title of the film "Crash" has already hinted at the "9·11" background of the film. The United States has always regarded itself as a "world police", and the police in this film symbolizes the hegemonic United States (I will discuss in detail below). At the beginning of the film, an Asian woman [listening to the words her husband said at the end of the film, they should be Korean. 】The car crashed into the car of the black policeman Graham (Graham), which is also a reenactment of the "September 11" story. At the very beginning of the film’s storyline, the white owner of the gun shop said to the Iranian father and daughter who had come to buy the gun, who he mistook for being Arab, “Hey, bin Laden! Don’t plan your'jihad' here with me. !" [Yo, Osama! Plan a jihad on your own time.], "I am ignorant? Could it be that you liberated my country but I drove a Boeing 747 into your small shed and burned your friends to ashes? "[I'm ignorant? You're liberating my country and I'm flying 747 s into your mud huts and incinerating your friends?].
The other background of this film is the Iraq War. The Iranian family is repeatedly considered to be Arabs [Iraq is an Arab country and Iran is not, so when their shop was looted, the Iranian mother said, "Look at what they wrote. They thought we were Arabs. When did the Persians become Arabs? People?" (Look what they wrote. They think we're Arab. When did Persian become Arab?)], the people who ransack their shop hate the Arabs, and the background story ["Dolly, that person almost Killed your mother." (Dorri, that man could've killed your mother.)] It is probably also caused by the hatred of the Arabs by the Americans. The Iranian father shot the locksmith Daniel's young daughter. Although it did not cause harm, his motive was guilty. And although he is a victim of racial discrimination, he is also a racist. District Attorney Rick (Rick) wants to run, so all his public actions must cater to public opinion. After his car was robbed by blacks, he was eager to save votes ["I'm either gonna lose the black vote or I'm gonna lose" the law-and-order vote.)], I was looking for a photo of me awarding a black medal, but I found out that I was going to award the award to an "Iraqian named Saddam" [That's real good, Bruce. I'm gonna pin a medal on an Iraqi named Saddam.], dumbfounding, because this may lose some people’s votes.
"In a general sense, the police is a powerful authority that allows people to obey. But if they lose the restriction of legitimacy, their good and evil will make people afraid. Because this is a kind of hegemony." (Reference [1] ]) The young white police officer Hanson (Officer Tom Hanson) has always been a conscientious policeman, but he shot and killed Graham's brother by mistake. The film has made enough preparations for this. The black shoes are dirty, the clothes have holes, the destination of the ride does not matter, and he laughs at him for preparing to dig his pockets as if he is holding a gun, letting the audience know that Hansen's motive for shooting is only self-defense, but the black people just want to Take the saint Christopher [This image is very interesting. He is a saint who bears Christ and the patron saint of travelers, but his name was removed from the Roman Catholic calendar in 1969, and only a few people still believe in him. ] Statue. It is as if impoverished Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction but was used by the United States as a pretext to subvert the regime by war. Hansen only walked toward the audience with a heavy face in the light of the end of the film. The camera followed its movement to express sympathy for him, but he was not redeemed, arousing the complicated emotions of American audiences watching the war in Iraq.
