Colliding Discourses

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Crash - "Car Jacking"

In this clip from the movie Crash, we see examples of conflicting Discourses, as well as the differences between learned and acquired Discourses. Anthony (Chris "Ludacris" Bridges) and his friend Peter (Larenz Tate) are two black men living in Los Angeles. They live the Discourse of the socio-economically lower class black man, but they have also learned a Discourse that allows them to talk about their lives in relation to other people. Here, I will call their learned Discourse the Black Victimization Discourse. Anthony is particularly caught up in this way of seeing the world, and sees everything from poor service at a restaurant to Jean (Sandra Bullock) grabbing her husband's arm as evidence that the world only sees him as a thuggish criminal, and only thus because of his skin color. It is interesting to note that although he disdains this label that he perceives others give to him, he actually fits it fairly well, especially at the end of the scene when he ends up stealing a car with Peter. This movie presents an interesting idea: the ability to learn and master new Discourses through learning does not necessarily mean that one can or will practice a different Discourse.