Inscribing Racial Bodies and Relieving Responsibility
Inscribing Racial Bodies and Relieving Responsibility
Examining Racial Politics in Crash
This chapter studies the film Crash (2004), examining its racial politics and providing a challenging view of a film widely acclaimed as racially progressive. In spite of its racially diverse characters, Crash induces audiences to feel hopeless and indifferent about the persistence of racial stereotypes and conflicts, reflecting a broader cultural paralysis about the United States. In doing so, the film redeems the white racist cop by making him the hero who rescues a black woman he molested earlier in the film, while the black male characters devolve into emasculation, rage, helplessness, criminality, and violence. By suggesting race is either everyone's problem equally or no problem at all, the film avoids discussion of white responsibility for racism, while simultaneously portraying white characters as largely heroic.
Keywords: Crash, racial politics, racial stereotypes, racial conflicts, cultural paralysis, racism
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