Crash - a Portrayal of Diversity or Stereotypes

Because the characters in “Crash” portrayed a variety of ethnicities, the movie attempts to address the diversity represented in the American landscape and also the stereotypes connected to these ethnicities. There was the stereotype of the white female victim, played by Sandra Bullock. After already displaying her prejudice against African American males by holding her purse tighter and grabbing on to her husband’s arm when she encountered two of them in the streets of her neighborhood; she coincidentally was car-jacked by the same young men. The stereotypes portrayed were that of the white woman who is always in danger and needs to be protected and that all African American males are thugs and criminals. The female victim was the stereotypical, upper/ upper middle class white woman, whose friends look like herself and her only contact with people of other races was the help she has hired to do her housework. Her anger from the carjacking incident caused her to become more overt in her prejudice as she expressed her feelings about the Latino locksmith being a possible gang member and selling copies of her home key so that his friends could return to burglarize their home. The rapper Ludacris had a complex role. He played the angry black man who believed that he lived in a white versus black world, and that no matter how he was dressed or spoke, he would always be perceived as a threat and/ or criminal. Unfortunately, he was indeed a criminal, consequently perpetuating the stereotype that angered him; and was one of the men who had carjacked the white woman. A CNN article about the movie “Crash” accurately and eloquently states that, “Perhaps stereotypes like that have maintained their prevalence because there are so many people that perpetuate them.” (Schingel, 2006). Bullock’s character may continue to believe the stereotypes of minorities that she has because of the incident she encountered, which is an unfortunate setback for the majority of minorities who

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