The black sheriff Graham lied at the beginning of the film [The companion asked "Do you have a smoke?" (You got a smoke?) "No, I quit." (Nah. I quit.) The next shot He lit a cigarette. 】, he later (in fact, before the opening of the film) lied and wronged a white police officer and undermined the fairness of the law, but the explanation given in the film is that he did it for his own future and his brother’s protection from the law. Such a choice. He has a drug-addicted and unconscious mother [there was a syringe on the table when he went home to visit his mother, and the mother asked him twice in a row, "Did you find your brother?" (Did you find your brother?)]. My brother ran away very much. May be annoyed by my mother [mother said when she mentioned looking for her brother, "I did a good job... I really did a good job." (I was doin' good. I was... I was doin' real good.) ]. He concealed his family situation from his girlfriend [After coming out of the house, his girlfriend asked, "Did you apologize to your mother?" (Did you apologize to your mother?) "She wasn't there." (She wasn't there.)] Explanation He does have a low self-esteem towards his family. After his brother died, he was blamed by his mother as the real murderer of his brother [He promised his mother that the murderer would be caught, and the mother said, "I already knew. You killed it. I asked you to find your brother, but you said that you are very Busy. We are of no value to you, are we?" (Oh, I already know. You did. I asked you to find your brother, but you were busy. We weren't much good to you anymore, were we ?) The mother mistakenly believed that the snacks he brought to his mother were brought by his younger brother. ]. This is exactly the portrayal of the embarrassing situation of the US government, giving up justice for its own family (American people), and at the same time being blamed by the family for suffering losses.
If the ending of Hansen and Graham reflects the plight of the American "world police", the white police officer Ryan (Officer John Ryan) reflects more the recognition of his actions in the United States. Actor Matt Dillon was nominated for Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role. Ryan’s sickly-affected father has a profound background story [As explained by his statement to HMO agent Shaniqua Johnson, his father established a company to hire black employees and treat them equally, but was “affirmed by the government for helping ethnic minorities” "Sexual sports" lost everything and had to join HMO medical insurance, which has low premiums but set many restrictions on patient medical services, and would rather endure the pain than seek a doctor outside the insurance plan. ] Make him a consistent racist [As can be seen from the conversation between the black police officer of the Los Angeles Police Department and Hansen, his racial discrimination did not start with the unhappiness with Miss Johnson. 】And molested Christine, the wife of the black director Cameron (Cameron), but on the second day, Christine was saved because he tolerated him, and he pulled his clothes to cover her legs. She showed respect. At the end of the paragraph, Ryan knelt on one knee, shooting from an elevation angle to make his image appear sacred and solemn. Similarly, Cameron himself had a conflict with the police and was saved because of encountering Hansen (the police had the right to shoot him under the circumstances). This design reflects the confidence of Americans in their behavior.
Between Hansen and Ryan, Ryan is powerful. Hansen did not want to partner with Ryan anymore. The black chief (symbolizing the United Nations) asked Hansen to write a report proving that Ryan was a racist, but Hansen chose to admit that he had a problem with farting instead of reporting Ryan [After separating from Ryan, When Hansen checked the car radio, his colleagues ridiculed "21-L-23, you hear a strange noise in your car. Did your microphone forgot to turn off?" (21-L-23, picking up strange noises from your car. 21-L, is your mike open by any chance?) In order to expose Ryan, the black officer re-arranged a minority partner for Ryan. He used "amigo" as a Spanish word for Lai install. ], just like other countries dared to be angry with the hegemony of the United States but did not dare to speak. And when Ryan shook hands with him, he pulled him over and said ["Wait till you've worked for a few more years. Do you think you know who you are, huh? In fact, you don't know anything." (Wait till you've been doin' it a little longer. You think you know who you are, hmm? You have no idea.)], just as the United States dismisses self-righteous countries. Hansen's later mistakes fulfilled this curse and gave American audiences a subtle psychological balance.
The film adopts a cross-montage narrative method in structure (reference [2]) and naturally arranges the time and space of the story to express the emotions of the characters (reference [3]). Here I want to point out in particular that the use of partial overexposure reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the characters in the story. Although a sexual harassment occurred at night, Ryan’s shots were often accompanied by overexposed bright lights from police car lights or flashlights. Only the Cameron’s shots had much weaker light, showing that the police were irresistible. Strong power. Hansen rescued Cameron. There was a lens of a police car. The police car reflected strong sunlight, and Cameron's car had been dim. So it seems that Cameron won his "brave" by not cooperating with the police [After being molested, his wife was very dissatisfied with his cowardice: "It's okay. It's a bit bloody. Although it's late, it's better than nothing!" (That's good. A little anger. It's a bit late, but it's nice to see!)], but in fact this is the process by which Hansen persuaded him to compromise with the power of the police to protect the black thief in the car, Anthony (Anthony) He was also forced to make a compromise, although his mouth was still reluctant [Ryan said, “I’m trying to help you.” (I’m trying to help you.) He replied, “I didn’t ask you to help me. Right?" (I didn't ask for your help, did I?)], but then he accepted Hansen's help in his own way.
