11.17.2007

so i finally got around to...

watching the movie crash. all of america has seen it except for me. honestly, i was avoiding it, because america was so enamored with a movie that had race and racism as a major plot point. as a race scholar, this was and is concerning.

to my surprise, it didn't make me as angry as i expected it would. it played up some stereotpes and in the end, every character is kind of an a-hole and kind of an okay person at the same time. i suppose that is what people liked about the flick. and they way the various stories intertwined was interesting enough that i want to watch it again just to see what i missed.

predictably though, the movie focused almost entirely on individual level racism and did not really address more institutional or systemic issues. there was a bit of discussion about it from a few of the people of color in the movie, but in the end, the moral seemed to be that fixing the problem one jerky individual at a time will do the trick. even reviewers on IMDB make this conclusion. there wasn't much discussion about the history of racism in our country or how that history has privileged whites above others.

i'm left wondering a bit what all the hype was about.

No comments: