Representation Mini Essay

Discussing the representations of African American's in Paul Haggis's CRASH (2004) is

complex, as the film maker's very reason for making the film appears to be the explore,

expose and debate attitudes towards race and in particular African American's. Through

the character of Cameron, a TV drama director, Haggis explores notion's of 'Uncle Tom-

ism', confronting both us and the character with his tacit acceptance of this position in the

society in inhabits.

Our first encounter with Cameron in his expensive SUV (NOT coincidentally, the same

make and model as the white DA whom we see being car jacked by two highly articulate

counter-type African American 'gang-bangers' earlier - therefore placing him firmly in the

socio-economic bracket of a wealthy, successful professional) is when he and his wife are

pulled over by the cops and subjected to racial and sexual humiliation by one of the police

men. The tone of the scene reveals the thin veneer of respectability which Cameron and

his mixed race wife have in the eyes of the LAPD. Their bon hommie is quickly shattered

as the policeman's intentions become clearer. As Cameron stands by while is wife is

sexually abuse, the camera holds him in MCU reacting to what the police officer is doing

off screen and to his wife's tortured and pleading face. Yet he appears both unwilling and

unable to confront her abuser. The motivations for the abuse and the attitude of the rooky

cop who seems powerless to prevent the incident add complexity to the incident as good

and bad, weak and strong, type and counter-type are painted for us on the sidewalk of a

Hollywood boulevard.

The extenuating circumstances are clearly drawn for us: there is the threat of arrest,

violence and in Cameron's mind possibly even death and faced with the choice he

becomes the passive accepting stereotype. In many respects we are seeing a

Representation Mini Essay

reenactment of the white slave master's prosecution of his 'right' to take sexual advantage

of a 'black slave girl', irrespective of any other considerations. Moments later, Cameron's

abused and now extremely firey wife ridicules her him for his weakness, and slave-like

passivity. In her parody of the old 'Uncle Tom' stereotype, she comments crushingly on his

inability to stand up for himself and his own. Ironically, Haggis seems to be rolling back the

years in this representation of African American's in this movie. Here are African

American's who still seek true emancipation, who still wear their bonds and find the system

around them contriving to force them into stereotype. If we turn back the clock a few years

to 1967 in Guess Whose Coming to Dinner? Sidney Poitier lambasts his father for a

similar self representation saying, 'you see yourself as a coloured man, whereas I see

myself as a man.' Poitier's distinction appears to offer hope: a new generation reinventing

the world without colour or race as a determiner. Now in 2009, can we say that in Obama

we have a political model who is also doing the same; his acceptance speech in

November 08 seemed to indicate his intention of not commenting overtly about his own

colour or race, a contrast to previous African American political leaders including MLK,

Malcolm X and Jesse jackson. Haggis paints a different picture. Terence Howard's

character may have the trapping of white wealth and position, car, home, beautiful wife,

job in the media but he is still trapped by the racial attitudes of society, the public and his

own fear.

Cameron's journey has really only just begun and the next day at work compounds his

growing sense of impotence. When hauled up over by the producer on set about the

performance of one of the actors, specifically a comment about whether the actor was

'talking a lot less black lately', he is again exposed to traditional stereotyping and find

himself unable to resist. 'Eddie's meant to be the smart one, not Jamal', once again the
Representation Mini Essay

undercurrent is that the black character is less intelligent and this is shown through his

language - his black language. Cameron's initial laughter turns to sombre resignation

when he recognises the serious tone in his bosses voice, the lights in the background

clonk off and the scenes tone changes. We are seeing these attacks, insults to his race

externalised through the darken mise en scene.

The final straw for Cameron comes with his confrontation with Ludacris's character. More

on this later...

If we turn to the representation of the black Police Captain to whom the rooky cop

complains about his racist colleague, we see a deeply cynical comment on police attitudes

summed up in the captains' line about how he rose to the rank of Captain in a 'racist f***ing

organisation like the LAPD'. A mere decade after the murder of Rodney King on the streets

of LA and the consequent riots and court case, this indictment points to a lack of change

and even further entrenchment. In addition, the centrality of the black Homocide detective

and his Faustian moment with the representatives of white legal power further expose the

duality of African American life. There are clear and well defined examples of black

individuals in positions of authority but each time they are counter balanced by those

moral panic, newspaper headline grabbing examples of black American's 'f***ing up' as the

lawyer puts it. In this case the detective's brother and also the dead black officer whose

killing he is investigating. The politics of this becomes very convoluted but at the core of it

is the 'need' for the black detective to obscure the truth, the stereotypical truth about a

corrupt, black cop in order to 'help' neutralise a politcal embarrassment. And the carrot or

stick perhaps, is that by doing so he can protect his own 'stereotypical' car-jacking kid

brother.
Representation Mini Essay

Haggis seems to want us to question ourselves and our views. The deeply contrived

nature of the plot works cleverly to force discussion of the representations it throws up.

Potential accusations of racism are deflected by the breadth of the representations on

offer: positive and negative, stereotype and counter-type side by side. The issue seems to

be therefore not who is being represented or how they are being represented but why and

are we able to accept our own prejudices and those of others as part of what makes a

pluralist society?

(Notes: though I have really only focussed on CRASH here, I hope this gives you some

indication of how to use close analysis to explore issues. Have I commented on SOCIAL,

ECONOMIC, POLITICAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT? If not how would you do it? Can

you improve on this. anyway?)