A significant overexposure appeared in Flanagan, Rick’s staff [Flanagan] [Rick asked people to find Flanagan on both occasions, indicating that Flanagan is a very trusted think tank, Flanagan Knowing to protect Rick, in order not to let people know that the framing was instructed by Rick, he even asked Rick to go upstairs later when he persuaded Graham. 】When Graham was asked to conceal the truth, Flanagen, whose back was facing the window, was always shrouded by the strong light that shot through the window. He was always the strong side in the conversation, and Graham’s background was always dark brown. Wall panels. The first time he uttered insults against black people, he was disgusted by Graham [Graham said excitedly: "What did you just say?" (What did you just say?), but when he lifted Graham out When Brother Mu's criminal record threatened and said the same insulting remarks again, Graham accepted it calmly. Next, when Graham communicated with Rick, Rick walked out of the elevator. The background wall had strong reflections. At this time, there was also a strong light from the glass behind Graham, indicating that he had been assimilated. , Became a member of the power [As can be seen from the context, Rick wanted to redeem his prestige among the black voters with this incident, so he reminded Graham very early that progress was made only to him, and he spared no effort Framed a white police officer. ].
However, the strongest overexposure in the entire film occurred on the locksmith’s young daughter, which is discussed in the next section.
§2 Reconciliation: tolerance, trust, belonging and religion
Racial discrimination is the entry point of the conflict in the film's structure, not the core of the film's discussion. The problems raised in the first half of the film are solved by Hollywood-style methods such as dramatic coincidences and human flashes in the second half. The director also clarified that the purpose of his film is not to reflect the issue of racism [Director Paul Haggis (Paul Haggis) self-reported: "The purpose of my creation and shooting of this film is to explore the topic of the relationship between people. I don’t intend to offend some people or provoke any disputes because of this. I just want to express my views on this issue through this movie. The movie is such a wonderful tool that allows you to experience strangers’ feelings. Heart journey. I hope that after watching this movie, the audience will not only perceive the problems I pointed out, but more importantly, they will be able to encourage the people to share your love."], the film is expressed either overtly or secretly The problem of racial discrimination is not entirely the status quo in Los Angeles. [Joe Hicks, a well-known social activist in the black community, believes that the film has seriously distorted the status quo of race relations in Los Angeles, which may damage the reputation of Los Angeles as a racial melting pot. Haggis believes: "However, the social problems reflected in our writing of these scripts are real. As long as it is a phenomenon that exists in society, no matter how dirty and ugly it is, we have the responsibility to write it out."] , This article does not discuss the issue of racial discrimination reflected in the film. As said at the beginning of the film, this film is about the topic of communication and emotion. "touch" [After the crash, Graham murmured to the camera and said to the audience: "This is touch. Feel like. Walking in any real city, do you understand, real city, you will pass by others, someone will bump into you. In Los Angeles, no one will meet you. We Always hide yourself behind glass and steel. I think we all miss the feeling of contact so much that we bump into each other to experience it.” (It's the sense of touch. Any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people. People bump into you. In LA, nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much that we crash into each other just so we can feel something.)]. In the opening caption stage, the pair of blurred car lights are lonely and inaccessible people.
Many warm passages in the second half of the film have scenes of physical contact. The prosecutor’s wife Jean hugs his maid Maria, Ryan rescues Christine from the car, Ryan and his father cry in arms, Iranian daughter Dolly takes the gun from his father Graham clasped his brother's statuette of Saint Christopher with both hands to his face and waited. The snow in Los Angeles at the end of the film (the last time it snowed in Los Angeles was in 1989) is also a touch, soothing the hearts of every person and viewer in the play.
