Crashing the black female image

[Raha]

Crashing the Black Female Image
By Stephanie Mwandishi Gadlin
(StephGadlin@yahoo.com)

While much ado is being made about Crash winning the Best Picture award at the recent Oscars, Black women shouldn't be so quick to cheer a film that in the end winds up reinforcing many of Hollywood stereotypes we have fought against over the last few decades.

It is well-documented that the female image in U.S. entertainment culture routinely depicts Black women in the following ways


• As poorly educated, unmarried
• As sexually repressed or obsessive
• As routinely hostile to Black men and boys
• As tragically mulatto (light skin); racially confused
• As an over-religious mammy more concerned for the welfare of whites than her own children
• And, as overweight, comedic and/or obsessed with "finding a man."

Upon further look Crash reinforces the notions about Black women as emasculating, helpless, sexualized victims while at the same time works to soften and then rationalize anti-Black, racist behavior of the whites depicted in the film.

We are introduced to the first Black female character through the light-skin, Brit-born actress Thandie Newton who is incidentally performing a sex act on her director-husband [played by Terrence Howard] as he drives home.

Following a questionable traffic stop, we are soon face-to-face with an out-of-control Newton--whom we are constantly reminded is intoxicated--who while pleading helplessly with her terrified husband is sexually assaulted by a racist police officer, while his seemingly non-racist partner stands ideally by. Her husband, the Black man, cannot save her, and will not save her, least he wind up in jail or dead. To the viewer we are left to wonder if he is a coward or a hero who chooses his battles wisely.

Later, Newton launches into a tirade about her husband's lack of masculinity, lack of blackness and lack of courage. Howard does his best to defend himself, but unwilling or unable to go toe to toe with his wife's fervor, winds up internalizing his rage. "Its all your fault," he reminds her over and over again. The wife screams, shouts and threatens to report the officer, played by Matt Dillon, to his higher ups in the police department, but doesn't.

Howard's character, along with one portrayed by veteran actor Keith David, represent Black men who would rather sacrifice their self dignity than their careers. Neither of them are willing to take on the white power structure for the sake of pursued justice. They are neither noble or honorable. They are empowered, powerless victims who understand 'their place' in a society dominated by white men.

We last encounter an emotionally impacted Newton upside down in her car during a traffic accident. With life-staking moments ticking away, to her horror, she comes face to face with her would-be hero, the same white cop who just hours before sexually assaulted her. In this twisted paradox, a noble, yet 'they made me racist" Dillon rescues Newton and she collapses thankful, grateful, tragic, into his strong and masculine arms. She stares almost lovingly into his eyes as she is ushered away from the crash--perhaps thankful that she didn't report him to his superiors after all. And so are we.

Though it is subtly implied, we never see Newton's character reconcile with her own husband. Instead, we are left breathing sighs of thanks that this white man, could put away his racist leanings to do his job. After all, we have since found out that Dillon's character is only a racist because his ailing father was forced out of a job and better health benefits because of affirmative action. We empathize with him as we see Shaniqua, the African American HMO official, unapologetically deny his claim.

Dillon's character's racism is a byproduct of society's cruel turn of events that place Black people in positions of authority. His mental illness isn't to blame, its "Shaniqua" fault. Its all of those Blacks who put good white folk out of their jobs, because of affirmative action, who make him behave this way. We see Dillon's character tortured by his father's condition as he help's his dad on and off the toilet. We should empathize with him, not pity him, and further understand that his racism is not of his own making.

The third Black woman depicted in the film is a drug-addicted, incoherent mother of a indifferent police detective, played by Don Cheadle, and a likeable thief, portrayed by Larenz Tate. We are introduced to her through her environment, a garbage strewn apartment. She sits near comatose on her balcony wondering when her youngest son will come home.

There is no back story about this family for us to empathize with. We do not know if this woman is married or widowed. We don't know what drove her to drug addiction. We do not know if her sons are the product of one union or two, one-night stands. This mother's wounds are self-inflicted and so her problems all stem from her own poor choices. There is no explanation or excuses, she is what she is--a "crack head," single mother, battling her addiction alone. She has no food in the refrigerator because put the groceries in her arm or her pipe. Her passive, brown eyes tell us its not her fault, but the verdict is still out.

