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Reappropriate Burns Crash
Published by Lake Desire | Filed under Portraying Race
Hello. Ariel Wetzel here–a.k.a. Lake Desire of New Game Plus and The Official Shrub.com Blog–making her first contribution to Ally Work.
Jenn of reappropriate discusses why Crash reinforces racism:
Crash is a feel-good movie for Whites. This film was made for White people — for a person of colour, it was like watching yourself get ready in the morning; for us, these pedestrian thoughts on racism and oppression is nothing new. But, whereas Brokeback ends off reminding us how painful love between two gay men is made by homophobic, straight-laced White America, Crash does nothing but assuage White guilt by arguing that racism is alright, it’s universal. It tells us not to worry about fostering a little bit of prejudice — everyone does it and that’s what makes the world go round. It offers no insight, no analysis, no suggestions, no accusations — it was a mere two hours of glorifying racial misunderstanding in a desperate quest for pure truth.
I saw Crash last September. I hadn’t heard of it, but some white friends brought it over saying it was great and I had to see it. The movie’s feel good circuit left me feeling misled and forced to an unnatural conclusion, and I think Jenn pinpointed why.
March 8th, 2006 at 10:06 am I've seen this post linked several times from differnet sites. Blac(k)ademic has a much better point by point critique of the film and doesn't insult everyone who disagrees with her. I think the film's more open to interpretation that the post aboves implies. Instead of encouraging debate, the tone of the above post seems to just cut it off completely. The film is problematic but it's not complete trash.
March 8th, 2006 at 7:36 pm Barb, could you post the link? I wasn'ta ble to find the post you were talking about on blac(k)ademic.
I don't find Jenn's post particularly silencing. I find her message more powerful without "this is just my opinion" qualifiers.