. Ria exits the car and exchanges a series of racially charged insults with the woman. It is revealed that the accident occurred while Waters and Ria were en route to a crime scene. Waters exits the vehicle to investigate the discovery of a “dead kid.”

The film cuts to “yesterday,” as Farhad , a Persian shop owner, and his daughter Dorri are purchasing a weapon at a gun store. Aggravated with Farhad’s indecision, the owner of the gun shop begins insulting Farhad’s race, at one point calling him “Osama.” Farhad becomes irritated with the owner’s insults, and he is ultimately escorted away from the premises. Dorri, left alone with the store owner, insists that she purchase the bullets that come “in the red box.”

Across town, Anthony and Peter , two young black men, discuss the stereotypes they face as African Americans. After noticing the discomfort of Jean Cabot as she passes them on the street, Anthony and Peter carjack Cabot and her husband, who also happens to be the Los Angeles District Attorney. Following their robbery, they call Daniel Ruiz , a Latino locksmith, to change the locks at their house. After seeing Daniel, Jean is insistent that her locks be changed again in the morning—she is worried that Daniel will give a copy of their keys to one of his “gang banger friends.” After hearing this comment, Daniel decides to leave the keys on Jean’s kitchen counter.

Waters and Ria arrive at the scene of a shooting between two drivers, and it is revealed that both shooters are undercover police officers. The dead shooter, a black male, appears to have carried a large amount of cash in his trunk at the time of his death. The surviving shooter, a white male, has previously shot and killed two other black men without legal consequence. In another sequence, LAPD Officer John Ryan calls a health insurance company on behalf of his father. After he fails to receive the answers he desires, Ryan racially insults Shaniqua Johnson , the representative on the other line.

Ryan enters his squad car, and the viewer is introduced to his partner, Officer Tom Hansen . After seeing a vehicle that looks similar to the one that has been carjacked, the two pursue the black Navigator. During their pursuit, they discover that a passenger in the car is performing a sexual act on the driver. Despite discrepancies in the vehicle’s descriptions, Ryan insists that they pull over the Navigator. As they order the couple out of the car, Cameron Thayer , a television director, cooperates, while his wife, Christine, is argumentative. Annoyed with her frustration, Ryan molests Christine during a supposed “pat-down.” The couple is let off with a warning, but Cameron and Christine get into an intense argument about Cameron’s passivity during Christine’s assault.

Arriving home after a long day of work, Daniel finds his five-year-old daughter, Lara, hiding under her bed. After Lara tells Daniel she is afraid of the gunshot she heard outside, Daniel gives her an “invisible impenetrable cloak” to protect her against all danger. The scene cuts to Anthony and Peter, who are arguing in the SUV they have carjacked. Engrossed in their debate, Anthony runs over a Korean man. The victim is severely injured, and after Anthony and Peter take a moment to argue what to do with him, they ultimately decide to drop him in front of a hospital.

Disgusted by Ryan’s behavior the night before, Officer Hansen talks to his boss, Lieutenant Dixon, about switching partners. Dixon, a black officer, is insistent that Ryan not be exposed as a racist—doing so would cost everyone in their division their jobs. In order to separate himself from Ryan, Dixon suggests that Hansen lie and claim to have “uncontrollable flatulence” so that he can ride in a one-man car.

Ryan visits Shaniqua Johnson in-person to beg for a different health plan for his father. Recognizing Ryan from his racist comments over the phone, Johnson orders to have the officer removed from her property. Before he leaves, Ryan insults Shaniqua again, calling her an affirmative action hire. Meanwhile, Daniel repairs a broken lock at Farhad’s shop. Though he fixes the lock, Daniel explains to Farhad that the door frame is broken. Farhad, who does not understand English well, thinks that Daniel has “cheated him.”

The following morning, Farhad finds that his store has been broken into and defaced with graffiti. The insurance company refuses to cover the damages, as they claim that the defective door is a result of Farhad’s negligence. Feeling that Daniel has wronged him, Farhad vows to get revenge.

Detective Waters visits his weak, elderly mother in her run-down home. She begs him to search for his missing brother, and he agrees to help. Later, Waters arrives at an LA courthouse to deliver a verdict regarding the shooting between the two undercover officers. There, his boss instructs him to not reveal the presence of the cash in the black officer’s trunk in order to put forth an image of a non-racist LAPD. Though Waters disagrees with this verdict, he understands that he will be rewarded with a job promotion if he adheres to his superior’s request.

Jean Cabot comes home and sees that her dishes remain in the dishwasher. She becomes aggravated at Maria, her Latina maid. In another part of town, Officer Ryan encounters a grave car accident. As a first responder, he crawls into the overturned vehicle and finds Christine Thayer trapped inside. Once Christine recognizes Ryan, she becomes hysterical and refuses his assistance. However, after calming and reassuring Christine, Ryan rescues her from the vehicle seconds before it explodes into flames.

Anthony and Peter attempt to carjack another vehicle, which happens to belong to Cameron Thayer. After the events of the previous night, Cameron is incredibly frustrated and combative. Against Anthony and Peter’s request, he fails to exit the car. Anthony hops into the car, and Cameron begins driving erratically. A group of police officers, led by Officer Hansen, pursue Thayer and Anthony. The passengers are ordered to exit the vehicle, and Cameron decides to step out alone. He pushes against the LAPD, but Hansen, attempting to redeem himself for the night before, defends Cameron. Thayer is ultimately let off with a warning, and Anthony remains undiscovered.

