Comparative Analysis of Two Films Essay

Stereotyping can be defined as sweeping generalizations ab expose(a) affiliates of a certain sexual pr human fleckionice, nationality, religion, washables, or some former(a) group. amicable stereotyping has been a worldwide eff for many years. More specifically, stereotypical assertions, based on twain sex activity and race, subscribe been a prevalent theme throughout many twentieth and 21st century germinates. Both Crash, directed by Paul Haggis in 2004, and Girlfight directed by Karyn Kusama in 2000, address the issue of stereotyping in their aver unique way.Girlfight does this by placing a female in the spotlight of a sport that is predominantly predominate by males, whereas, Crash confronts our problem with racial stereotypes and racism, and the need to counter them, by focusing on the crash human beings experience by encounte large number mint that they actually be already associate to. Throughout the film Girlfight, the crowd may have been against Diana, har dly her tendency allowed her to fight off skeptics outside the ring and her opp unrivalednts in the ring. Crash is a movie that brings out bigotry and racial stereotypes.While one storey revolves around a sexuality debate, the other approaches the argu custodyt from the nerve of race and ultimately both combat the greater social issue of stereotyping. The film Girlfight depicts the struggle of Diana Guzman, a high school girl, and how she overcomes gender barriers to dominate the case atomic number 18na. Her mother passed away when she was young, and she lives with her receive and younger brother, Tiny. They reside in the projects of new-fashioned York City, a tougher atomic number 18a where the ability to defend yourself is basically a prerequisite.Her father forces Tiny to train at the local gym to become break off suited to defend himself and that is where Diana is introduced to the sport of boxing. Setting is a key aspect of the film and director Karyn Kusamas choice o f realistic venues for each and either scene help create a docuwork forcetary- wish atmosphere. One scene that illustrates this timbre is when Diana and Adrian learn that they will both be fighting each other in the final cycle. The scene takes place inside the manager of the rings spotlight a small but well organised office.The television camera pans from character to character as they discuss Dianas conterminous fight and the viewer is placed in the back corner of the office space. A key detail to be noticed is that the door is propagate and one can see that boxers are still learning in the background. This gives the audience the idea that what they are viewing is very real, around like a documentary, and Kusamas film work adds to that with a check that is both grainy and misty. The scene is also full of dialogue, which is a common attribute of any documentary. It seems as if the scene would have occurred even if the camera had not been rolling film.The realistic aspect correlates back to the underlying present of the movie, gender stereotyping. At the time, female boxers were a rarity and Diana was an elision not only beca apply of her gender but also because of her skill. The boxers at this gym are all male except for Diana who happens to be the master(prenominal) character in the film. This creates an immediate gender barrier the second that Diana step in the gym merely because she isnt of the norm. The film Crash attempts to contract the issue of racial stereotyping though the stories of several characters who all turn out to be connected in some way, shape, or form.Anthony and calamus are detonateners in crime who highjack cars for a chop shop. Anthony believes that society is unfairly biased against blacks, and at one point in the film he justifies his actions by claiming he would never hurt other black person. move around Cabot, district attorney of Los Angeles, and his wife blue jean are dickens other main characters throughout the film. One scene that reinforces the use of stereotyping is when Anthony and slit promenade a Los Angeles shopping strip. As they walk along, Anthony explains to Peter how whites are so quick to judge blacks at night.The dialogue throughout the scene is specially important because Anthony quickly changes from complaining about racial tendencies around him to secrecy behind a handgun as both he and his maven hijacks a car. The audience sides with Anthony, as he begins his rant, but out of the blue, the two men pull a gun on an innocent bracing and the audience is left in shock. Anthony states, You couldnt find a whiter, safer or better-lit part of this city pay now, but yet this white womanhood sees two black guys who look like UCLA students strolling down the sidewalk, and her reaction is artifice fear (Crash).This statement draws light on the fact that we as humans tend to jump to conclusions often too quickly. Anthony and Peter had done zip fastener out of the ordin ary but the town happened to be predominantly dominated by whites and that condition off a red flag in Jeans mind. Anthony flips the subject based on the fact that they are the only blacks in the area and asks Peter, Why arent we scared? Peter responds, Cause we got guns? and both men proceed to pull out their weapons and hijack the Cabots vehicle (Crash). This scene is greatly enhanced by the use of sound.As both of the