Understanding Self and Others

After watching the movie crash a couple of times, I decided to mainly focus on Anthony who is played by Ludacris, who is an African American car thief. I felt that Anthony was a good character to choose for this character analysis because in my opinion he is the one character who had one view at the beginning of the movie, and by the end his views seemed to totally turn around. He was a very stereotypical man. Anthony’s view of people from another colour, race, gender or economic class was strongly offensive, he assumed that “white people” were always racist towards blacks. Did you see any white people waiting an hour and a half for spagagetti”(Haggis, 2004) Anthony was under the impression that although the waitress was black, she saw that they were black and were not going to tip. Anthony’s views of any other race they his own, is very negative, but in his eyes African American people should all stick together, and never go against each other. “Bias is not a bad word. Biases is an attitude or belief- it’s not until we act it out in behaviour that our bias affects someone else- it may advantage or disadvantage an individual or a group”( Valenti, 2011).

I felt that Anthony was very bias to cultures outside of his own, he was very stereotypical, with that being said, I would consider him to have a very negative attitude towards others with a different racial background. “She got colder as soon as she saw us” (Haggis, 2004), this was said by Anthony after noticing that Jean linked arms with her husband. Anthony just jumped to a conclusion that just because she was a “white” girl, she grabbed her husband’s arm to protect her from the “black” men. I think he is very self conscious and thinks that everyone has racial Character Analysis 3 iscrimination towards him. “ this white women sees two black guys who look like ucla students strolling down the sidewalk and her reaction is blind fear”( Haggis, 2004). He is very bias, because if instead of it having been Jean and her husband walking down the street, if it was Christine and her husband, I am highly sure that he would not of made those comments that he did, after all that being said, he decided to steal they’re truck anyways, just because they were white, and assumed racial discrimination.

When Anthony communicated with others he was the one being racist, and he assumed people made decisions based on their race. A perfect example of that is when he was talking to his friend Peter who is black, but is not African American like himself. Anthony: No, no, no, take that voodoo-ass thing off of there right now! Peter: I know you just didn't call St. Christopher voodoo. Man's the patron saint of travelers, dog. Anthony: You had a conversation with God, huh? What did God say? Go forth, my son, and leave big slobbery suction rings on every dashboard you find? Why the hell do you do that?

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Peter: Look at the way your crazy ass drive, then ask me that again! (IMDB, 1990) Although throughout the whole movie Peter was Anthony’s best buddy, and he was always with him, he still did not believe in what Peter believed in, he made fun of Peter because he wanted to put a statue of a Saint on the dashboard of the truck that was STOLEN, from the married couple. Anthony talks to others as if they are always incorrect or stupid. Anthony: That waitress sized us up in two seconds. We're black and black people don't Character Analysis 4 tip. So she wasn't gonna waste her time.

Now somebody like that? Nothing you can do to change their mind. Peter: So, uh... how much did you leave? Anthony: You expect me to pay for that kind of service? (IMDB,1990). This is another good example of how he interacts with others, he thinks everyone looks down to him, at the beginning of the movie he stated that all black people stick together, but after going to a restaurant and getting this poor service from a black waitress, he still finds away to turn it around as if people were hating on him because he is black, and took it into his own hands and decided to walk out without paying.

He made it seem like he got poor service because he did not tip, but maybe the waitress was the only one working and was extremely busy? , No according to Anthony everyone he interacts with his racist. In the beginning of the movie Anthony came out as a stuck up black man that was always right, and never wrong. He lived by the motto “Black people stick with they’re own kind” . His friend on the other hand took into consideration of others, and tried to help Anthony understand but he was too stubborn.

In the beginning of the movie, Peter and Anthony had no way of getting around so Peter waved down the bus, for them to take Anthony was shook by the fact and said “you have no idea why they put them big windows on sides of buses do you? ” Peter was curious was to why Anthony thought they put big windows on buses, any other person would just know they are there just to let some natural lighting in the bus, and to open windows on warm days, but Anthony stated “One reason only, to humiliate the people of colour who are reduced to riding on them. Anthony again assuming that only coloured people are meant to ride the bus and the Character Analysis 5 reason windows are on buses is so that people could look inside and laugh at them. Later on in the movie Peter and Anthony ran over a “china man” and Anthony wanted to ditch the Chinese man, and drive away. Peter then explained to Anthony how if they left him laying on the ground there was a high possibility that he would die. Anthony then began to understand, so they provided him for him and pulled him out from under the truck. Later on in the movie, Anthony was then seen riding on the bus.