In an effort to avenge Daniel, Farhad brings his gun to the locksmith’s house. From her home’s front window, Lara watches as the situation between her father and Farhad escalates. Lara decides to jump into her father’s arms so that she can protect him with her invisible cloak. Farhad shoots as Lara enters the scene, and Daniel, his wife, and Farhad all believe that the little girl has been shot dead. However, it is revealed that Dorri’s “red box” of ammunition was actually a box of blanks. Back at his store, Farhad tells Dorri that Lara is his “guardian angel.”

At night, Peter is hitch-hiking in a deserted part of town. He is picked up by Officer Hansen, who is initially friendly to his passenger. After noticing that a Saint Christopher statuette is on Hansen’s dashboard, Peter chuckles. Hansen interprets Peter’s laughter to be directed at him, and Hansen grows increasingly aggravated. Peter reaches into his pocket to reveal that he, too, carries a Saint Christopher statuette. However, Hansen wrongly assumes that Peter is reaching for a gun, and he shoots Peter before the statuette is revealed. Hansen dumps Peter’s body on the side of the road and sets his car on fire, thus destroying all evidence of his crime. The scene circles back to the film’s opening, and Peter is revealed to be Waters’s missing brother.

Following his attempted carjacking, Anthony is taking a city bus. He passes the scene where he hit the Korean man the night before, and he notices that the keys remain in the Korean man’s ignition. He steals the van, and, upon opening the trunk, he discovers numerous Cambodian immigrants chained inside. Anthony decides to drive the car to Chinatown and set the Cambodian human trafficking victims free. After their release, Anthony passes a car crash that involves Shaniqua Johnson. As Anthony drives away, he hears the exchange of a series of racial slurs between those involved in the car accident.

Crash Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Crash is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Anna was paired with Danielle and said she liked being her partner. She also says, ”I wonder now if Mr. Terupt knew what he was starting between me and Danielle” (37). What does she mean by this?

I litterally love these books, okay so Mr. Terupt just made a bond between Danielle and Anna when he had paired them together so they had starting talking more and more as time porgressed

Why didn't the insurance cover (Persian guy's) ruined store?

I believe the store wasn't covered because the door hadn't been fixed properly.

Why was Jean yelling at Rick in their house?

Jean yells at Rick because he doesn't take her seriously when she says she wants the locks changed.

Rick: You've had a really tough night. I think it would be best if you just went upstairs right now and... Jean: [Interrupting] And what? Wait for...

Study Guide for Crash

Crash study guide contains a biography of director Paul Haggis, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Crash
• Character List
• Director's Influence

Essays for Crash

Crash essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Crash directed by Paul Haggis.

• The Damaging Treatment of Racism and the Assertion of Stereotypes in “Crash”

Wikipedia Entries for Crash

• Introduction

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Admit It, ‘Crash’ Has Influenced a Generation of Stories About Race

Despite being the subject of ridicule these days, the Best Picture–winning ensemble left a pronounced mark on the way film and television explores race and identity

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Last year, I watched Lovecraft Country , and by the eighth episode, I couldn’t stop thinking about Crash . A few weeks ago, I started watching The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and the second episode got me thinking about ... Crash . Thirty minutes into Antebellum , I was thinking about Crash . Them ? Crash . Slave Play ? Crash . Boogie ? Crash . Malcolm & Marie ? I see Cameron and Christine from Crash .

There are modern race dramas, such as Get Out and Small Axe , which launch artful interrogations of racial dynamics; and then there are modern race dramas that, in their melodramatic excess, for the most part just remind me of Crash . Despite its dismal reputation these days, Crash may well be the most influential film in my various streaming queues.

Crash tracks more than a dozen characters, intertwined by racialized encounters with each other, for a rough 24 hours in Los Angeles. Crash pits whites, Blacks, Latinos, Asians, and Iranians in a dog-eat-dog struggle for validation. If only, Crash proposes, these people could slow down and perceive one another beyond the level of stereotype and resentment. Crash isn’t just a movie about race. It’s a movie about pluralism, distinguished—and, I’ll argue, overburdened—by its ensemble structure, designed to cram a wide variety of racial perspective into one potent fable. Director Paul Haggis says he set out to challenge the progressive hypocrisies in pluralist bastions such as Los Angeles. “It was a social experiment,” Haggis told The Huffington Post a few years ago. “I wanted to fuck with people.”

Released in May 2005, Crash cleaned up at the box office, earning nearly $100 million worldwide against a budget of just $6.5 million. It was also a relative critical success, particularly in the eyes of the Academy, which nominated the film for six Oscars, including Best Picture. Crash went on to win that award, in addition to Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing. Roger Ebert lauded the movie upon its release. “I don’t expect Crash to work any miracles,” Ebert wrote , “but I believe anyone seeing it is likely to be moved to have a little more sympathy for people not like themselves.” But a curious development happened over time: Crash encountered critical backlash. “I’ve never actively hated a movie as much as Crash ,” Gene Demby wrote in one retrospective. “Its basic premise seems to be that personal animus is the well from which racism springs, and that absolution from racism can be found in being violently forced to relinquish one’s bitterness.” Ta-Nehisi Coates described the movie and its great acclaim as “the apotheosis of a kind of unthinking, incurious, nihilistic, multiculturalism.”

