The Male Crash Test - A Film Analysis

"You think you know who you are? You have no idea," says Matt Dillion's character to his former partner of LAPD with an uncomfortably harsh handshake. That is what Director Paul Haggis confronts the audience with in his urban drama Crash. The film is a collage of characters of different race and class who inadvertently cross paths with each other and how these collisions affect the other. The results of these interactions force the different ethnicities to look at themselves as they realize that they have defined themselves and others through the face value of race, instead of the depths of individual character. Masculinity in particular, is one of the dominant factors of identity portrayed in the film that the male characters are forced to question when their racial conflicts have shaken their own images. The men are then left to pick up the pieces and find out not just what makes a black man, white man, Latino, middle -eastern etc., but what makes a man in general.

Modern day masculinity takes a general form in each individual through their position in society. This form of masculinity is then further defined through the race of that individual through stereotypes. Generally, upper class individuals maintain their masculinity through their wealth and position. Lower Class individuals, or the working class, rely more on their physical abilities to provide for themselves or their families. Further down the social ladder are the poor and the desperate, who procure their needs as well as their masculinity through force (Katz 472). Each of these classes are represented in the film by one or more ethnicities who at one point find their masculinity challenged when they come in contact with another race.

Brendan Fraser represents the white upper class as the district attorney of Los Angeles. Being white and an elected official of an ethnically diverse city, he was probably voted in by a white majority and therefore must have scrounged for minority votes. It his ability to represent the people that have voted him in and at the same time his ability to look like a white man who serves the minorities that defines the masculinity of his character. This image is shaken when he and his wife are car jacked by two black thieves. Once the media gains knowledge of this, he fears that this would upset his position by losing black voters if he were to speak out against this act, or losing the law and order vote if he did not. His response is to neutralize the situation by having his picture taken pinning a medal on a random black person, showing that deep down inside as a white person his biggest fear is being labeled a racist.

This would directly affect the image of Detective Waters played by Don Cheadle. Though he was a black man in the movie, he played to little or no stereotypes that would label him as a black person. However, when he is asked to be the black poster boy to receive the district attorney's nomination to clear his brother's outstanding criminal record, his masculinity is shaken for he is no longer his own man. He was one of the few characters that did not define themselves by race, but is now called to play a "black man" to save his brother.

Representing the black upper class is Terrance Howard who portrays a television producer. The television show that Howard directs targets the black demographic and wins awards. It is in his ability to serve as a positive role model for the black community and stray from negative black stereotypes that gives him his stature. However the masculinity that entails this stature is ambiguous because this position aligns him with the white majority culture. His conflict of white and black masculinity suffers when white police officers pull over his vehicle for being black and sexually harass his wife while searching her for weapons. Howard tries to be obedient and not worsen the situation by obeying the officers. His wife becomes upset that he did not do anything to stop them, believing his only worry is being arrested, making him look like a common black criminal and how that would affect how his white peers view him.

Ludacris portrays a black thief, who provides for himself and his masculinity by stealing cars at gunpoint. Yet he takes a certain pride in what he does because he believes that he plays a role outside the black culture of violence (Tough Guise). He believes that because he only robs privileged white people, never murders anyone, refuses public transportation, and does not listen to rap music that he dawns a more Robin Hood like image. This idea reinforces his masculinity for not only is he being a tough guy, but at the same time he is being just about it. His illusions are destroyed when he accidentally tries to car jack the black television director. This forces him to botch his heist and find himself at the mercy of Howard's character. He decides to release him with the parting words "You embarrass me. You embarrass yourself", revealing to him that however he chooses to view his way of life, he is still is a common thug who tarnishes the reputation of the black community.

Matt Dillon portrays a white cop and maintains his masculinity by using his badge and gun as a method of intimidation which aids his racist tendencies. He is an embodiment of the American western film culture, where the white Anglo-American way is preserved by the lawman with the gun keeping the "savages", or those of other races, in check (Omi 560). He feels that black people are unqualified for many of the jobs that they take from white people via affirmative action. He uses his position as an opportunity to keep black people in check which he demonstrates by sexually harassing the Howard's wife in front of him. He realizes the error of his ways when he happens across the same women's car-accident and she would rather die then be saved by him. Despite this he saves her life after having his epiphany.

The Iranian shop keeper is part of the working class as well as a Muslim. Therefore it is especially important in his culture that as the man and head of household that he protects and provides for his family. By purchasing a gun, he hopes that he will be able to defend his business from hoodlums. However he is a man that has been cheated in the past by men who have taken advantage of his not being fully Americanized. This makes him skeptical of all other races that he deals with. He pays the price for this when he refuses to listen to the Latino locksmith who tells him to replace his door, believing he is trying to cheat him. Because he does not heed this advice, his store is robbed and vandalized due to his own negligence, taking away his ability to provide for his family and with it his masculinity.

The Latino locksmith is the only one that does not fit the pattern as for not playing into any negative Latino stereotypes for his position in society. Though he has tattoos that make him look like a gang-member, he is a caring, hard working father and husband who is on call twenty-four hours so he can provide for his family. This is quite the opposite image Latino's are portrayed in for typical screenwriting. They are usually only represented by young gang members (Omi 564). Because he does not play to any stereotypes or judge other races by them, he remains the only redeemable character in the entire movie.

Because each of these characters define each other by race and stereotypes, they find that they have negative experiences with people of different cultures when they crash into each other. Like wolves marking their territory and struggling to show who is the alpha, masculinity by its very nature comes from the strong defacing the weak. So when men act out masculinity by their race's standards, it conflicts with men of other races thus continuing the racist cycle. As each character throughout the film comes to realize how they see the world racially, they come to see that it is not race that defines an individual. An individual is best defined by the actions that they take. Though masculinity is defined by ones actions it should not be by race that these actions are decided. In a particular scene of the movie, the Latino locksmith is trying to convince the Iranian storekeeper that his door needs to be replaced. The Iranian refuses, believing the Latino is trying to scam him, which leads to a heated argument between the two. However, these two men don't realize that they are just two working class Americans trying to provide for their families. If all men took the time to look past the face value of race, they would see that what allmen of all races have in common is the position of being a fathers, brothers, sons, husbands, and friends.

Works Cited

Crash. Dir. Paul Haggis. Perf. Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Brendan Fraser, and Terrance
Howard. Lion's Gate Films, 2004.

Katz, Jackson. "Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity".
Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking. 5^th Edition.
Ed. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Bedford/St.Martins:
MA, 2001. pg 466-475.

Omi, Micheal.Signs of Life in the U.S.A.: Readings on Popular Culture. 4^th Edition.
Ed. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003. pg 557-
568.

Tough Guise: Violence, Media, and the Crisis of Masculinity. Dir. Sut Jhally. VHS.
MEF, 1999.