It goes to show that his attitudes in the beginning of the movie did not reflect who is was near the end. He slowly began to realize that not everybody was against him because he was black. A specific scene that really caught my attention is when Anthony took the Chinese man’s truck and brought it to the shop to get cleaned up, and then realized there were a bunch of Asians in the back of the truck that had been locked up for only God knows how long, The man at the shop offered Anthony 500$ a body, and he decided to turn down the offer, and bring them into the city. He then gave money to one of them to go buy everybody chop suey.

I found that very positive of him to do, which really showed that there was a turning point from him, and he started to see situations in a more mature manner. I think the character that I feel I can relate to best is Jean Cabot. I think that I relate to her most is because when I was young, I was at my grandmothers house who lives in Jane and Finch, where the majority of the population is coloured people, and I heard a bang and just assumed it was a bang from a gun, and I went crazy and blamed it all on “black people” because they all have guns. I was then freaking out and made my grandmother ock all the doors, and whenever I seen a black person I would hide in fear. The scene where Jean was still in shock from her truck being stolen, and Daniel the Character Analysis 6 Latino was changing her lock, she freaked out on her husband because of his appearance, and assumed that he was a gang member, when really he was an innocent guy who changes locks for a living. I feel that I relate a lot to her also because, I have had many people turn their backs on me when I need them most, and the one person you never thought you would rely on turns out to be your greatest friend ever.

Me and Jean seem to judge a book by its cover, when it is not the cover that is important, it’s the information written in the book that is important. A few scenes that had a strong reaction from me was right in the beginning of the movie, when Jean and her husband were so innocent walking down the sidewalk, not causing any harm and Anthony and Peter noticed Jean link arms with her husband and they just assumed they did that because they were black, so they then decided to steal their truck for absolutely no reason.

It is so scary to think that black people think like that, it makes me wonder, if I am ever in public and I decide to hold on to my boyfriends arm, and a black person seems to notice, does that mean my life is in danger? Another scene from the movie that evoked a strong reaction from me was when Officer Ryan pulled over Christine and her African husband for literally nothing, and he disgustingly physically put his hands on her in ways an officer should never even think of.

This scene had me worried and disgusted at the same time, it also worries me because if I was ever put in a situation like that I am not sure as to what I would exactly do, would I open my mouth to him knowing he has a gun attached to his belt? or would I just accept the fact that a dirty pig just offended me physically. When Daniel was trying to fix the store owners lock, he tried to explain to him in Character Analysis 7 a calm manner that in order to fix the lock he needed to change the door, and the store owner didn’t believe him, he was constantly calling Daniel a liar nd a cheater, and was saying that Daniel was trying to steal his money. It made me upset because Farhad was only saying that he was a cheater and a liar because of his appearance, when really Daniel is an innocent guy who works hard for his money, and just because he has tattoos people get the wrong impression. I was so upset at the scene where the store owner showed up at Daniel’s house with the intention to shoot him without even confronting him of the situation, but when his daughter Laura ran out to save her daddy, Farhad then decided to shoot, with the impression that he shot the little girl it got my eyes to water.

I was then relieved that the gun had blank bullets and did not harm either of them. The scene that I felt very offended by was when the man in the shop offered Anthony 500$ a person for the innocent Asians that were found at the back of the truck, why would this man want innocent Asians for, I am so proud of Anthony that he realized that money was not the only thing in the world, and he allowed the Asians to experience life outside of the truck that they probably thought they would never see again.

This movie has changed my perceptive of others because of the fact that in this movie there were so many different stereotypes and so many people being judge because of their race. I was never really aware of the types of discrimination that went on in the world until actually watching this movie, it really opened up my eyes. It is not fair to be treated based on your race, everybody was put on this earth to do the same thing, there is no reason that someone should be discriminated.

It really broke my heart at some of the Character Analysis 8 situations that occurred in the movie, I almost couldn’t handle them. Sometimes we are to blind to see how a silly little comment can affect somebody so much, and really hurt they’re feelings. This movie really changed my look on other cultures, I realize that everyone is equally the same. I am happy that Anthony realized that not only coloured people take the bus and he put his pride aside and actually rode the bus, because in eality the bus is for anybody, there is no such thing as “he does this because he is black” or “she is only good at doing that because she is Spanish. ” It is very important to keep in mind other peoples feelings, imagine being the only white person in a class of majority colour people, would you want to be treated like the outsider? Or did you want to be treated the exact same way as the other 23 people in the classroom.

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