couples stroll down the boulevard, one can try out a peaceful Christmas carol in the background, but as the men approach the Cabots, the music increases in volume and changes to a more upbeat, jittery track. The film does this in order to create tension between both sets of characters it changes the norm and keeps the audience anxious. To reinforce this, the sound increases once more as Anthony and Peter peel out of the street with the stolen car creating a definitive point in the scene. By transitioning from calm to chaos, Haggis demonstrates how a simple misi nterpretation, a stereotype, could pay dividends in the long run.Jean Cabot had suspected something was not right as soon as she locked eyes with Anthony. The fact that Anthony gave a kind of thought-provoking talk on racial tendencies shows that stereotyping does not go unnoticed. An act as simple as interlocking arms with your husband as you pass two young, African American teenagers may seem like an act of safety to you but to the teenagers it is offensive. This also proves that this is not a colored debate. Both parties are involved and equally held responsible for their criticisms. In bonny Members of Society Learning the Social Meaning of grammatical gender, Aaron H.Devor discusses the distinction between gender and sexuality. Gender is typically based on anatomical differences between men and women, but does not necessarily match with them. In Dianas case, she is a female yet she demonstrates mascu grade tendencies through her animosity and fury in the boxing arena. Accord ing to Devor, Diana fails to follow the natural role of her sexuality (Devor 160). Devor states, persons who run the activities considered appropriate for another gender will be expected to practice them poorly (Devor 159).He point is valid because there are forever and a day cases when a male or a female may not fit the norm and fight off a society that is so fixated on masculinity versus femininity. This statement connects with the film Girlfight, in which Diana Guzman distinguishes herself by nice a boxer, a sport dominated by males. Devor states that even if the athletic supporter does succeed, it is a reward with ridicule or scorn for blurring the gender dividing line (Devor 159). The film Girlfight somewhat argues this statement because Diana was cheered as she finished her final bout against Adrian. Adrian was obviously the favored fighter, mainly due the act that he was a male, yet Diana pulled off the victory.The fact is that gender is socially and culturally decided it is not biologically determined. At the time, boxing gurus failed to give credit to Diana by being an underdog and decided to instead critique and stereotype her based on her sex. Today more and more women have become boxers but there are still those that frown upon their presence in the ring. sluice though people have become more tolerant, there are still some who are not willing to except things out of the norm, which is why society has not gained the balance it needs and social stereotyping exists.Gender stereotyping is a very serious issue in todays society, but another dilemma just as grim is that of racial stereotyping. Larry Aubrys Los Angeles Sentinel article titled, Undoing Racism in American Cities, argues how racism is still very much with us and is still a barrier to the realization of the American dream in the nations cities and towns. His main point is that in order to undo racism one must move from being a part of the problem to congruous a part of the solution (A ubry, par. 3).Throughout the film Crash, the main characters are given various opportunities to combat racism but instead act on poor judgment by stereotyping. The fact is that stereotyping never leads to a proper outcome. A proper outcome may not be what either party had intended but most of the time an estimable outcome is best. In Anthonys case, he fumed on how whites were racial yet he became part of the problem by doing exactly what Jean Cabot had foreseen him execute. Anthony stereotyped against himself and further worsened the problem. According to Aubry, there is a consensus that everyone is part of the problem in many different ways (Aubry, par. ).Most people place the blame on others when in fact they escalate the argument. Stereotyping has set societies back time and time again and until society is guided by the fairness of its ideas, its politics, and its culture and not by the fairness of one anothers skin or gender, progress cannot be made. Girlfight attacks the issu e from the gender side while Crash from the racial side. Stereotyping is vague in disposition but both films key in on these issues through their storyline and cinematic techniques. Girlfight did this through a realistic portrayal of the life of a young female boxer and her struggles.Crash decided to create a segmented story in which characters interact through their abuse of stereotyping. If Anthony and Peter had decided not to go through with the car hijacking, both them and the Cabots would have been closer to the realization that they were in fact, out of line. In Dianas case, the in the public eye(predicate) is against her, even her father is against her, yet she knows she can fend off the skeptics. Social stereotyping is pervasive and without both parties grasping that fact, both racist and gender stereotyping will continue to exist.