LIVity

I finally saw the highly acclaimed movie 'Crash,' yesterday. It deserved all the praise it got. I fully agree with the film's opening statement. It said all of us selfishly live our own lives without thinking about anybody else until our paths collide. This is a different spin on my thought about a people not taking pride in its culture until tragedy forces it to. This being said, I think everybody can relate to this movie. No matter how hard people resist it, we are all feeling humans whose lives are intertwined. 'Crash' really forces you to think about the source of a person's emotions and why they are interacting with you the way that they are. A lot of times, as in the case of Sandra Bullock's character, a person is displaying anger because of a deficiency in their own lives. Bullock's character also proved that oftentimes the person or thing that you place the least value on is what will bring you fulfillment. Most of the time it doesn't take much to make people happy; think back to childhood, you had the least amount of everything (i.e. material objects, worries, etc.) but this is probably the happiest time of people's lives. Also, it is important to note that people will respond to the way you treat them. Therefore, if you treat them poorly in response to a stereotype, they will often act in the way you expect them to act. Ludicris' and Tate's characters are the perfect example of this. Ludicris didn't tip a waitress because he got mad that she didn't properly serve him because she thought he wouldn't tip her. The manifistation of the this cycle is almost inevitable once the wheels are set into motion. Of course, I couldn't walk away from this movie without feeling the emotions that its shockvalue was supposed to create. Initially I was very angry at the stereotypical, imbecilic statements that were flowing so freely from every characters' mouth. Seeing people who hated being treated according to prevailing stereotypes pigeonhole members of other races was eye-opening; in reality, it's not often that you get to witness this. After my initial reaction, I got sad that people could be so mean to one another. 'Crash' would be a great movie to show in a sociology class because it did a very good job of relaying how all of our lives are intertwined and how we can easily stop the madness.