The polarization of "Crash"

LSPoorEeyorick · 01-18-2006, 07:07 PM

No, I'm not talking about the James Spader/Holly Hunter sexfest, though surely that polarizes, too. I'm talking about the Paul Haggis film that is an Oscar dark horse this year.

The film, which is a talking-piece about racism in Los Angeles (and at large), seems to me to elicit one of two responses.

Response one: "Beautiful! Thoughtful! Touched me deeply and made me think!"

Response two: "Hated it."

I've only heard those responses from the people I've talked to, and I'm curious to find out why it so polarizes its audience. Have you seen Crash? What did you think? Did it move you, or did you despise it? Or did you split the difference?

There are a lot of hard questions rolling around in my head. Do people who love it love it because of its treatment of race? Do people who hate it hate it because of its treatment of race?

I have problems with the film, and they are mainly threefold. First, I tend to dislike films about groups of people tenuously connected by coincidence, especially if it's a very large group of people and you don't get much time with anyone. Second, I tend to dislike films that are about an "issue," instead of about characters, where everything is fed to you in one conversation after another instead of letting the audience masticate their own thoughts on the piece. And third: the film, written by a self-admitted hater of Los Angeles, is a depiction of a LA that seems nothing like my own city. And I've been to a lot of parts of this city. I've dated a black man from Compton, and had no racial conflicts to speak of. I live in Thai Town and I speak to my Korean neighbors. I work in the Valley alongside people of all kinds of ethnic origins without struggle, and I hug them, I touch people, I walk alongside of them all the time. Crash's LA is not the city I know and love, and I was offended by that.

But I have been digging deep to ask questions of myself. Am I being racist by finding the film's depicted racism to be exaggeraged? Because my experience is different that Haggis'? Because he was in a car jacking and I wasn't? Because I am middle-class and others aren't? Probably, yes. But then, I feel like the movie's point was that everyone is racist to some degree, and everybody needs to keep that in check. And my response to this is: "And? What else is new?"

I am anxious to hear other people's thoughts on the matter.

01-18-2006, 07:07 PM	#1
LSPoorEeyorick scribblin' Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: in the moment Posts: 3,872	The polarization of "Crash" No, I'm not talking about the James Spader/Holly Hunter sexfest, though surely that polarizes, too. I'm talking about the Paul Haggis film that is an Oscar dark horse this year. The film, which is a talking-piece about racism in Los Angeles (and at large), seems to me to elicit one of two responses. Response one: "Beautiful! Thoughtful! Touched me deeply and made me think!" Response two: "Hated it." I've only heard those responses from the people I've talked to, and I'm curious to find out why it so polarizes its audience. Have you seen Crash? What did you think? Did it move you, or did you despise it? Or did you split the difference? There are a lot of hard questions rolling around in my head. Do people who love it love it because of its treatment of race? Do people who hate it hate it because of its treatment of race? I have problems with the film, and they are mainly threefold. First, I tend to dislike films about groups of people tenuously connected by coincidence, especially if it's a very large group of people and you don't get much time with anyone. Second, I tend to dislike films that are about an "issue," instead of about characters, where everything is fed to you in one conversation after another instead of letting the audience masticate their own thoughts on the piece. And third: the film, written by a self-admitted hater of Los Angeles, is a depiction of a LA that seems nothing like my own city. And I've been to a lot of parts of this city. I've dated a black man from Compton, and had no racial conflicts to speak of. I live in Thai Town and I speak to my Korean neighbors. I work in the Valley alongside people of all kinds of ethnic origins without struggle, and I hug them, I touch people, I walk alongside of them all the time. Crash's LA is not the city I know and love, and I was offended by that. But I have been digging deep to ask questions of myself. Am I being racist by finding the film's depicted racism to be exaggeraged? Because my experience is different that Haggis'? Because he was in a car jacking and I wasn't? Because I am middle-class and others aren't? Probably, yes. But then, I feel like the movie's point was that everyone is racist to some degree, and everybody needs to keep that in check. And my response to this is: "And? What else is new?" I am anxious to hear other people's thoughts on the matter.
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