Case Study of Racial Prejudice from the Perspective of Intercultural Communication： On the Analysis of Crash

（Southwestern University of Finance and Economics， School of Foreign Language for Business， Chengdu， Sichuan， 611130）

【摘要】：【Abstract】：This reflection paper， based on several small but meaningful scenarios in film Crash， explores different characteristics and situations from the perspective of three groups including African-Americans， the white race and other colored races. This paper also makes a brief analysis and synthesis in terms of impressive scenarios， which not only decodes surface meaning but also the indications of people and the reason beyond these reactions.

【Key words】： Crash； characteristics； race； analysis； synthesis； indications.

PartⅠ Analysis on Three Ethnic Groups

There are various ethnic groups living in Los Angeles， California， the black， the white， the Persians， the Asians etc. In Crash， it seems that the white people dominate the society， no matter what jobs they have， they always feel priority to ethnic groups.

Firstly， the black. Two criminal black youth， Anthony and Peter are always talking about racial discrimination such as the unfairness faced by the blacks. Anthony looks very aggressive and sensitive who has no confidence in himself. It’s quite normal that almost everyone considers his or her own benefit first. Secondly， they still remain ethical values even though they do illegal things before.

Cameron， a black television director， is quite cooperative to officer’s examination and even says nothing when his wife is humiliated by the white cop. First， one of the two officers， Ryan is a racialist who looks down on the blacks and put his own prejudice on all black people. Second， even though Camera is a successful director and hold a relatively high status in society， he still can’t get rid of the sense of inferiority that exist deeply in black people’s subconscious

Detective Waters is in charge of a case that the white officer has shot and killed a black man third times. Making choice is rather difficult especially when you get into a dilemma whether self-identity matters a lot or ethnic-identity matters a lot.

All these reactions of the black people in the Crash reveal that most of them have less confidence on themselves but they try hard to integrate in to the WASP society.

2. Secondly， the whites. The local district attorney and his wife Jean argue loudly in their house only because Jean notices Hispanic locksmith’s tattoos. Also there is another scenario that the younger LAPD officer Hansen， when he notice Peter is in a ragged coat， he subconsciously regards him a bad guy and at last mistakenly kills him. These three scenarios show that people tend to judge or identify others by their appearances， nationalities even names. Most cultural conflicts or racial discriminations are started from prejudice and strong culture identity.

The white racialist officer Ryan dislikes black people but at last he trys his best to save the black woman whom is insulted by him before. The human nature is complicated and divergent， none are extremely bad or good. We are both angle and devil.

These reactions of the white people reveal that judging people by prejudice will lead to more serious cultural conflicts.

3. Third， colored race. In Crash， from my point of view， Asians live much harder than the black people. Ironically， they sell Asian women and children with no sympathy. In America， the Congress addresses the Act， the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882， to restrict the number of Chinese entrants to the US.

The Persian is too stubborn to accept other’s suggestion. He judges the locksmith by his appearance too and even suspects the kind suggestion from the locksmith. When he determines to revenge， Daniel’s daughter Lara jumps into his arms， attempting to protect him with the “invisible cloak”. Later， the Persian tells his daughter that he believes the little girl was his guardian angel （Wikipedia）. It is really hard for colored race living in such melting pot because most of them can’t speak English， spending their whole lives in China Town or slum slang.

PartⅡ Synthesis on Racial Discrimination

According to above analysis， there are three main questions we need to discuss in this paper.

1. What is racial discrimination？ It defines discrimination as “in a way that is worse than the way people are treated” [1]. The word “way” means people are treated not only normally， politely， friendly but also differently， distinctively and rudely. In film Crash， the colored race lives inferior to the white people not only in the matter of social status， jobs， living environment but in terms of psychological problems. The ethnic groups who dominate the society restrict members of one group from opportunities or privileges that are available to another group.

2. How to avoid such discrimination？ Discriminatory traditions， policies， ideas， practices and laws exist in many countries and institutions in every part of world. For instance， in US， there is an institution， the National Association for the Advancement of Colored people， which aims to use legal channels to challenge the validity of existing discriminatory status and protect colored people. The policy Known as affirmative action is also instituted to encourage African-Americans to be accepted in companies and universities. As for average people， knowing that everyone in this world is born to be equal is quite important.

References

[1]\"discrimination， definition\" （2013.3）. Cambridge Dictionaries Online. Cambridge University..

[2]Introduction to sociology [M] W. W. Norton CompanyInc. 2009.

[3] Christiane Schwieren. Mechanisms Underlying Nationality-Based Discrimination in Teams. A Quasi-Experiment Testing Predictions From Social Psychology and Microeconomics [J]. Maastricht University.