In the 16 years since the release of Crash , the U.S. has rushed through a series of milestones in race relations: a Black president, a new chapter in the civil rights movement, a white backlash, a U.S.-Mexico border wall, and now a national uptick in violence against Asian Americans. Hollywood has answered these shifts with new, hard-sought commitments to diversified casting and diversified stories. I never thought I’d live to see Warner Bros. distributing a star-studded movie about Fred Hampton. Now Crash stands—and decays—as a monument to a previous, naive phase. But more than any other movie about race, Crash has left a deep and abiding impression on big-budget entertainment with anti-racist convictions. With each passing year, Crash seems a bit more ridiculous in hindsight, and yet new dramas seem nonetheless determined to propagate the movie’s worst faults.

For its first 30 minutes or so, Crash introduces the many stereotypes that overpopulate the movie: the bigoted white police sergeant, John (Matt Dillon), and his naive junior partner, Tom (Ryan Phillippe); the Black carjackers, Anthony (Ludacris) and Peter (Larenz Tate); the fearful white socialite, Jean (Sandra Bullock); the light-skinned Black Hollywood couple, Cameron (Terrence Howard) and Christine (Thandiwe Newton); the tattooed Latino locksmith, Daniel (Michael Peña); and several others. Gradually, Crash subverts and reforms the stereotypes, the characters forced to confront each other in situations that put their prejudices to the test. Race is, by design, Haggis’s one and only idea about any of these characters. Crash betrays its heartfelt performances and some clever character drama with ridiculous contrivances to raise racial tension—the one and only motivation for anything—in every character arc. Take, for instance, Graham (Don Cheadle) and Ria (Jennifer Esposito), two police colleagues engaged in an affair. They’re having sex when Graham takes a phone call from his mother. Graham, a Black man, then cuts the call short by telling his mother, “I’m having sex with a white woman,” before hanging up. Ria, who is Puerto Rican and Salvadoran, objects to being described as a white woman. Graham then jokingly regards Ria as Mexican and wonders why Mexicans park their cars on their lawns.

In interviews, Haggis gets very defensive about this particular scene. He says he intended the race humor in the earlier parts of the movie to disarm the audience and sow misdirection about the movie’s dramatic bearings. It makes sense on a conceptual level. But what is this scene? Was there really no better way to introduce Graham’s mother while raising the racial tension in Graham and Ria’s relationship? Crash , at every turn, veers toward absurdity in order to illustrate bigotry—a substance that’s often a lot more variable and nuanced than the characters in this movie.

Cameron and Christine in particular resemble the couple in Malcolm & Marie , starring John David Washington and Zendaya. In the movie, Malcolm and Marie have an overwrought argument about racial condescension in film criticism, and they never seem to have a genuine romance so much as they have an ugly, running discourse. Malcolm and Marie’s clashes more or less resemble the moment when Cameron and Christine turn on each other, in a vindictive argument about assimilation, after John profiles Cameron and sexually assaults Christine at a traffic stop. That particular excess in Crash —John sexually assaulting Christine—gets me thinking about Antebellum , starring Janelle Monáe. Antebellum follows Black captives on a remote plantation run by violent white Confederate antebellum reenactors, including a man who repeatedly rapes Monáe’s character, Eden. This is all in service of some wildly overstated point about how much hasn’t changed in Black-white relations (since slavery).

Even the Marvel Cinematic Universe has gotten a bit busy and ridiculous in its characterization of racial strife. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier pairs Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) in a buddy-dramedy struggle to succeed the retired Captain America. Naturally, Sam succeeding Captain America would stir some tension; Sam is Black, and Captain America, played by Chris Evans in the movies, isn’t just white. He is, or seems, prohibitively white. Here you have the basis for some decent race drama. But then The Falcon and the Winter Soldier lurches to tedious extremes. A bank denies Sam’s application for a home loan, a commentary on disparities and discrimination in lending. Sam and Bucky meet Isaiah Bradley, a disgruntled Black veteran of the Korean War, and his backstory turns out to be a commentary on the Tuskegee Study. Moments later, the police profile Sam as a potential criminal nuisance to Bucky. Taken individually these are sensible bits of racialized drama. But taken all together, and lacking any coherence or depth, they suggest there’s a cringeworthy shortcut being taken in a show that’s otherwise about a robot bird man and his grunge sidekick.

Among the many characters in Crash , Jean seems truest to Haggis’s mission “to bust liberals.” She’s also one of the more sensible characterizations in this largely senseless movie. She’s a wealthy, white woman who second-guesses her prejudices in the moment before the carjacking and then resents her hesitation after the fact. Jean sulks at home, ragging on her housekeeper, Maria, until the larger truth dawns on her in a dour phone conversation with a friend. “I am angry all the time,” Jean says, “and I don’t know why.” Otherwise, Crash employs a certain bluntness, verging on cartoonishness, in announcing each character’s prejudices despite the supposed sophistication of the more progressive characters, and often in wildly incongruous contexts. The very worst case is Tom. He spends the whole movie disgusted with John’s stereotyping before risking his life and career to make amends with Cameron, only to transform into a vengeful redneck blasting country music as soon as the hitchhiking Peter settles into his car in the final act. Who is this character and where did he come from all of a sudden? He seems born from Haggis’s inability to translate the variety of his cast into a variety of characterizations.

There’s one recent example that struck me as the most reprehensible fiction I’ve seen in a while. Lovecraft Country stages its eighth episode, “Jig-a-Bobo,” during the mourning for Emmett Till. The mourning brings two characters, the Black woman Ruby and the white woman Christina, into a bizarre, anachronistic confrontation about white fragility. It culminates with Christina hiring two men—no, I’m not making this up—to reenact Till’s murder on her. This isn’t a brave racial reckoning nor a subversive character drama. This is Crash .

