After reading the story, “Battle Royal” by Ralph Ellison, I
instantly saw a connection between a particular scene from the movie Crash. Both of the sources show how
white members of society humiliate and degrade people of color. In the short
story, the narrator was
invited to a meeting with upper class white people to give his graduation
speech. There, he was mandated to participate in a fight with other black
classmates purely for the white men’s entertainment. At first, a naked white
woman was placed inside the ring as a way to tease and humiliate the teenagers.
He and the others were later blindfolded and were constantly degraded by the
white men who were watching. After the fight, coins and bills were scattered on
a rug. As the boys lunged for the money they were electrocuted. The white men
made fools out of the black boys and viewed them as animals driven purely by
instinct.
In Crash, Officer John
Ryan pulls over a Lincoln Navigator, thinking that it was the car that has been
stolen, although neither the location nor the license plate number matched the
stolen car. A black couple, Cameron and Christine, were inside the Navigator
and eventually stepped out of the car. The officer doesn’t have any compassion,
although Cameron stated that they were only blocks away from their house, and sexually
molested Christine under the
pretense of performing a pat down. He didn’t have any respect towards her and
ignores the fact that her husband was only a few feet away and witnessing
everything that the officer was doing. Out of fear, Cameron swallowed his words
to not give the racist police officer a reason to shoot. The officer finally
lets them leave, however, only after humiliating the black couple and
threatening them with going to jail.
Wow that was a deep connection. I’ve never personally seen that movie, and I definitely do not want to now. I think it is great that modern media can portray the scandalous abuse of law enforcement towards civilians. It is a perfect depiction of what happens in the real world and sometimes people do not get the justice they deserve when dealing with a dirty cop. Another example could have been the movie “Lakeview Terrace,” that I used in last week’s media outtake. There are only so many movies that can portray something so powerful as this theme of racial discrimination.
ReplyDeleteWow even though I saw that movie recently and I have seen it a thousand times I never made that connection, hats off to you. You’re completely right, by the officer purposely pulling the black couple and humiliating the wife as you said not only demonstrates the issues with the power of white vs. blacks but also the law enforcement vs. civilians. The cop molesting the wife could defiantly connect with the laughter and amusement of the whites in “Battle Royal” and by the husband not being able to fight back could connect to the narrator of the story having to fight back, both are helpless.
ReplyDeleteYordan!!!! This was brilliant!
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