Crash vs Master Harold and the Boys

Tension between the African Americans and Caucasians has been present in America for decades. In the movie Crash (2004), race and culture are major themes that can be seen in the lives of the characters in the film. One character in particular, Cameron, a prestigious color vision director, displays the friction between two cultures (www.infernalramblings.com). He belongs to the educated, upper class of the Los Angeles area. He is also an African American, yet he seems to have no ties with that class. He has a light-skinned wife, attends award shows, and it appears that his acquaintances are predominately white. When he and his wife, Christine, get pulled over by a racist cop, he experiences emotions of powerlessness and helplessness that he never knew he would experience due to his upbringing and place in society (www.infernalramblings.com). Cameron goes through a radical transformation where he comes to grips with his background and how he fits into these two clashing cultures.

However, although the incidents in the movie are not literally true — I don't think a single African-American carjacker in the world is capable of launching into an intellectual dialogue about why his race is being kept down — the spirit behind them is generally relevant to all of mankind.

The movie, for example, addresses ethnic stereotyping, which I think any culture has trouble dealing with. How far are these stereotypes true, and should they be relied on? This seemingly simple question does not have any clear answer; if you think otherwise, Crash is definitely a movie you ought to watch (www.infernalramblings.com).

But, of course, this is not the movie's only theme. Affirmative action is not very subtly attacked when one character hisses that an African-American woman took a job that half-a-dozen more qualified white people could have filled. Yet, later in the movie, we are also not so subtly told by another character, pondering a spinjob, whether it is better for a rogue black policeman to go down as another "coked-up" druggie, or as a positive role model for the black community that already has too many drug addict role models (www.infernalramblings.com).

In contrast, the play, “MASTER HAROLD” . . . and the Boys is an examination of the psychological structure behind the rules of South African society and a consideration of how it might be altered. Hally's crippled father—never seen on the stage—embodies the whole system. His debilitating disease is the racism that has ruined his country's dreams; his “gamy” leg is a symbol of infirmity, but it is not as serious as the psychotic hatred that has reduced the man to drunken ranting. The crucial problem is essentially moral and spiritual (Durbach, 54).

The central metaphor that Fugard uses for relations between people, races, and countries is ballroom dancing. Willie practices dancing throughout the play, and Hally observes the competition for a school essay. Ballroom dancing also becomes a metaphor for getting through life—communication, maneuvering, people and nations avoiding collisions. Hally suggests that the United Nations is ...