I don’t even hate these things. The several episodes of Lovecraft Country before “Jig-a-Bobo” are great! But I fear a generation of storytellers who should know better—the sort of storytellers who would happily ridicule Crash— have learned all the wrong lessons from this ludicrous movie. Crash used bigotry as a shortcut. Whatever strong feelings you might have about the characters (as thin as they are) are for the most part due to their situation in a larger racial conflict. It’s certainly not due to the artful particulars of their character development. There’s only one great scene—well, apart from all the great scenes with Anthony and Peter together—in Crash . It’s a scene I mentioned earlier, and it’s the simplest scene in the movie: Jean at home alone, pacing her bedroom, venting on the phone to her friend, saying, “I am angry all the time, and I don’t know why.” It’s a modest, but poignant resolution for a character who can learn and grow only so much in a story spanning 24 hours. It’s a small truth with real insight into the nature of prejudice at the personal level. But no one remembers this scene. They remember the goofiest, melodramatic moments in Crash . They remember the cringe. And it shows.

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"Crash" tells interlocking stories of whites, blacks, Latinos, Koreans, Iranians, cops and criminals, the rich and the poor, the powerful and powerless, all defined in one way or another by racism. All are victims of it, and all are guilty it. Sometimes, yes, they rise above it, although it is never that simple. Their negative impulses may be instinctive, their positive impulses may be dangerous, and who knows what the other person is thinking?

The result is a movie of intense fascination; we understand quickly enough who the characters are and what their lives are like, but we have no idea how they will behave, because so much depends on accident. Most movies enact rituals; we know the form and watch for variations. "Crash" is a movie with free will, and anything can happen. Because we care about the characters, the movie is uncanny in its ability to rope us in and get us involved.

"Crash" was directed by Paul Haggis , whose screenplay for " Million Dollar Baby " led to Academy Awards. It connects stories based on coincidence, serendipity, and luck, as the lives of the characters crash against one another other like pinballs. The movie presumes that most people feel prejudice and resentment against members of other groups, and observes the consequences of those feelings.

One thing that happens, again and again, is that peoples' assumptions prevent them from seeing the actual person standing before them. An Iranian ( Shaun Toub ) is thought to be an Arab, although Iranians are Persian. Both the Iranian and the white wife of the district attorney ( Sandra Bullock ) believe a Mexican-American locksmith ( Michael Pena ) is a gang member and a crook, but he is a family man.

A black cop ( Don Cheadle ) is having an affair with his Latina partner ( Jennifer Esposito ), but never gets it straight which country she's from. A cop ( Matt Dillon ) thinks a light-skinned black woman ( Thandie Newton ) is white. When a white producer tells a black TV director ( Terrence Dashon Howard ) that a black character "doesn't sound black enough," it never occurs to him that the director doesn't "sound black," either. For that matter, neither do two young black men ( Larenz Tate and Ludacris), who dress and act like college students, but have a surprise for us.

You see how it goes. Along the way, these people say exactly what they are thinking, without the filters of political correctness. The district attorney's wife is so frightened by a street encounter that she has the locks changed, then assumes the locksmith will be back with his "homies" to attack them. The white cop can't get medical care for his dying father, and accuses a black woman at his HMO with taking advantage of preferential racial treatment. The Iranian can't understand what the locksmith is trying to tell him, freaks out, and buys a gun to protect himself. The gun dealer and the Iranian get into a shouting match.

I make this sound almost like episodic TV, but Haggis writes with such directness and such a good ear for everyday speech that the characters seem real and plausible after only a few words. His cast is uniformly strong; the actors sidestep cliches and make their characters particular.

For me, the strongest performance is by Matt Dillon, as the racist cop in anguish over his father. He makes an unnecessary traffic stop when he thinks he sees the black TV director and his light-skinned wife doing something they really shouldn't be doing at the same time they're driving. True enough, but he wouldn't have stopped a black couple or a white couple. He humiliates the woman with an invasive body search, while her husband is forced to stand by powerless, because the cops have the guns -- Dillon, and also an unseasoned rookie ( Ryan Phillippe ), who hates what he's seeing but has to back up his partner.

That traffic stop shows Dillon's cop as vile and hateful. But later we see him trying to care for his sick father, and we understand why he explodes at the HMO worker (whose race is only an excuse for his anger). He victimizes others by exercising his power, and is impotent when it comes to helping his father. Then the plot turns ironically on itself, and both of the cops find themselves, in very different ways, saving the lives of the very same TV director and his wife. Is this just manipulative storytelling? It didn't feel that way to me, because it serves a deeper purpose than mere irony: Haggis is telling parables, in which the characters learn the lessons they have earned by their behavior.

Other cross-cutting Los Angeles stories come to mind, especially Lawrence Kasdan's more optimistic " Grand Canyon " and Robert Altman's more humanistic " Short Cuts ." But "Crash" finds a way of its own. It shows the way we all leap to conclusions based on race -- yes, all of us, of all races, and however fair-minded we may try to be -- and we pay a price for that. If there is hope in the story, it comes because as the characters crash into one another, they learn things, mostly about themselves. Almost all of them are still alive at the end, and are better people because of what has happened to them. Not happier, not calmer, not even wiser, but better. Then there are those few who kill or get killed; racism has tragedy built in.

