Jordan Freudenberger
philosophical “Crash”
In this paper I will address the moral decisions of the characters in the movie crash.
Crash is a movie about the different life stories of multiple characters. For
My paper I will mainly address the actions of the character known as Anthony who
is played by Chris “Ludacris” Bridges. I may also mention/address the actions of the
following characters from the movie, Officer John Ryan, Cameron Thayer, Jamal,
Christine Thayer, and Officer Tom Hansen, I find it interesting how some characters
act and make decisions in one way but later on change their point of view. I am
going to use the ideas of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.
John Ryan a police officer that is currently trying to help his father that is having
prostate problems. There is an incident where he practically molests a woman
(Christine Thayer) when he pulls her and her husband (Cameron Thayer) over. He
uses his “Police Power” to intimidate the black couple and forces them both up
against the car to be searched; this is when he feels up Christine. He threatens them
that he could arrest them. Cameron co-operates and they are let go with a warning.
After this Christine is furious with Cameron for not doing anything to stop the
officer from molesting her and calls him a coward.
Now we are going to skip to another character named Anthony. Anthony is a
mid twenties, black man. He talks a lot about how differently black people are
treated in every situation and is constantly overlooking everything. He steels cars
with his friend Jamal for a living. He seems to get pleasure from stealing from and
disrespecting people from other races. He does not like to steal from blacks. One
night Anthony and Jamal steal a navigator from a white couple. As they are driving it
to the shop to sell it they hit a man getting into his van, Anthony and Jamal get out
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philosophical “Crash”
and notice that the man is stuck underneath the navigator. Anthony wants to just
drive away and leave him but Jamal tells him no because they will be wanted for
murder, so they pull him out from underneath and put him in the back of the
navigator. They then throw him out onto the sidewalk in front of the hospital before
they get to the shop. Anthony has an eye opening experience a couple days later
when he and Jamal try to highjack another car, this man just happens to be Cameron
Thayer (he is black and as I stated above Anthony does not steal from black people.)
Because of what had happened to Cameron and his wife the a couple days earlier, he
seems to be in a state of mind where he is just mad at the world, hates cops and feels
like he needs to be more manly, fierce and brave. As Cameron try’s to fight off
Anthony and Jamal, Jamal runs away, and Anthony jumps into the car and so does
Cameron. Anthony then pulls out a gun and Cameron takes it from him by now they
are in a high-speed chase with the police. As the police chase them he pulls into a
dead end and stops. Cameron then gets out with the gun tucked in the back of his
pants and starts arguing with all the police while they have him at gunpoint. One of
the officers (John Ryan’s partner) from the a couple nights before Recognizes
Cameron and talks all the other officers into letting him go, this is because the officer
feels bad about witnessing John Ryan feel up his wife and not doing anything to stop
it. As he gets back into the car Anthony is shocked and doesn't know how to react.
Cameron then drops him off on a corner and tells him “you embarrass me” and gives
him his gun back. As Anthony is walking home he notices keys in the door of a van
(this is where he hit the man the night before) and steals the van. When he arrives at
the shop they discover that there are about 10 Chinese immigrants locked in the
Jordan Freudenberger
philosophical “Crash”
back of the van. The shop offers Anthony $500 for each immigrant, but he turns it
down and goes to set them free. Not only does he set them all free but he also gives
them money out of his own pocket for food.
The Philosophical beliefs I’m going to use are from a man named Jeremy
Bentham. “Jeremy Bentham was born in 1748 and died in 1832, he directly
challenged the owners, bosses, and ruling classes when he insisted that “each counts
as one and none more” Bentham blasted those in power for pursuing their own
narrow, socially destructive goals instead of pursuing happiness for everyone.”
(Soccio, page 343) Bentham was known to fallow the belief of utilitarianism.
Utilitarianism, also known as the principle of utility, is the belief that “you should
always act to promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number,” (Soccio,
page 345). Bentham supports two types of hedonism; psychological hedonism
which is “the believe that pain and pleasure determine what we shall do, the belief
that all decisions are based on considerations of pleasure and pain because it is
psychologically impossible for human beings to do otherwise,” (Soccio, page 344).
The other type of hedonism he supports is ethical hedonism, “pain and pleasure
alone point out what we ought to do. It is the belief that although it is possible to
deliberately avoid pleasure or choose pain, it is morally wrong to do so,” (Soccio,
page 344). “Bentham also claimed that psychological egoism is natural and
universal.” (Soccio, page 346) Psychological egoism states that every human being is
always interested in his/her own welfare. Even if a person is acting in such a way
that they seem like they are acting in an altruist way they are truly not. They are
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philosophical “Crash”
really just acting this way because they see an benefit for themselves either in the
immediate future or in a long term way.
The person I want to address from the movie Crash is Anthony. Like I stated
above, Anthony is a black male in his twenties. To me Anthony seems like an egoist.
He acts in ways to promote his own welfare. An example would be: when he runs
over the man and wants to just drive away. I believe he does this because he is
worried about the consequences he will face if he try’s to help the man. In the end he
does help the man by driving him to the hospital. The only reason why he did help
the man is because Jamal talked him out of driving away because they could be
charged with murder if they did, this shows that it is still really just an act of egoism
and not really an act of altruism. To me this is a perfect example of psychological
egoism. When Anthony and Jamal go to steal another car and realize it is another
black man, Anthony hesitates because he does not like to steal from blacks. I don't
really know for sure if he doesn't like it because he likes to act altruist towards
fellow blacks or if it is really still an act of psychological egoism because he really
just likes the feeling of “black pride.” To me it almost seems like a mixture of both of
them. Lets go back to the car jacking that we were just addressing. Anthony and
Jamal realize it is a black man, although Anthony hesitates he still try’s to go through
with the theft. Therefore Anthony is still being an egoist; he is trying to promote his
own welfare. After being unsuccessful and is told, “you embarrass me” by Cameron,
Anthony seems to have almost a change in heart. At this point you are thinking that
Anthony is going to be a changed man. Just when you start thinking this is when he
sees the keys in the door of the van and he steals it. This again is a major act of
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philosophical “Crash”
egoism. He is only thinking of himself and the money he can get from selling that car
to be parted out and scrapped. When he gets to the shop and they realize that there
are Chinese immigrants in the back of it he is offered money for them. By now you
think you know exactly what this “egoist Anthony” is going to do, but Anthony has a
major change of heart and acts it way that, to me, seems like a great act of
utilitarianism. When Anthony lets all of them out in china town and gives them
money, out of his own pocket, so they can eat you cant help but wonder what caused
him to suddenly have a change in heart. Anthony went from only doing acts of
egoism to doing a major act of Utilitarianism (acting to promote the greatest good
for the greatest number of people). To me it seems like he was constantly thinking
about what happened with him and Anthony that day and the words “you
embarrass me” were playing over and over again in his head.
In this movie there are many characters that show a change in their beliefs
and it makes you really think about what is the best way to act, egoist, utilitarianist,
or altruist. To me Anthony what a prime example of how a person can actually
change and not always be a psychological egoist.
Jordan Freudenberger
philosophical “Crash”
Bibliography:
Soccio, Douglas, Archetypes of wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy 7th ed.,
(Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing), 2010
Crash, Dir. Paul Haggis, Perf. Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Thandie Newton, Matt
Dillon, Terrence Howard, Nicholas George Stark, Ryan Phillippe, Thandie Newton,
and Chris “Ludacris” Bridges et.al (2004) Lions Gate Films: 2005 DVD