Learning Guide to Crash
Subjects: U.S. Culture, Crime; Race Relations, Los Angeles;
Social-Emotional Learning: Justice, Redemption, Racism;
Moral/Ethical Emphasis: Responsibility; Justice; Mother/Son; Crime;
Ages: 15+; MPAA Rating R; 112 Minutes; Available from Amazon.com.
Description: Crash follows a Los Angeles police Detective through 36 hours of interwoven stories that
reveal both blatant and subtle forms of racism. He must deal with street crime as well as police coverups, both of which involve his brother and force him into ethical dilemmas. Multi-linear in format, the
disparate stories interconnect and redemption is earned by some of the characters as others fall into
violent and unethical resolutions to their problems with race.
Rationale for Using This Movie: Providing carefully interwoven context for racist beliefs, actions and
comments, Crash illuminates the concept that racism is not limited to the purview of the ignorant and
the cruel; racists are often the victims of racism and those who see themselves as free of racist notions
can be violently racists in a given moment. Thus, students gain a deeper understanding of racial issues in
America today in a film that utilizes many of the standards in the Core Curriculum.
Objectives/Student Outcomes Using This Learning Guide: Through discussion, reflection and writing
assignments students will explore their own racial attitudes as well as those of society as a whole; they
will use analytical tools to see the redemption that is possible in a racial context and extend knowledge
of irony as a tool to communicate theme.
Possible Problems: This film is R rated and some parents as well as students may have difficulty with
the degradation that is felt from victims of racism. Teachers must be sure to have signed parental
approval forms prior to showing the film; parents should watch Crash with their children.
Using the Movie in Class: Divide the class into groups of four students and give them the following list
of prompts, the answers to which they can share in open dialogue with one another. After the allotted
group time ends, have students in each group select among the responses they have heard, one from
each prompt that is most illustrative to share with the class as a whole. (In classes in which group work is
problematic, the prompts may be addressed in writing.)
1. Other than in the media, where have you seen racism? Consider experiences in your school or among
people you know in your family or community.
2. Which groups of people, not necessarily which races, do you feel are most affected by bigoted
comments or actions in the current culture?
3. What traits of any cultural group (racial, gender, sexual orientation, class, age, etc) are on some level
bothersome to you?
4. Where did you or someone you know learn to disdain or otherwise be repulsed by character traits of
any cultural group?
5. Briefly narrate a time in which you held onto a bigoted notion and then released it because of some
mind opening experience, whether in your life, in film, through literature or other learning opportunity.
After the group work and report-out is completed, read, project onto the white board or distribute the
following poem to the class. Tell the students to pay attention to incidents or episodes in the film that
may be as impactful to the individuals experiencing them as this one in Cullen’s poem is to the eight
year old child.
Incident
Once riding in old Baltimore,
Heart-filled, head-filled with glee;
I saw a Baltimorean
Keep looking straight at me.
Now I was eight and very small,
And he was no whit bigger,
And so I smiled, but he poked out
His tongue, and called me, "Nigger."
I saw the whole of Baltimore
From May until December;
Of all the things that happened there
That's all that I remember.
By Countee Cullen
Remind students of the old saying, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never
hurt me.” Engage in student discussion of the old saying in terms of what the 8 year old boy in
Baltimore experienced. Ask for sharing of similar experiences from students.
Finally, introduce the students to the concept of Double Consciousness as formulated by W.E.B.
DuBois in his 1908 book, The Souls of Black Folk. DuBois writes:
“It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self
through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in
amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two
thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged
strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”
Students will better understand the concept of Double Consciousness through examples that
apply to them directly. Teenage girls may see themselves as good students who are shopping for
mascara at Mac whereas clerks at the high-end make up store see the girls as probable
shoplifters. Black students at elite colleges may see themselves as scholars while many on the
campus will see them as having been enrolled because of Affirmative Action and therefore less
qualified than others. An unwed mother abandoned by the father of her child may see herself as a
parent striving to provide a good home for her child, while another person may see her as an
irresponsible and loose woman who is mooching off the welfare system. An immigrant working
off the books may be striving to be an honorable father helping his family survive, while citizens
may see him as an alien unwanted presence and a potential drain on the welfare system. It
doesn’t matter whether any set of perceptions are true. Once an individual understands that other
people perceive him that way, double consciousness ensues.
Teachers may evoke examples from individual students to further illustrate the concept of
Double Consciousness. In each example it is important to note that the way others see an
individual is brought into his or her own way of seeing the self.