Not many films have the possibility of making their audiences better people. I don't expect "Crash" to work any miracles, but I believe anyone seeing it is likely to be moved to have a little more sympathy for people not like themselves. The movie contains hurt, coldness and cruelty, but is it without hope? Not at all. Stand back and consider. All of these people, superficially so different, share the city and learn that they share similar fears and hopes. Until several hundred years ago, most people everywhere on earth never saw anybody who didn't look like them. They were not racist because, as far as they knew, there was only one race. You may have to look hard to see it, but "Crash" is a film about progress.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Crash (2005)

Rated R for language, sexual content and some violence

112 minutes

Sandra Bullock as Jean

Don Cheadle as Graham

Matt Dillon as Officer Ryan

Jennifer Esposito as Ria

William Fichtner as Flanagan

Brendan Fraser as Rick

Terrence Dashon Howard as Cameron

Ludacris as Anthony

Directed by

• Paul Haggis
• Robert Moresco

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Crash Movie Analysis - Essay Example

• Subject: Sociology
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10 Movies with Sociological issues: Analyze Movies Sociologically

Movies have played a vital role in our lives ever since they were introduced as a form of artistic expression. They play a huge part in entertainment, representation, raising of awareness, and exploring aspects of society that were previously unventured. Sociological analysis of movies helps to discover and examine various aspects of movies that cater to societal issues and areas.  Through this essay, I will be tracing the importance of examining sociologically and how to examine movies sociologically by exploring a series of ten movies that are important for sociology students to watch and their importance.

Introduction

Film and sociology have a link that is similar to the relationship between “culture” and “structure” in society. Similarly, irregularities also between cinema and sociology, are analogous to those between culture and sociology . It is important to analyze films sociologically because the stories, characters, sets etc are all in one way or another a depiction of society and these depictions are important to the spectator’s relationship and this relationship contributes to everyday life. Movies have come to be major socializing agents, through which people idolize the characters or fictitious universes portrayed through films. Analyzing films sociologically helps us identify the various ways in which different movies contribute to various narratives about gender, religion, families, education, nationalism , etc. in our society. It also helps in understanding the extent to which its influence reaches for good and bad outcomes in society.

How to analyze movies sociologically?

An author or researcher might acquire insight into not only a particular director or writer’s concept, but also how modern society understands itself and its society by reviewing the film from a sociological standpoint. There are a few steps involved in successfully analyzing a movie sociologically. Firstly, Identify the various sociological themes and terminologies in a movie – This can be done by trying to pick out and examine the various institutions and social actors that play parts during the course of the movie. These can include the government, family, educational institutions, religion, marriage, kinship etc. Try to recognize the relationship the protagonist and the people associated with them have with the respective social institutions they come in contact with. Pick out different observations – By doing so one can pick out the key events and players in the movie that contributed to the kind of message it sought to portray. These observations can be in the form of behaviours, reactions to certain events, dialogues, negative/ positive ones etc. Ask yourself whether the movie seeks to reflect a connection with real-world problems– Try to establish a connection with the events of the real world and the ways in which the events in the movie contribute to the creation of viewpoints and perspectives about societies at large today. Also, seek to assess the ways in which it fits the social narrative of the time it represents and the time it came out. Establish a sociological argument – Using the various evidence and observations from the movie, one must now focus on one or more key elements to focus on to create a viable sociological argument. In order to further develop this argument, make sure to utilize direct quotes from the movie, or scenes, or plotlines, or dialogues etc. to make your point.

10 Movies for Sociology Students

• The Great Indian Kitchen (2021)

There are so many aspects in this film that come into play, namely the institutions of family, marriage, and kinship, the perpetuation of patriarchy and sexism, and the blatant disregard for anyone that is not a heterosexual male. It is quite the universal story of a newly married woman being driven straight into a lifetime of enforced and unacknowledged household labor, day in and day out, while her husband has the opportunity to go about his day as he wishes. Like a vast majority of Indian marriages, this was also an arranged marriage where the couple barely knew anything about each other. From the first day she steps into her husband’s house she is subjected to a life only meant to serve her husband, the same trend of life going on with her father and mother in-laws. Be it the constant disregard for any of her opinions, barring her from going to work in the name of family, being asked to ‘adjust’ to the uncomfortable conditions in the house, being shamed for her menstruation, asked to partake in sexual activities everyday regardless of her choice in the matter etc., all sum up to the unhealthy and discriminative trends that are very much prominent in patriarchal systems around the world, especially in regions like India. “In India, like in many other parts of the world, the burden of unpaid care work normally falls on women. According to an International Labour Organization report, in 2018 women in Indian cities spent 312 minutes a day on unpaid care work. Men did 29 minutes” (Pandey, 2021). Throughout this movie, we can see her utmost discomfort in the way of life she was made to live and the movie takes a positive turn into her fighting for her own liberation and using her voice to fend for herself. Exhausted and absolutely having reached a highly saturated point, she takes of from her sexist, discriminative marital home and divorces her husband. But in the very same ending there is a depiction of the remarriage of this ex-husband to a new woman who will now be subjected to the same torturous treatment. This movie goes to show in a very raw form the monotony and exhaustiveness of continues unpaid labor married women are expected of, them being shamed for the natural processes of menstruation, and no matter how educated, the responsibility of maintaining a household being solely theirs while the husband takes little to no responsibility. This is a very true reality of societies in India and this movie does a great job in planting thoughts against these regressive practices in the minds of the people who watch the film.

