the review of the movie "Crash"
...e, but also in reality L.A confronts many racial, economical issues every single day. Joanne Laurier said in her article that ¡°The Los Angeles metropolitan area has a population of sixteen million. It is home to more poor people than any other urban area in the U.S.; some 2.1 million residents, including one of every three children, live in poverty. The city is home as well to extraordinary and extravagant displays of wealth, particularly associated with the entertainment industry¡± (Laurier). Due to these backgrounds of L.A., fourteen years ago, one of the worst race riots in U.S. history erupted in Los Angeles. In 1992, four white Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers were acquitted for the beating of a black motorist, Rodney King. The rage over the decision quickly led to violence and civil unrest, with the city erupting into flames and chaos. For three days, people looted stores, set fire to buildings, and destroyed especially sections of South Central Los Angeles and nearby Korea town. Fifty-five people died, eventually, neighborhoods were left in ruins and the damage was estimated at over a billion dollars. A decayed expanse of stucco houses and aging factories, South-Central has long served as a door to L.A. for immigrant minorities. During World War II and aftermath, blacks settled there, drawn by work in rubber plants and other industrial ventures. Later, black-owned retail in the area was brought up by Koreans who couldn¡¯t afford stores in more expensive areas. And L.A.¡¯s fast-growing Hispanic population began to move in, advancing block-by block. The intriguing point is that people¡¯s perception of this riot was totally different depending on where they stood, and where they stand now, what they saw and felt, and who they are. It is just a matter of not creating walls, but looking over them. The movie Crash also showed the different attitudes of people towards on different races through each other¡¯s social, racial and economical backgrounds. The story of the Crash took just one day of the lives of several different people on the financial and cultural status in L.A.; each one of people in the movie connected and affected each other¡¯s life. An Iranian was thought to be an Arab, although Iranians are Persian. Because of this misunderstanding, even one day, when his store was broken into, the walls had been sprayed ¡®Towel-head¡¯ and ¡®Go Back to Iraq¡¯. Not only just White people, but also other different ethnic groups consider all the Middle Eastern people as terrorists. Then, both the Iranian and the white wife of the district attorney believed a Mexican-American locksmith was a gang member and a crook, but in fact he was a loving and devoted family man. The district attorney was so caught up in his re-election image, he cared not about any ethnic rudeness he poured out on those around him. Graham, a black cop, was trying to be a man of integrity in a world that¡¯s unfair, but he was not above exploiting race in heated exchanges. He, also, was having an affair with his Latino partner, but never cared to get it straight exactly which country she was from. An idea of prejudice, described by this movie, is not entirely different from the one that Psychologist, Gordon Allport illustrated in his book named The Nature of Prejudice; explaining how a prejudices person opposed the truth in this conversation: Mr. X: ¡°The trouble with the Jews is that they only take care of their own group.¡± Mr. Y: ¡°But the record of the Community Chest campaign shows that they give more generously, in proportion to their numbers, to the general charities of the community, than do non-Jews.¡± Mr. X: ¡°That shows they are always trying to buy favor and intrude into Christian affairs. They think of nothing but money; that is why there are so many Jewish bankers.¡± Mr. Y: ¡°But a recent study shows that the percentage of Jews in the banking business is negligible, far smaller than the percentage of non-Jews.¡± Mr. X: ¡°That¡¯s just it; they don¡¯t go in for respectable business; they are only in the movie business or run night clubs¡± (Psychological Self-Help). Even Allport brought out this idea in the 1950¡¯s, still there is no change about the fundamental concept of prejudice. A prejudiced person, like Mr. X, already has a mind-set to hate Jews that a few facts won't stop him. The movie also showed that a Mexican is always not a gang member, but people around them quickly judge him by his appearance and information that we have heard through the media. We all are fractured, biased, and blind in some way. At least, once, we may have this experience: reacting differently to the person who cuts us off in traffic depending on his color or smiling at one stranger and then flinching at the next. I am no exception to this either; always verbally and mentally I...