The author writes "since the disruption of the colonized/colonizer mind-set is necessary for border crossings to not simply reinscribe old patterns, we need strategies for decolonization that aim to change the minds and habits of everyone involved in cultural criticism," so that black women are not, like the author says she was in her twenties, "inwardly homeless." (5; 9) This state of inward homelessness, or lacking a coherent identity is something, hooks acknowledges, that can be experienced by all marginalized peoples and ethnic groups in contemporary society -- and only by acknowledging the fact that we are all potentially, inwardly homeless, can the pain of past prejudice be assuaged. The flexibility and instability of perceptions in "Crash," is not simply stressed in the script's continual, structured contrast between media representations and 'the real.' Even within the context of "Crash's" 'real life,' individuals who are non-white are continually misread in the eyes of those who attempt to ascribe conventional cultural narratives to the identity of 'others.' Pre-existing assumptions prevent individuals from seeing the actual person standing before them. For example,...
The Iranian man is similarly subject to accepting misleading cultural narratives when he sees a Mexican locksmith as a thief, because of the man's perceived ethnic identity. This suggests that culture is itself based on lies, and even perceived 'outlaws' can buy into it. The only solution, hooks suggests, is "to fully integrate the love ethic into a vision of political decolonization that would provide a blueprint for the eradication of black self-hatred," and the self-hatred (which is sometimes directed outward, at other marginalized groups as in the Iranian's case) caused by prejudice. (236) Only when one accepts the mutability of one's self and identity, and one's ties to perceived 'others' as well as accepts the differences between one's self and others (such as nonwhite and white women) can the institutionalized conceptualizations of racism affecting American culture begin to be undone.
The scene where Ryan touches Cameron's wife shows us that there is this distorted belief white authority posses: that they can do whatever it is they want because they have been given the authority of the law and the authority of society as a superior race. The white authority uses this to its own advantage, to pursue its own desires and interests, all the while denying others the respect
Crash Paul Haggis's 2005 drama Crash is a vehicle for exploring social tensions in the United States. Although a huge portion of the film is devoted to race relations, prejudices, and stereotypes, an important meta-narrative also permeates Crash. That is, the film subverts the traditional Hollywood norm to "present working people not only as unlettered and uncouth but also as less desirable and less moral than other people," as Parenti puts
It is about person-to-person interactions, and though many -- most, even -- of the interactions in Crash are racially charged, race itself is not actually the focus. Haggis takes a far more narrow and specific view of the issue, according to UC Davis' Hsuan L. Hsu writing in Film Criticism. He points out that it is not actually any racial factor that leads to the stereotyped views helped by
The old man is involved in a bad accident with his white van, and his wife has an accident on her way to the hospital. We see her being angry and mean at the accident and with the nurse in the hospital, but our feelings are reversed when we understand the pressure and strain she is under having thought that her husband was dead. Then comes the ultimate reversal
Jean believes that because the locksmith is Hispanic, tattooed, and has a shaved head, he is a gang member and will immediately sell a copy of the Cabot house key to one of his associates thereby putting the Cabot's in jeopardy once again even though he is not a menace. While the "menace to society" archetype influences perceptions of minorities, the "manipulator" prototype influences behavior. For instance, Officer Ryan is
' Anthony, an actual resident of the street, sneers at white perceptions of how blacks talk in the media: "You think whites go around callin' each other honky all day?" While Anthony's theft of the SUV is clearly shown to be destructive, socially as well as morally, the film also shows how black inner city views of law and order have evolved in such a negative and polarized fashion: the
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