Parallel Editing In The Movie Crash By Paul Haggis

In the movie Crash, Director Paul Haggis connects seemingly unrelated characters from all walks of life to address the racism that is present in all their lives. He does this through the use of parallel editing, contrasting sound, and lighting. Haggis connects the characters through the is of parallel editing. This can be seen in the movie, when Haggis transitions to another character’s point of view he uses doors that are opening or closing to cut to the next character. This transition serves to go to another character’s perspective smoothly and to connect those characters in the audience’s mind. The use of both diegetic and nondiegetic sound also serves to achieve this purpose. In the scene where Officer Ryan tries to save a woman from
a burning car only to find out she’s the same woman who he had molested earlier on. When Officer Ryan runs up to the car and tries to save the woman, dramatic music plays in order to emphasis the characters’ opinions of one another. When Officer Ryan was being pulled out of car before he was able to save the woman, the audience is only able to hear the non diegetic sound and they are unable to hear the woman or any of the sounds associated with the burning car. However, this is only until Officer Ryan instructs the other officers to pull after he had crawled back in and grabbed the woman.