Discussion Questions:
1. Which racial incident in the film do you feel may be as impactful as the one told in the poem?
Suggested Response: All responses, well supported, are acceptable.
2. Which character in the film best illustrates through action or dialogue the problem of Double
Consciousness? Suggested Response: Anthony indicated Double Consciousness as he noted how
the District Attorney’s wife pulls her purse and herself closer to her husband when she sees two
black men approaching. He says that he and his friend Peter may be U.C.L.A. students but the
woman thinks they are carrying guns and are dangerous. He also said the black waitress was
rude because she thinks black customers don’t tip. He resents these viewpoints and the racism
they hold, yet he robs the white couple and leaves no tip for the waitress.
3. What drove Officer Hansen, who had been struggling against the racism in the police
department, to shoot Peter, dump his body and set fire to his own car? Suggested Response:
Officer Hansen was afraid and fear can easily pre-empt values or beliefs that are superficial,
which may have been the case with Hansen’s sense of racial justice. Hansen “profiled” Peter
and expected him to have a gun when he reached for his Saint Christopher medal. Hansen didn’t
believe a black man would like ice hockey nor be a country and western music fan. Earlier he
had thwarted what appeared to be “death by cop” behavior on the part of Cameron Thayer, yet
he kills a black man he had picked up to give a ride.
4. Which acts of redemption in the film are most ironic? Suggested Response: Officer Ryan, who
had molested Christine Thayer in front of her husband when he pulled their car over in a search
for the D.A.’s vehicle, is on the scene when Christine rolls the car and is trapped inside. As
flames approach the vehicle he risks his life to save her despite her initial protestations. Another
irony (aside from the one mentioned in question 3 above) can be seen when Anthony releases the
illegal immigrants from the van he had stolen. He had been offered $500 per immigrant and it
had appeared that he would do anything for profit. It is ironic that the only one to help the D.A.’s
wife when she had fallen was the Mexican maid about whom she had been so dismissive earlier.
It is ironic that the bullets in the Persian shopkeeper’s gun are blanks and that although he
intends to kill the locksmith, he saves himself.
5. What examples of racism can you find in the film are used advance a political agenda?
Suggested Response: The District Attorney does not want it to be known that the carjackers are
black; he wants to place a black officer in an important position and he wants to cover up the
crimes of a black officer in order to avoid the appearance of racism.
Assignments and Assessments:
1. Write a summary of one of the story lines woven through Crash that leads to redemption. You may
chose Officer Ryan, with his mistreatment of the Thayers, his heroic actions that save Christine Thayer
from the wreck, his trouble with his father’s health plan and the woman in charge of the treatment his
father is being denied. Explain what makes the viewers see that Ryan has earned redemption. You may
choose Anthony, the D.A.’s wife, or any other character you feel has learned an important message in
the film.
2. DuBois wrote of the black individual in America saying, “He simply wishes to make it possible for a
man to be both a Negro and an American without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without
having the doors of opportunity closed roughly in his face” Write an analysis of Crash that shows how
the conflict between how a man sees himself and how others see him creates “Double Consciousness.”
Look especially at the character Cameron Thayer, as your case in point. Consider how his wife is treated
by Officer Ryan, how the assistant director wants Cameron to get more black language out of his scene,
how he provokes the policemen who pull him over and how Cameron treats Anthony during the
attempted carjacking.
3. Using Countee Cullen’s poem “Incident” as a hook, write an essay about the concept of “hate speech”
and prepare an oral presentation that details the history of the concept as well as the conflicts that have
arisen with the First Amendment. Research will be necessary for you to find examples of specific cases
that have become known to the public and any policies that have been developed to deal with the
problems. Conclude your presentation with the admonition against hate speech that is in place at your
school.
4. Crash is dominated with examples of “Profiling.” Research information about how profiling comes
into play in social interactions. Write an essay in which you show how profiling is the central problem in
Crash. Give examples from the film and be sure to include racial groups other than African Americans in
your choices. Conclude your essay with suggestions about how to mitigate the problems associated with
profiling.
5. Write a personal narrative about an experience centered on race either in your town or your school
that was especially ironic in outcome. Look carefully to what you may have intended in the event and
what resulted. For example, on the first day in a new class, you may have sought to find a seat far away
from a fellow student who appeared Middle Eastern or Goth or Gay and then later became good friends
with the individual. You may have avoided a particular restaurant in your community because of the
clientele and then later discovered its charms. Show in your narrative what you learned as you indicate
the irony of expectation and outcome.