Social Commentary In Film

Carley Mills
Media Studies 120
January 13, y

Social Commentary in Film
Crash
Have I ever experienced anything like this in my life?
A common theme in the film Crash is racism. Something I noticed while watching this film was that almost every character experiences racism, however the same characters who experiences it displayed it to other races. This can relate to my life because I often see peers who experiences bullying, bully other people. In many cases the people who are the so called “bullies” bully because someone else has or still does bully them. I see this happen all around me at school and even sometimes with people I know.
How close is this Portrayal to my experiences?
Though bullying and racism are not the same thing they do share similar qualities. If we treat people badly they are likely to turn around and display that same behaviour to others; wether it is racism or bullying. It becomes a never ending cycle. We start to see this behaviour as acceptable when in reality it is not.
What did I learn from this media text?
I think that the director wanted the audience to learn that we can get so caught up in our own lives that we forget that the people around us have lives too. We begin to think that our lives, opinions, and beliefs are the only ones that matter. “We are always right, others are always wrong” is the mind set we start to take.
What did I learn about myself from experiencing the media text?
I learned that sometimes I can get so caught up in myself that I confuse my opinions with facts. I need to be more open minded and remember that everyone has different life experiences and opinions.
What did you learn from their experience of life?
I learned that you should not judge a person from a simple glance. As the film went on and you got a little more of their back story you realize that your initial judgement of the characters presented was often far off.
How many others interpretations could there be? How can you explain the different responses?
There could be many different interpretations of this film. some of the factors contributing to the different interpretations are race, gender, age, and life experiences. If you have experienced all kinds of racism growing up you will interpret this differently than someone who has never experienced it first hand.