Crash

1.Matt Dillon was a racist cop in the movie crash. He exhibited his racism throughout the movie and crossed the line many times. One night he pulled over an African American couple in a nice Lincoln truck, so they were clearly wealthy people and he took advantage of them. They were not doing anything wrong, but when he saw that they were black he asked them to step out of the car so he could search them. As he was searching the woman he was feeling her legs and being inappropriate. He was treating the man and the woman like dirt. He wanted them to feel vulnerable, which made him feel like he had complete control over the situation. The other cop at the scene with him was in shock. He couldn't believe that a well known and highly respected cop could be so racist and rude to the people of their community. Compared to Matt Dillon he wasn't racist because this event bothered him so much. he even went through the trouble of asking for another partner. Another part in the movie where Matt was racist was when he was trying to get help for his sick father. He called the doctors office and there really wasn't anything that they could do for him. When he asked the woman her name, which was Shanequa he judged her without even have seen her. He started being disrespectful and thought that she wasn't helping him on purpose. He took all of his anger out on her for no reason.

2. The Hispanic lock-man was negatively stereotyped in the movie because Sandra Bullock thought that he was in some kind of gang. She wanted the locks changed for a second time because she thought that the lock-man would sell her keys to his gang banging friends when he left. This was a harsh accusation because she didnt know the full story about him. She didn't know that he moved to this city to get away from the gangs and the bad streets so that he could provide a wonderful life for his little daughter. Another person that was negatively stereotyped was the Persian man when he was buying a gun for his store. The person selling him the gun was accusing him of being a terrorist. Just because they were speaking a foreign language the man in the store judged them even though that language they were speaking wasnt arabic. This was very upsetting for both and man and his daughter because how could someone just automatically think someone so terrible about people who have done no harm.

3. When Terrence Howard told the young man “You embarrass me; you embarrass yourself” he was referring to their race. The movie producer is ashamed that someone of his own kind could be walking around the streets, steeling cars and threatening to kill people. It made Ludacris think about what he was doing. He was always about standing up for the black community because he thinks that everyone is always unfair and racist towards them. Ludacris then realized by standing up for the people of his race he was also embarrassing them and making them ashamed of him. With this knew knowledge he went and helped the people in the back of the truck. He could have sold them for a ton of money but he decided that he was going to do something better, I believe that this was his way to show that he was sorry and that he was going to stop.

4.Stereotypes are judgments and beliefs that others have and make on certain people. Usually its a stupid reason why someone is labeled with a stereotype. Maybe it was because a blond girl asked a kind of stupid question. This doesn't mean she is a dumb blond, but in out society people would automatically label her as a dumb blond.In the movie for example, some stereotypes were that if your from Pakistan or somewhere in the middle east you are automatically a terrorist. The father and daughter who owned the shop were judged by their looks and the way they spoke and were called terrorists.

5.I definitely dont think that it is natural to be racist. No one is born knowing that they hate blacks or Asians. people develop their racist behaviors by their surroundings. If your parents are racist and you grow up around those kinds of people, then you will most likely take on their beliefs since that is what you have been taught as what is right.

6.Race is learned from what your parents tell you, what you experience in school and what you decide to watch on T.V. All of these play a factor in what you decide to believe when you get older and how you decide to act. families all have different views, and they are passed on to the different family members. If there is a racist family member, then those opinions are usually passed on to the other people in that family. The media also influences the public's racist opinions greatly. The media reaches everybody in our society. Kids, teens and adults. Kids might not understand what it means yet, but eventually they will learn and understand the wrongness of it all. I believe that racism exists in our country today, and we all hear about it all the time.

7.I think that it might be possible but I also think it would be hard to get people to change their beliefs. People always need someone to blame for things and people to get mad at. For some reason a lot of peoples anger turns into racism because they dont know how to handle it otherwise. Nothing good comes out of racism and eventually I hope that people will realize that they are just making stupid stereotypes that dont mean anything. People will eventually realize that we are really all the same. everyone has the same features and the ability to have emotions. Once the nasty racist people understand that people of other elasticities have feelings also they should feel sympathy towards them and learn how to control or focus their anger some other way.

Gender

Just like many of the other things that we have talked about like race and class, gender plays just as big a role in our society. Men and Women are expected to play certain roles and act certain ways. Men as adults and teenagers are supposed to be strong and aggressive. They can be passionate, but not to the point that their emotions take over their personality. Little boys are expected to play with toy cars and guns. Women as adults and teens are expected to be emotional and caring. They are expected to wear make-up and love to shop. Girls when they are little are expected to play with barbies and dolls. When something is out of the ordinary people wonder, judge and want to ask questions. A good example of a boy not fulfilling the so called "normal" role for a boy, was when a boy had some kind of anxiety attack, which physically disabled him while playing basketball. Later in the episode he told the doctor that it was because he hates basketball and he wants to take dance class. Eventually the mother asked her son what he really wanted to do and he was overjoyed. The mother was in denial about her son because she thought that something was wrong with him. Nothing was wrong, he just has different interests from other boys his age. There is nothing wrong with wanting to do something that in our society is designed for the opposite race. There are tons of girls who play competitive sports and tons of guys who take art and dace classes. Our society has put such a huge strain on the division of the sexes and gender roles that its hard for people who are gay, trans-gender, trans-sexual or hermaphroditic. In the end these are normal people who either were born with a physical problem or just have different views of themselves. there is nothing wrong with the way they are, but our society for some reason has not been willing to accept them.