2. Super Deluxe (2019)

The movie starts off with the portrayal of adultery committed by a woman with her ex-boyfriend, in the absence of her husband at home. Everything goes topsy-turvy upon the ex-boyfriend’s sudden demise mid intercourse; from then on having the unhappy married couple struggle to dispose off the body discretely. Then we’re taken to Raasukutti, a young boy awaiting his estranged father’s return, after years of having abandoned him and his mother. The father does return after all, only now, as a woman. Throughout the movie, we see how Shilpa [prev. Manickam], struggles in the face of prejudice, and backlash from society upon her newfound courage to embrace her true identity. Along with that, the story of four friends on the quest of buying and watching a vulgarity, film is shown to us where, upon watching the movie, one of the boys realize that the actress in the movie is his own mother. In a fit of rage, he breaks his friends’ TV and ends up hurting himself accidentally later on. From there we see this story splitting into two. One, the injured boy’s mother’s struggle to get him treated at the soonest as his father relies wholly on the power of the divine; and two, the rest of the boys are on a mission to gather up enough money to buy a new TV before they get in trouble, upon which they find themselves drowning in more. Clearly, we can see the interplays of social concepts like Family, Marriage, Gender, Sexuality, Sexism and Religion. It is quite appalling to note how the boy resorted to calling his mother derogatory terms as the discovery of her in the vulgarity film came to be seen as a huge dishonour to him. Later on in the movie, the mother goes on to say that what she does is not a big crime, that it’s just a job like any other. She talks about how if there is a vast audience to view such films, there need to be actors to execute that, and how it is ironic that although it is considered normal to watch p@&n worldwide, the actors are shamed for it. The idea of ‘righteousness’ is constantly manipulated and redefined to fit one’s own needs and concepts of self and the other. Within this prejudiced behavior of society, it is the women that suffer the larger chunk of criticism. As if women aren’t objectified enough, society uses sex workers and what they do as a justification to objectify them even more and use that as a license to see them as less than ordinary people. Even in the case of Shilpa, the trans woman, it is clear how anyone who isn’t the typical heterosexual, and more importantly male, faces sexism in some form or the other. We can see its portrayal in the movie beyond the gender binary in Shilpa’s case as a trans woman. She is automatically seen as less of a parent upon her return as a woman, although her own child does not feel any sort of difference in seeing her as a mother now instead of a father. She is constantly perceived through the lens of perversion and treated no less than an object or something unnatural. The movie also highlights beautifully how our social constructions of gender, cultures, traditions etc, in their entirety, are just tools used to give our lives instruction and fill the innumerable gaps that we come across in our conquest of life. They are all mechanisms that humans utilize in the process s of meaning-making. They involve an alien in the film, who’s there to observe the world, and watch till when human beings will stop the whole act of playing pretend and finally be ready to see and accept the world in its rawest sense.

3. Malik (2021)

The movie Malik is composed of class conflicts, religious conflicts, resultant communal violence and unlawful political agendas by government systems. The movie depicts politicians as they use the system and people to develop projects that devastate communities and the environment while padding their pockets. While we wait to see how the police apprehend Sulaiman before he travels for Haj, the film focuses on the young Sulaiman, who begins his career as a smuggler and a daring risk-taker who also wants to help the Muslim and Christian populations in his backward coastal location. However, crime is a dangerous path, and while the community looks up to him, the bureaucracy is obligated to intervene in his illicit actions. And then when things go tough, we see how the system of government pits brother against brother with ruthlessness. These are the kinds of stories that need to be told. The movie does a fabulous job of highlighting the atrocities that marginalized communities have to go through due to the actions of those in power and how no authoritative figure can be fully trusted as the people are always prone to be subject to manipulation. It also shows us how communal and religious conflicts to are often sparked as a result of some inherent government propaganda. Politicians influencing people – owing to our system, a theme that may be addressed in various different ways such as minority communities experiencing a difficult time getting forward, and individuals set against each other. Malik highlights key concerns of our day in a captivating way.

4. Ennu Ninte Moidin (2015)

‘Ennu Ninte Moideen’ is based on a true story about love, hope, anguish, sorrow and loss in the lives of two people from conservative families – Moideen – a Muslim teenager, and Kanchanamala – a Hindu girl – set in 1960s Calicut. Despite the families’ long-standing secular beliefs in society, the families are shocked and outraged when they learn of their children’s love. Interfaith marriage was frowned upon at the time, and the mayhem began with the families severing all ties. Kanchana was forced to stop her studies and placed under “home arrest.” Moideen was banished from his house after refusing to marry a woman chosen by his family. His father cut him out of his will and refused him a portion of the family property under pressure from town elders, even attempting to kill him by violently barging into the house with a country gun, and shooting Moideen. Despite many major injuries, Moideen managed to make a miraculous escape. His father stabbed him twenty-two times for giving a critical remark in public on another occasion, but Moideen survived. His father violently barged into the house with a country gun and shot Moideen. Despite many major injuries, Moideen managed to make a miraculous escape. His father stabbed him twenty-two times for giving a critical remark in public on another occasion, but Moideen survived. They try to run away in their 40s, after Kanchanamala’s siblings had settled down upon marriage, but each and every time they failed owing to unexpected circumstances. For more than two decades, the pair, on the other hand, clung to weak strands of hope. Through the course of the whole movie, we can trace how the institutions of family, marriage, religion and kinship come into play in the two protagonists’ lives. The unreasonable restrictions and control that family and religion have over an individual’s life is concerning and remains to be a reality in the world constantly. There have been multiple cases of ‘honor killings’ in India in the name of inter-caste marriages clearly showing the negative influence oppressive family systems and religious beliefs have on people.

