Comments on: Crash and the City http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2007/05/07/crash-and-the-city/ Sat, 07 May 2011 16:36:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Brenda http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2007/05/07/crash-and-the-city/comment-page-1/#comment-235 Brenda Thu, 08 Nov 2007 04:52:26 +0000 http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2007/05/06/crash-and-the-city/#comment-235 I was shocked to see that the reviewer called Don Cheadle's police partner "Mexican partner and lover, Ria". There is a specific scene in the film dedicated to Ria explaining to her lover that neither of her parents are from Mexico, challenging Cheadle's assumption to lump all Hispanic countries together. Similarly, the locksmith and his family are never identified as Mexican in this film either. Clearly this is either laziness on the reviewer's part, or a hint of his or her own prejudice-- or just simply ignorance. I was shocked to see that the reviewer called Don Cheadle’s police partner “Mexican partner and lover, Ria”.
There is a specific scene in the film dedicated to Ria explaining to her lover that neither of her parents are from Mexico, challenging Cheadle’s assumption to lump all Hispanic countries together. Similarly, the locksmith and his family are never identified as Mexican in this film either.

Clearly this is either laziness on the reviewer’s part, or a hint of his or her own prejudice– or just simply ignorance.

]]> By: Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society » darkmatter - new online journal http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2007/05/07/crash-and-the-city/comment-page-1/#comment-20 Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society » darkmatter - new online journal Mon, 21 May 2007 00:51:09 +0000 http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2007/05/06/crash-and-the-city/#comment-20 [...] a poetic filmic mediation on the Coventry Ritz Cinema by Nirmal Puwar; a review essay on the film Crash by Paul Gormley; a review of Yinka Shonibare at the Musee de Quai Branly in Paris by Sara [...] [...] a poetic filmic mediation on the Coventry Ritz Cinema by Nirmal Puwar; a review essay on the film Crash by Paul Gormley; a review of Yinka Shonibare at the Musee de Quai Branly in Paris by Sara [...]

]]> By: Nazrafel http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2007/05/07/crash-and-the-city/comment-page-1/#comment-17 Nazrafel Thu, 17 May 2007 17:29:55 +0000 http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2007/05/06/crash-and-the-city/#comment-17 Interesting review, but the reviewer did not address the Asian characters at all. The Korean man and his wife are base sterotypes- greedy, engaging in human trafficing. There is not much to challenge the viewer there. Personally I felt like Crash did more to uphold existing stereotypes than to challenge the viewer to question them. (As was hinted at in the discussion of the Iranian shopkeeper). Other than the cartoon-ish portrayal of the the Asian characters, the most disturbing aspect was the scene where Tate and Chris were discussing the stereotyping of Black Americans and then they pull guns on the upper class white couple and carjack them. There is a not-so-subtle subtext in American culture currently which is blatent in the film: that yes, there is sterotyping, but it is based in fact. White people think young black men are dangerous because they, in fact, ARE dangerous. If you happen to be a black man who is not dangerous, please understand that sterotyping you is a necessary precaution, unfortunate, but necessary due to reality. THIS is a very dangerous view to promote. While Crash may serve to update the cinimatic image of Los Angeles- moving it away from a place where powerful individuals can change and affect it to a place where individuals are crashing into each other like subatomic particles, I feel that the message regarding the caucasian view of race and inter-racial relations is not only NOT progressive but REGRESSIVE and does nothing to challenge white viewers to hold a more complicated view of those that they see as "others". Interesting review, but the reviewer did not address the Asian characters at all. The Korean man and his wife are base sterotypes- greedy, engaging in human trafficing. There is not much to challenge the viewer there. Personally I felt like Crash did more to uphold existing stereotypes than to challenge the viewer to question them. (As was hinted at in the discussion of the Iranian shopkeeper). Other than the cartoon-ish portrayal of the the Asian characters, the most disturbing aspect was the scene where Tate and Chris were discussing the stereotyping of Black Americans and then they pull guns on the upper class white couple and carjack them. There is a not-so-subtle subtext in American culture currently which is blatent in the film: that yes, there is sterotyping, but it is based in fact. White people think young black men are dangerous because they, in fact, ARE dangerous. If you happen to be a black man who is not dangerous, please understand that sterotyping you is a necessary precaution, unfortunate, but necessary due to reality. THIS is a very dangerous view to promote.

While Crash may serve to update the cinimatic image of Los Angeles- moving it away from a place where powerful individuals can change and affect it to a place where individuals are crashing into each other like subatomic particles, I feel that the message regarding the caucasian view of race and inter-racial relations is not only NOT progressive but REGRESSIVE and does nothing to challenge white viewers to hold a more complicated view of those that they see as “others”.

]]> By: max http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2007/05/07/crash-and-the-city/comment-page-1/#comment-11 max Mon, 14 May 2007 13:26:50 +0000 http://www.darkmatter101.org/site/2007/05/06/crash-and-the-city/#comment-11 I enjoyed this review very much. I agree with its approval of the fragmented, non linear format, reflecting the impossibility of proposing a satisfying, beginning-middle-end narrative for 'race' in America. But I'd be rather more positive about the cultural politics of the film. It's a considerable achievement, I think, for a big budget US movie to present the moral complexity of so many of the racialised groups it puts on the screen. As radicals, we probably want to see these groups becoming politically powerful (well, maybe not the ones which the white protagonist stands for!) but that would have required a quite different type of film . . . I enjoyed this review very much. I agree with its approval of the fragmented, non linear format, reflecting the impossibility of proposing a satisfying, beginning-middle-end narrative for ‘race’ in America. But I’d be rather more positive about the cultural politics of the film. It’s a considerable achievement, I think, for a big budget US movie to present the moral complexity of so many of the racialised groups it puts on the screen. As radicals, we probably want to see these groups becoming politically powerful (well, maybe not the ones which the white protagonist stands for!) but that would have required a quite different type of film . . .

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