Crash Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in Crash

Crash

Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in Crash

Crash is a 2004 film that analyzes racial and social tensions that are rampant in society. Crash is divided into a series of vignettes that converge through a series of automobile accidents. The film features an all-star cast that includes Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito, Michael Pena, Chris Bridges, Sandra Bullock, Brendan Frasier, Terence Howard, Ryan Phillippe, Larenz Tate, and Thandie Newton. Issues of race and ethnicity, in addition to gender, can be seen in the storyline that involves Dillon, Phillipe, Howard, and Newton.

In the film, Matt Dillon plays racist LAPD Officer John Ryan and Ryan Phillipe is his more tolerant partner, Tom Hansen. In the film, Ryan and Hansen pull over TV director Cameron Thayer and his wife, Christine, because the vehicle that they are driving matches the description of a vehicle that was recently stolen. In the first encounter between the four is not only prompted by the fact that the vehicle that the couple are driving matches the description of a vehicle that was stolen in the vicinity, but it is also motivated by racial profiling. In the film, prior to the encounter between Ryan, Hansen, and the Thayers, two black men have just stolen a black Lincoln Navigator. Just as Ryan and Hansen hear the description of the vehicle and the suspects, the Thayers drive past them in a black Lincoln Navigator. While it was necessary and prudent for Ryan and Hansen to pull over the Thayers based upon the vehicle description, once they realized that the Thayers did not match the suspects' descriptions they should have been let to continue their journey home. However, fueled by previous frustrations, Ryan decides to further interrogate and harass the Thayers; Hansen, on the other hand, tries to convince Ryan that the Thayers vehicle is not the one that they are looking fore because the license plate numbers do not match, the driver appears to be in his forties, and it seems unlikely that the driver would go out and take a drive through the city shortly after stealing the vehicle (Crash).

Ryan uses his position of authority to intimidate the Thayers and take advantage of the relationship between the Thayers to further establish his dominance as both a white male and a police officer. While Ryan follows police protocol, he takes liberties with procedures. He creates tension by treating the Thayers as though they were criminals and not a couple that was pulled over for a routine stop. Additionally, Ryan was looking for a reason to pull them over and even tells Hansen, "They must have been doing something," as to insinuate that regardless of the fact that the Thayers' Navigator is not the one they should be looking for, they are still probably guilty of something due to their race.

The most despicable thing that Ryan does is sexually violating Christine Thayer under the pretense that he is patting her down to ensure that she is not carrying any weapons. By violating Christine, Ryan not only asserts his dominance as a police officer, but also asserts his dominance as a white male as Cameron Thayer is helpless to defend his wife against Ryan because he fears the repercussions, especially since Ryan is looking for any excuse to harass them.