5. PK (2014)

Throughout the movie we see PK employ many trial-and-error approaches to understand society’s basic rules, conventions, and practices throughout the film. He navigates life without being criticized or ridiculed by using the social psychology concepts of compliance and informational influence (watching others around him to examine and assess behaviors that are deemed proper and improper).  The movie also focuses on latent unconscious prejudices and biases that people have while evaluating others or events in general. More particularly, he targets unconscious prejudices in the film by addressing religion, which is a taboo subject in popular society. Although discussing religion in just about any media form can be challenging, the film’s multiplicity of religious portrayal is laudable and demonstrates the producers’ genuine desire to appeal to a broad audience without portraying any faith in a poor way. There are quite a few moments in the movie where PK is trying to learn about the human mind and their ways of life. The ways we label each other by means of our religion, cultures, and physical appearances; all that we learn through various firms of socialization and relationships we form in our lives. For example, in one scenario, PK mentions how people think someone wearing a turban is Sikh; but, if he removes the turban, people may mistake him for a Hindu. Likewise, in one society, wearing white represents death, but in another, brides wear white for weddings. PK repeatedly questions the social systems of spirituality, deity, religion and ritualistic behaviors throughout the film as he tries to understand and apply them to his issues.

6. Kaala (2018)

This superhit film was known to trace very important concepts of caste conflicts, caste-based violence, class struggles, land disputes, state-sponsored violence, etc. Whenever the hero meets, fights, and becomes a savior, colony dwellings are razed with bulldozers, as depicted in Kaala. However, the site is reduced to ‘housing’ in all of these renderings, with the land remaining a passive ground. Kaala stresses on the underlying importance of land and how it is fought. Kaala takes the viewers through various elements that portray land to be a living space:  as a whole life form built through the labor of its Dalit-Bahujan (beyond individual identities, the majority of downtrodden castes and classes who are robbed of their title to land by the current caste and class hierarchy) residents. It then goes on to highlight the complexities of evictions—legal attempts at forcible eviction, the complexities of talks involving various actors and their internal conflicts and ambitions, and, most crucially, organized mass opposition. Furthermore, it promotes the Dalit-Bahujan concept of land as something more than just real estate worth, as opposed to framings that reduce it to a business transaction for “better housing.” Kaala is fascinating in the way it brings our attention to a lot of what’s going on around us, although unwittingly. It is deeply anchored in our times and in our reality, and there are not many films in the industry that can depict it to such a level. It discusses, things like, riots, protests, slum clearance, and police killings. Kaala’s villain also reflects a form of contentious politics that is all too familiar to us as well. The film examines the relationship between oppressed people and oppressors. Whilst evictions and relocation on the outskirts of cities are frequently justified on the basis of housing needs, one must be wary of reducing the intricacies of Dalit-Bhahujan lives entwined with the land to mere “needs,” which is nothing more than a reduction of the complexities of Dalit-Bhahujan lives intertwined with the land itself. The finale works so well because the downtrodden can only find true redemption via unity, education, and knowledge, not through the informed voice of a single leader.  Although individuals can be are fallible, ideologies cannot.

Also Read: Dalit Capitalism

7. Sancharram – The Journey (2019)

Sancharram is a refreshing change of pace in Indian cinema, illustrating the story of two Malayalee women in high school, Kiran and Delilah, who fall in love. Delilah, the outgoing, popular, and mischievous girl, and Kiran, the quiet, contemplative, and aspiring writer, have been close friends since childhood and are deeply attracted to each other. The movie goes over important topics like the lack of freedom of female sexuality, homophobia, the influence of families in the lives of queer individuals etc. For the most part, the plot is around how the characters cope with their desires and how their families react to it. The film is set in Kerala, with its lush greenery, ponds and rivers as well as all of its romanticism. For the most part, the plot is around how the protagonists cope with their desires and how their families react to it. Through the role of another girl in their class who appears to have been “betrayed” by her boyfriend, Sancharram also examines topics relating to sexuality as a whole in our culture. While they are being shunned by their peers, it is this girl who displays a glimmer of support for Kiran. The subtle comedic critique of heterosexual standards portrayed in numerous ways, but personified in the decent Malayali boy – Rajan who is in love with Delilah – provides comic relief in the film. The parents of the two women learn about their relationship, partly via Rajan, and all hell breaks loose. There is quite often a question on how ‘queer’ representations in movies especially one from the early 2000s, filled with heterosexual representation only would look. Sancharram is a good example. It is a narrative about two women told in a way that will appeal to everyone who is involved in a romantic-relationships that do not precisely follow sexuality and gender norms.

8. The Hate You Give (2018)

On the surface, The Hate U Give appears to be one of the very few films to openly address the huge wave of police killings of African-Americans, evoking the fatalities of Philando Castile and Sandra Bland. The film covers effectively the existence of racial divisions in America, systemic racism experienced by back people of all ages, police brutality etc. The film depicts the numerous and complex ways in which institutional racism makes life in general difficult for many African-American families. It’s also a compelling portrayal of a young lady finding her own political agency at a point of time when several societal forces are conspiring to take it away from her. Furthermore, the characterization of Maverick, the devoted father of this young woman, serves as a crucial counterpoint to the overused cliche of the absent African-American father. Upon the violent killing of her African-American friend by a cop, she fears for her life and limits the use of her voice to speak up about these issues, but as the movie progresses she regains her voice to speak for herself and her community. Rather than vilifying individual cops, “The Hate U Give” focuses on the downfalls of the system as a whole. Teenagers frequently feel weak and useless, believing they lack the freedom and agency to make choices, but people like Starr empower them. The youth’s eyes light up with hope as they notice the improvement in her voice and confidence. Racism, bigotry and discrimination are all too common among teenagers and children and become lives they are conditioned to get used to. The youth will keep suffering from the hatred directed at them until the world breaks free from this spiral.