Hollywood films’ writing of American reality has always been constructive, not reproducible. Regarding the national conflict, Paul Haggis gave his own reconciliation plan in this film. However, as a bourgeois humanitarian, he “shows the real and profound social reality, while solving the contradictions in reality is pale and naive.” (Reference [1])
Jean got Maria’s help, and ten years’ good friend card But Carol just ignored her because she was massaging. Her reconciliation was forgiving. [She said to Carol on the phone: "You have changed six butlers in a year?" (You go through, like, six housekeepers a year?) shows that Carol represents a mean character. ]. Christine was rescued because of tolerance, but the tolerance of the minority to white people. Ryan and Anthony, who stole the car, obtained salvation by saving others. At the same time, Anthony has always had strong racial hostility and is reluctant to ride the bus [He said that the windows of the bus are installed to humiliate those who are forced to ride” (To humiliate the people of color who are reduced to ridin' on'em.). At the end of the film, he looked thoughtfully at the peaceful and peaceful minority ethnic groups in the bus.
In addition to being accused of being brave, Cameron was also accused of not being "black" enough and that his relationship with his wife was cracked. The film made up for them one by one. He met his desire for a sense of belonging to his black identity by throwing wooden blocks on a burning car with a group of black youths, and said "I love you" to his wife on the phone.
The "lock" in the film symbolizes the distrust between people. The locksmith Daniel is neither trusted by Gene nor Farhad, the old Persian, but his story about fairies and the invisible cloak won the trust of his daughter and saved him. The little daughter opened the door (closed heart door), ran towards her father under the brightest light in the whole film, and jumped into her father’s arms, symbolizing that the power of trust and love can surpass all power (this shot is the most powerful in the whole film). Bright).
Graham, holding the statuette of Saint Christopher, who is holding his brother, symbolizes the salvation of religion. Fahad, who could not read English, murmured at the end, "She is my angel." This is also a reconciliation attributed to religion. In fact, it was his daughter who bought empty bullets at hand [Dolly has never supported her father to buy guns, and the bullet box she took out at the end of the film said "Blank" (empty bullets). ]. Like almost all the characters in the film, this is also a reconciliation attributed to family love.
"Crash" successfully soothed American audiences under the damage of "September 11" and the Iraq War with clever narrative skills, reflected the complex racial discrimination issues in American society, and gave a Hollywood-like story with a clever and touching plot. Reconciliation-Although the reconciliation method has no depth of thought, the self-reflection on the image of the American "world police" in the film is commendable. No wonder it won six Oscar nominations and three awards including best film.
References
[1] Wang Susheng. "Crash": a symbol of coincidence and collision. Film Review, 2006, (13)
[2] Zhang Tao. "Crash"-a model of cross-montage. Film Literature, 2006, (07)
[ 3] Gu Chunhua. On the narrative strategy of the movie "Crash". Film Review, 2007, (05)
[4] Zhang Bin. Break, Bridge and Transcendence——Analysis of Ideology in "Crash". Tangdu Academic Journal, 2008 ,(01) The
film intensively reads the paper and got the results, and finally dared to post the article^^ In order to strictly control the number of words in the text (in fact, it was seriously exceeded in the end), the annotations in this article are very exaggerated, and all the text that tells the story is all Annotated, in order to allow others to read without jumping around, square brackets are added to the text.
This article represents the highest level of my current interpretation of the film (have been holding back for several days, haha), but after I handed it in, I learned a little bit about current affairs, and I immediately found that the writing was too in-depth... I didn't know what the article mentioned at the time How complicated is the "complex sentiment" of China-in a series of wars, the Americans were sympathetic and helpless to the government. I admire the screenwriter's sophistication of emotions even more.
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