Crash tells us that mother actually loves the criminal son (Tate) more than the one who has seemingly taken a route of responsibility, education and career advancement (Cheadle). We do not understand why this tragic mother would embrace her two-strikes, car-jacking son over her more responsible one. Is this a subliminal suggestion that Black mothers or people, in general, are more accepting of criminal behaviors? We never find out why.

Throughout the film we are reminded that Crash's white characters are flawed and racist only because society drives them to be this way (affirmative action, reverse discrimination, rampant crime, etc.); while the Black characters seemingly suffer because of internal wounds (drug addiction, poor choices, criminal behavior, etc.)--not institutional racism. The only one who speaks for them and attempts to explain why these characters engage in antisocial behavior is another white man, a public relations hack hired by the District Attorney. Even his explanation of poor schools, lack of opportunity, and police misconduct is dismissed as being nothing more than cultural whining.

Black people suffer because of self-inflicted wounds--remember. White institutional racism is just a misunderstanding, remember.

When Tate's character and the one portrayed by Atlanta-based rapper Ludacris, attempts to justify their poor life choices, the audience is left laughing at their self-examination. These two are comedic relief. It is funny that one of these men find conspiracies in white society. It is funny that they choose to only rob white people. It is amusing that they seem remotely intelligent. It is funny when (Ludacris) comes across another victim and it turns out to be a Black man (Howard). We laugh when he is disarmed, chastised and then given his weapon back.

None of these Black people in the film are redeemed--despite Crash's poor attempt to show some sense of morality. Dillon's character, however, is immediately redeemed by his heroic act; the suburbanite (Sandra Bullock) finds herself redeemed by recognizing the humanity and friendship of her Latino housekeeper; and a supposedly non racist cop (Ryan Phillip) who winds up killing one of the carjackers, is excused all together because it appears almost justified. All of the whites in Crash are really good people who are just victims of circumstance.

The Blacks, Latinos, Asians and Middle Eastern people depicted in Crash are all guilty of their poor choices, society's stereotypes, cross-cultural miscommunication and their own cowardice. We shake our head at the Asian human trafficker but not at European who seeks to buy slaves. Complete with American flags waving in the background, our patriotism is subtly reinforced throughout the sequence of events featuring the Latino locksmith and the Persian storeowner.

I must admit that I raised these questions after initially giving the film great reviews. This is a good movie. It is the best example of propaganda film in some time. Crash does what all good Hollywood films should do, it evoked emotion, thought, and reflection. It entertained. It forces us to transfer real human emotion to contrived and a set unrealistic events in order to authenticate its hidden message.

We passively accept the racist reinforcement of Crash while at the same time believe we are rejecting it.

Given the backdrop of Crash's Academy Award win on the same night this same the group also awarded Three 6 Mafia's "Its Hard Out Here for a Pimp," as song of the year, I had to take another look. How could "the Academy" reject Howard's performance in one of the most 'thought provoking' films of the year; yet, nominate him for his portrayal of a pimp suffering from a midlife crisis?

Had I been duped into believing that an industry that has so rife with depicting Black people as more criminal, more violent, more ignorant than we are could suddenly change its stripes? Had I been pacified by the Oscars given to Halle Berry, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Jamie Foxx?

People responded to Crash, and rightly so--it pushes psychological buttons. Its vivid imagery makes you ignore the generalities and tricks you into thinking you are rejecting basic stereotypes rather than reinforcing them.

I know people will read this and take me to task. "This was a good movie," someone will shout. "This was an excellent film," others will say. "You have too much time on your hands," another might retort. "It was only a movie."

For those comments and others I am reminded of the African proverb: "beware of the naked man who offers you his shirt."

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[Im The Truth]

Good article movies like Crash are racist as all hell! 99.9999% of all movies europeans (and Halfricans) do about "race" be some BS!!!

[Moorish Rebel]

Great Article....the author is way on point.

[nattyreb]

Excellent read, Stephanie is an author worth looking up for past articles. This is the kind of journalism we should be striving to emulate, thought-provoking and thought-full, in our own propaganda. i especially love the way she is frank enough to question her own reactions to those previous Oscars, which relates to the vulnerability deep within us all to want to applaud *something* of us, even when it's so deeply flawed. Finally, the African proverb at the end was perfect, it put the whole piece in complete perspective. Great submission, Raha.

[Walk Wit Me]

Good read.....