Friday, November 02, 2007

Characters in Crash

Which of the characters in Crash do you feel was the most ethical?
Which was the least ethical?

Choose an action/behavior and explain how you feel that the character would justify it in the movie.

13 comments:

kyle said...

The hispanic handyman was the most ethical in my opinion, because unlike the others, he was non-confrontational and didn't do anything un-ethical. He seemed to be very carring, hard working, and reasonable. He did not make any racial comments throughout the movie as well. He didn't seem to have any noticable problems like the other characters did, he is simply the victim of other people's anger and racism in the movie. Both the white woman and the persian accuse him of stealing the key to their locks

penguin said...

Shaniqua Johnson is the character that I see as the most ethical in this film. When she is informed as to the conditions of Officer John Ryan's father she claims that she would have changed her decision. Here she uses logic as her way of knowing rather than emotion, her original way. She would justify this decision- by not allowing Ryan's father to see another doctor- because she was racially abused. When she admits she would have changed her decision, we see she is an ethical woman.

CaitlinCeara said...

I would say that the black prosecutor is the most ethical. I think this because of his last scene. He self sacrifies for the benifit of his mother. It would be selfish to crush her perception of her dead son, so he lets her continue to think that the son who is dead cared enough to come back. It ties in to perception because he wants her to percieve his brother as good, not scuzzy.

-Caitlin

Ariel said...

I dont think there is any one character that is more ethical than another. Throughout the movie all of the characters do things or say things that are unethical. At the begining of the movie you think that the blonde cop is much more ethical than the brown haired cop because you can tell by his expressions and eyes that he knows what is going on is wrong (when the woman is felt up by the brown haired cop) and therefore one could say he is ethical, but then in the end he is the one who pulls out his gun because he judges the black guy he is giving a ride to and doesnt trust him. He kills the man upon almost instinct because he thinks he is pulling out a gun, but he still has killen an innocent person... so your're initial ideas on him is wrong. On the other hand, the other cop (with the brown hair) appears completely unethical at the begining because he pulls the couple over and searches them and feels her up simply because he's mad (and earlier was angry at the insurance woman, who was black). Yet in the end he is the one who saves her life and goes back for her in the burning, overturned car. Every character does things and says things that unethical and yet they all do other things that contradict their previous actions. They all change.

J.Malone said...

I think that the most ethical character in Crash is the father of the little girl who was given the invisible cloak. I truly believe that his intentions were ethical from the start, and his character seemed to be the main target of the stereotypes by Sandra Bullock's character and the Persian shop owner. As far as which character I believe was the least ethical in the movie, I think that the young police officer fits that characteristic. In the beginning, he seemed ethical in opposition with the molester police officer. But again, though, his racism against the brother of Don Cheadle followed through to make him consequently unethical.

Mandie

J.Malone said...

I think the Hispanic handyman was the most ethical because he tried to help everyone. When the Persian man yelled at him, he did not charge him for his services. When the same man tried to shoot his daughter, the Hispanic handyman was focused on the safety of his family, not on retaliation against the second offense of the Persian. He also makes no generalizations against anyone - when he overheard Sandra Bullock's character's tirade, he did not retaliate. I think he is the most ethical because he is a man who does his best no matter in what situation.

By Mary!!!

KellyR. said...

I think that none of these characters were the most ethical because that wouldn't be ethical to judge them. but if I must I think that the young girl that wore the invisible cape was the most ethical because she was at the age where she didn't care about any of the cultural differences. When she never said what the man that almost shot her father was like I thought that showed her personality. I think the least ethical character change through out the progression of the movie. First was the Persian man and the Sandra Bullock's Character but then I think they changed by the end of the movie. And by the end of the movie they changed. When they thought that this man that changed their locks were gangster they were being the least ethical. Then the young police man shooting that innocent man that hitched a ride earned him the least ethical by the end of the movie
-Kelly

Rachel said...

I agree with Kelly -the little girl with the inpenatrable cloak acted ethicaly because she saw a situation in which she could save the life of someone she loved, and acted fearlessly upon it. Like her father, she did not act in retaliation towards the man who nearly destroyed her family. The least ethical was the blonde cop, who was simply a hypocrite whose morals fell through when it most mattered. Whereas most, if not all of the other racist characters experienced some form of revelation/eye-opening experience, this guy took a turn for the worse.

Oh, I also think the shop-owner's daughter acted ethically in filling her father's gun with blanks; she knew he would never be able to live with himself (or didn't want him caught up in legal issues) if he actually shot anyone. It is because of her that the little girl lived, and her fathers (relative) innocence was preserved.

jeewonk said...

I also agree with Kelly. The little innocent girl was not yet accustomed to stereotyping people. She ran out to see her dear father, and she meant no harm to anyone in any way possible. And I agree with Mary. The little girls' father was also ethical because he did not react violently at the middle eastern guy when he got yelled for telling him to get a new door. When he was threatened by the shop owner once more, he was concerned with the safety of his family. I think he acted very responsibly and ethically in that he didn't react with violence to Sandra Bullock and the shop owner when they judged and insulted him with stereotypes. The least ethical one, of course, would be the young police who shot the black brother. He tried to act morally when he and his partner pulled over the couple, but he ends up distrusting and generalizing the brother as other "dangeous" blakcs and killing him.

penguin said...

I had earlier said that I believed Shaniqua to be the most ethical character. That was before I had seen the end of the movie. Once I saw the ending it turns out that she does not appear to be on much more of a different level than anyone else. I think that by not seeing the ending a lot was changed in my mind.

AmyLM said...

I am going to have to agree with the many other people who thought that the hispanic handyman was the most ethical character of the movie. All of the scences involving him in the movie showed that he was a kind, caring person and I don't recall him making any unethical decisions or actions. However, I also believe that the wife of Cameron was a very ethical character. She knew when she was being treated unfairly by the cop and she refused to allow or accept that. There is nothing unethical about speaking up against injustice or refusing to forgive the cop even when he saves her.

AnnieP said...

I agree that the hispanic handyman and his daughter were ethical, but I also thought that Sandra Bullock's house cleaner (maybe her name was Rosa?) was ethical. She took a lot of verbal abuse from Bullock and she helped her anyways when she fell down the stairs. For me, it would be pretty hard to keep a job and help someone like that if they were so nasty to me. It seems that the most ethical people in the movie are the ones who play smaller roles. They did not get the attention that the unethical ones did. I find that to be sad; this movie is a commentary on how unethical and racist people are, but the most ethical characters don't get any props for doing good stuff. Their ethicalness is used to highlight the other characters' unethicalness, instead of the other characters'unethicalness highlighting these characters' ethicalness.

Unknown said...

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John
www.imarksweb.org