Exploring stereotypes through the film Crash 2005 Essays

Exploring stereotypes through the film Crash 2005 Essays Exploring stereotypes through the film Crash 2005 Paper Exploring stereotypes through the film Crash 2005 Paper who previously has been accused of being racist. Consequently it could be argued that they could have had control of the overall ideology behind the film. All those who challenge the hegemonic ideology forced upon us are represented as negatively and are stereotyped in order to control them. This theory is evident in the film when we see Officer Ryan rescues Christine. The previous racist white male is redeemed by his heroism, while the black woman is reduced to incoherence by the situation and is forced to be silently grateful for his transcendence. The idea that from each scene a intelligible and blatant moral is expressed purposely provokes the audience to decide if in reality this how prejudice is expressed or if in fact people are more understanding. The reception theory initiated from the work of Hans-Robert Jauss is greatly supported by Hall. This textual analysis focuses on the capacity for compromise and resistance on behalf of the audience. This means that there is an aspect of viewing in which the audience will not passively absorb a text instead they will actively negotiate the meaning. The meaning will an individual conceive depends on their cultural background, as a result of the background some will accept a text and others will reject it. The reading of the representations could be seen in two ways depending on the beliefs and background of each individual viewer. Paul Haggis stated I hate as Americans we just love to define people. We love to say Good person, Bad person. In this film at least I didnt want us to be judging others. I wanted us to be judging ourselves. This offers us an insight into his original intention for the film, with the idea that the film would revolve around race decided later. The twin elements of accident (literally and figuratively) and coincidence connect the various stories, which are intended to prove that people form harmful prejudices from a combination of impressions and individual psychoses. I believe Ethnic stereotypes play a very significant role in the understanding of the film Crash, On either of its two dimensions. In order to understand the film either on a simplistic representational level, or else seeing the film as an example of maybe considering social conflicts as externalisations of a fundamentally internal crisis, which therefore allow the audience to realise that the complexity found in each character can in fact undermine the entire concept of a stereotype, consequently producing realistic individuals who are surrounded by racial conflict in post 9/11. To understand and examine racial issues in the after math of 9/11 looking towards real life will enable us to predict the stereotypes that may also become hegemonic ideologies in America.