9. Moothon (2019)

Moothon covers areas of gender identity, queer relationships, the effect family as an institution has on an individual and the dangers faced by vulnerable sections of society. It narrates the tale of a Lakshadweep orphan named Mulla who sets out to find his long-lost brother Akbar. When he arrives in Mumbai, he discovers that his brother has become a Kamathipura gang lord. Akbar’s rage for retaliation for previous tragedies clashes with Mulla’s search for acceptance and love. The movie shows us how men, too, are victims of the patriarchal societal order that harms women, as this film demonstrates. Two guys suffer in silence, kill their ambitions, and wreck their lives due to societal pressure in a flashback sequence. Mulla leaves Lakshadweep in search dressed as a boy to conceal her true gender identification for obvious reasons that is expressed through her conflicts with her gender identity. Not only are young girls at risk, but so are vulnerable young boys. And it is via traumatic situations that she learns this. The male gender’s sense and the notion of security and security has been broken. The film also seeks to portray queer love between Akbar and a man named Ameer. The fervor and anxiety that Akbar experienced on his journey to Ameer’s house when he was alone is not just something that LGBTQIA+ persons alone have experienced or understood. It was a more commonly understood concern. Akbar and Ameer do not kiss on TV, but their on-screen affection is much more genuine and purer than a forced kiss. Moothon has struck up a conversation about queer representation in the public eye and mainstream media.

10. The Truman Show (1998)

Finally, The Truman Show was a masterpiece that was lauded by most of its viewers for its incredible ability to cover so many facets integrated into society such as religion and God, the entertainment industry, media, fake vs. true reality etc. The story revolves around Truman Burbank’s life. Truman was officially adopted by a big television network company at birth to be the unwitting star of a television series in which his entire existence was broadcasted to millions of people via a complex system of hidden cameras. With the exception of Truman, everyone in this imagined universe is an actor. Truman is the only “real” person in this fabricated, artificial universe; his mother, father, and wife are all paid extra actors. The television network had been on a never-ending effort to keep Truman unaware of his condition by manipulating his environment throughout his life. Truman’s eventual revelation of the true state of his reality and epic escape from the manufactured world are shown in the film. It is a satirical movie with a religious symbolism that is carefully crafted. Christof is a shadowy personality with a God complex who, just for sake of ratings, utilizes his omnipresence to command Truman – both physically and mentally. He tries to convince Truman that Seahaven is better than what is on the outside, but Truman had not seen enough to make his own conclusion. Truman spends the entire time searching for the truth about what lies over his world’s borders. All of this is, in the end, a reflection on society and how we view religion. In fact, the film is a scathing critique of Christianity. It claims that even if there is a real God, our existence is ultimately fictitious. Nothing can be random; nothing is our decision; everything is under the power of something we aren’t even aware of. Finally, ‘The Truman Show’ is a statement on the power that the media wields over people and society. This beautifully foretells the present political status of the world. The movie shines light into the evils of commercialism by depicting how Truman himself is a victim of commercialization and is merely a product to the ones who own him. The Truman Show isn’t just a parody of any fictitious civilization depicted in the tale. We are the focus of the film. About how God is in charge of our life and. How we don’t have any control over our actions. Because our lives are ultimately fictitious, we all desire a sense of reality. We all watch pointless entertainment in order to feel something meaningful, but it has no lasting effect on us. The movie does a fine job in describing how media, the government, religion etc., are able to exercise so much power over us and how most of our free will is ultimately or partly an illusion.

Pupils and society understand themselves in the same manner that we interpret films. After all, sociology has a fictitious quality in the public’s mind. Even when we’re at our worst, despite the fact that many of us are rigorously empirical, we are nonetheless seen as offering more fiction than reality. The fact is that a common culture of human society in itself influences both movies and sociology. While it would be unwise to exaggerate their parallels, denying them would be equally wrong. In sociology, there is art at its finest and worst, but it is vital that we recognize the differences (Demerath, N, 1981, p. 81). Since we are constantly being exposed to the world of cinema and its various genres, it has come to become a vital player in our socialization process and directly or indirectly influences various perspectives we create about our societies. They also help students of sociology especially, to have access to various interpretations of the world at large through the lens of depictions of worlds within each and every movie of social importance.

Demerath, N. (1981). Through a Double-Crossed Eye: Sociology and the Movies.  Teaching   Sociology,   9 (1), 69-82. doi:10.2307/1317013

Pandey, G. (2021, February 11). The Great Indian Kitchen: Serving an unsavoury tale of sexism in home . BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-55919305.

Angela Roy is currently pursuing her majors in Sociology and minors in International Relations and History, as a part of her BA Liberal Arts Honors degree in SSLA, Pune. She has always been driven to play a part in changing and correcting the social evils that exist in society. With a driving passion for breaking down harmful societal norms and social injustices, she seeks to learn and understand the different social institutions that exist in society like family, marriage, religion and kinship, and how they influence the workings and functioning of various concepts like gender, sexuality and various types of socializations in an individual’s life. She envisions herself to play a vital role in building safe places for today’s marginalized communities and creating a world that is characterized by equity and inclusiveness, free of discrimination and exploitative behaviors.

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Analysis Of The Movie Crash In Terms Of Psychology, Sociology, And Feminism

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