Cultural Communication Reflected in Crash

Abstract：The movie Crash which is shot in Los Angeles，is a typical work of cultural communication，it reveals lots of intercultural problems between people of different background.And this paper is going to individually analyze three cultural concepts-stereotype，prejudice and ethnocentrism based on the plots of Crash.

Key words：Cultural Communication；Stereotype；Prejudice；Ethnocentrism

1 Introduction

American society has long been a mixture of people of diverse cultural backgrounds and ethnic origins.“Culture melting pot”is the name used to describe America.And Los Angeles，where the movie Crash was shot，is a typical city of that kind.Its plot was designated with meticulous care while seemed to be unrelated.The story demonstrated the social reality.Just as a detective said in the beginning of the movie，“In L.A.，nobody touches you.We are 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”，Crash shows cultural conflicts among different people through these three cultural concepts：stereotype，prejudice and ethnocentrism.

2 Cultural Concepts with Corresponding Plots

2.1 Stereotype

Stereotype refers to a fixed impression about certain population which is socially categorized by gender，race，age or occupation.Usually，stereotype aims to the impressions about strangers，which unavoidably will bring misunderstandings.In Crash，in one filming site，the white assistant Fred questioned about the lines of the black actor Jamal，“This is weird for a white guy to say，but have you noticed hes talking a lot less black lately？Like in this scene，he was supposed to say ‘Dont be talking about that and he changed it to‘Dont talk to me about that”.Freds words show that it is normal for the black to speak ill-formed English because of their lack of education，which shows negative effect of stereotype.It easily misleads us to prejudice.

2.2 Prejudice

Prejudice is based on wrong judgment of negative attitudes toward other group or individuals，which is unhealthy and unreasonable（Jia Yuxin，1997）.In this film，prejudices are everywhere.A white young policeman gave a free ride to a black guy，the black mans worn shoes and dusty clothes made the policeman suspicious.When the black man wanted to take out his icon from his pocket，the policeman thought it was gun，shooting him without thinking twice.This scene reveals the white policemans prejudice though he was nice to the black.However，among people of color，prejudices exist as well.In the beginning of the film，the car crash involving Mexican American woman detective and a Korean woman，they are both people of color，but they called each others name without rationality.

2.3 Ethnocentrism

The word“ethnocentrism”refers to “the technical name for the view of things in which ones own group is the center of everything，and all the others are scaled and rated with reference to it”（Sumner，1906）.People with ethnocentrism think that cultural values，language of their own group are superior.For in-groups，ethnocentrism will enhance the unity of the whole group，however，for out-groups，distrust or hatred may be formed because of ethnocentrism.For example，in Crash，the policeman Ryan was a racist，he despised the black.When he tried hardly to seek better medical care in HMO，the black staff rejected his requirements，he then transferred his anger to a black couple and humiliated a black woman out of resentment.

3 Conclusion

In Crash，the Korean and the Chinese stand for Asian culture；the white for mainstream culture；along with the black culture and Latin culture，they crash into each other in Los Angeles.The story begins with car crash and ends with it.Collisions exist，but we dont have to fear or hide anything，love is our inborn solution to any of these.The racist Ryan saved Christines life under urgent circumstance and the black thief Antony released all Chinese people in the van，all indicating that in cultural communication，it is necessary for people of different groups to respect，tolerate and understand each other.

References

[1]Sumner W G.Folkways[M].Ginn，1906.

[2]東文宣.《撞车》之跨文化交际观[J].电影文学，2011.

[3]贾玉新.跨文化交际学[M].上海外语教育出版社，1997.

作者简介

杨珂（1994—），女，汉族，四川南充人，文学硕士在读，单位：西南财经大学；专业：商务英语研究；研究方向：商务英语、跨文化交际与沟通。