Blog 2 - Crash

The film “Crash” is a highly effective movie at tying the cultural identities and issues of different groups together. The movie explains and interprets the different identities that we has individuals can relate to. The broad culture is that they are in the L.A. area, and it trickles down to different race, beliefs, occupations, and family. The goal of the interpretive approach to communication is “to understand and describe human behavior” (Martin & Nakayama, 2012). This movie depicts those relationships and emotions in a way that shows the deep meaning of our emotions and how it can connect and affect each culture.

The three key cultural patterns that I took from this movie are class, race, and family. This movie shows meaning into each of these cultural groups throughout the movie. Crash does an excellent job at developing the aspects to each culture and showing the relationship between them.

The first culture I recognized was class. This was very apparent with the communication by the rich wife and district attorney husband. Your Social class can majorly influence how you see the world and other cultures. When the couple had their car stolen from them, Sandra Bullock (the wife) reacted drastically. She didn’t like that someone of a lower class that she considered a gangster was changing the locks on the door. She clearly expressed her feelings towards the situation when she told her husband “You might mention it we’d appreciate it if next time they didn’t send a gang member?” (Crash, 2004) just based off of the locksmiths appearance.  She is very demanding in her tone of voice and emotion because she thinks they should get the best because of their status. I find it really interesting how easily she becomes full of herself and expresses it.

Towards the end of the movie, Sandra Bullock goes on a rant to her friend about who all she is frustrated with. “I am angry. Yes, at them. Yes, at them, the police, at Rick, at Maria, at the dry cleaners who destroyed another blouse today, at the gardener who keeps over watering the lawn” (Crash, 2004). These lines really reveal the demanding nature and culture that is there. The class differences are apparent when you look at house owners to housekeepers. The movie did express the “better than others” idea of culture but it did not develop much on the interactions with other members of the same level. The minimal parts seen reflected on the self-absorbed nature of her friends. 

Race is also a common theme found in this movie. The main characters stretched across a variety of races, including: White, African American, Hispanic, East Asian, and Persian. This diverse collection of characters brings together a connection that highly involves race in each individual culture. A key example is the two black car thefts who have an emotional connection with race and often use it as an excuse. When one flagged down the bus, the other yelled at him saying “You have no idea why they put those great big windows on the sides of buses! One reason only to humiliate the people of color who are reduced to riding on it.” This culture shows his emotional connection and his negative feelings towards being discriminated. His culture matters to him but he also thinks that there is no escape from the judgment. It is very ironic that he hates on the discrimination but he is following those exact traits that others expect.

 I thought communication associated with culture was clearly seen when one of the actors talked to the movie director about the African American guy not sounding black enough. The actor told the director “He is talking a lot less black lately. He is supposed to say don’t be talking about that. And he changed it to don’t talk to me about that” This clearly shows the culture developing and the reaction members of other cultures have to each other when there is change.

The last culture I identified is family. Family tied into each of the character’s as a common theme. Each couple or family developed their communication style, actions, and emotions towards their family and protecting each other. The communication style tended to be softer and more comforting when speaking with family than others because of this personal connection and care for each other. Whether it was the married rich couple, the African American movie director and his wife, or the multiple relationships with father and son/daughter, there was a high sense of family culture. 

One scene that I thought tied in with the communication accommodation theory, the change in verbal communication to facilitate understanding (Martin & Nakayama, 2012), is with the racist cop and his father. As a cop, he was very crude and displayed his insensitivity often. He changes his style of communication to get his opinion and words out clearly. When he is with his father; however, his communication style changes. He asked his father in the middle of the night how he was doing by saying “Pop, you ok?” instead of being direct or demanding. This connects with the family culture on the same level that it does with the Hispanic man and his daughter. When the dad has a gun pointed at him, the daughter runs up with her "protection cloak" and says “It’s ok daddy, I’ll protect you.” This moment in the movie was very inspiring and showed the compassion between family members. The Persian guy with the guy also realized the pain he could bring and how much his family matters to him as well.

I was very intrigued by how much culture was seen and how the ties to each culture were developed throughout the plot. The characters came from many very different cultures, but still had cultures that intertwined and made their identities intertwine. Crash does an excellent job at expressing culture on many different levels and shows us how our differences and choices on how to interpret it can make a difference.

Sources:

Haggis, P. (Director) 2004, Crash. U.S.A. Lionsgate

Martin, J.N. & Nakayama, T.K. (2012) Intercultural Communication in Context (6th Edition) Boston, MA. Mcgraw Hill 

Crash Trailer (2004)