AN ANALYSIS OF RACISM IN PAUL HAGGIS’
CRASH
FILM
THESIS
By:
Vike Eka Agustin 06360109
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG
This thesis written by Vike Eka Agustin was approved on January 23, 2013.
This thesis was defended in front of the examiners of Faculty of Teacher Training and Education of University of Muhammadiyah Malang
and accepted as one of requirements to achieve Sarjana Degree in English Education
On January 23,2013
Approved by:
Faculty of Teacher Training and Education University of Muhammadiyah Malang
Dean,
Dr. M. Syaifuddin, M.M.
Examiners:
1. Dr. Sri Hartiningsih, M.M. 2. Drs. Jarum, M.Ed.
3. Drs. Adiloka M.Pd.
MOTTO AND DEDICATION
MOTTO
"Don’t ever give up being the best"
DEDICATED TO:
My parents
My husband and daughter
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim
First of all, praise to Allah S.W.T the mercifull and almighty for the guidance and blessing be on Muhammad S.A.W the last prophet in the world.
In this accassion, the writer also would like to express her faithfull gratitude to: Drs. Adiloka M.Pd. as the first advisor and Dra. Thathit Manon Andini,
M.Hum. as the second advisor, who have given the patience guidance, encouragement, advice, correction, and suggestion for the completion of this thesis.
The head of English Department and all of the lectures of English Department, who have given knowledge during her study in this white campus.
Beloved parents Suparmi and Surip, who have showed all of their love, complete understanding and their silent prayer.
All beloved friends Wiwid and Ija who have always stay beside me. Thank you for their kindness, support, and understanding. You know who you are “ best friend forever ”.
ABSTRACT
AN ANALYSIS OF RACSIM IN PAUL HAGGIS’ CRSH FILM
Racism is one of facts occurring in human social life. It is the generalization to people which is usually negative because of their race. In this study, film Crash was analyzed because it contains racism problems among the characters. Moreover, racism problems in this film not only occur between white and black people, but also between other races such as: Chinese and Arabian. It means that the conflicts that occur in this film are among multi races.
The objectives of this study were to describe racism in the Paul Haggis’ Crash film and to know the conflicts resulted by racism which appears in the Paul Haggis’ Crash film.
The research design of this study was a qualitative research, because this study focused on human behavior, namely: racism among multiracial characters and the conflicts which were resulted by racism. In addition, the data of this study were not presented in numerical analysis. In collecting the data, the writer watched the Crash film, selected the script dealing with racism, identified the data which were categorized into racism, selected the data related to the purpose of the study and rewrote all of the data about racism depicted in the film
The finding showed that Racism in the Crash film was described clearly through characters who disliked each other among races and gave discriminative attitudes towards other races. There were conflicts resulted by racism occurred among races, namely: conflict between White American and Negroes, conflict between White American and White American, and conflict between White American and Persian.
In conclusion, Racism in the Crash film made certain people feel superior or inferior because racism made certain people accept discriminative negative treatment. It caused conflicts among races.
Keywords: Racism, Discriminative Attitude, Conflicts, and Other Races.
The 1st Advisor, The Writer
TABLE OF CONTENTS
APPROVAL ... i
LEGALIZATION ... ii
MOTTO & DEDICATION ... iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... iv
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ... 6
2.1.2.5 Epic Film ... 14
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ... 25
3.1 Research Design ... 25
3.2 Approach ... 26
3.3 Data Source. ... 27
3.4 Data Collection ... 27
3.5 Data Analysis ... 28
CHAPTER IV: FINDING AND DISCUSSION... 29
4.1 Research Finding ... 29
4.1.1 The Way of Racism was Described in the Crash Film ... 29
4.1.1.1 Racism was Described Through Characters Who Disliked Each Other Among Races ... 29
4.1.1.2 Racism was Described Through Characters Who Gave Discriminative Attitude toward Other Races ... 33
4.1.2 The Conflicts Resulted by Racim Which Appear in the Crash Film 36 4.1.2.1 Conflict Between White Americans and negroes ... 36
4.1.2.2 Conflict Between White American and White American ... 39
4.2 Discussion ... 44
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ... 46
5.1 Conclusions ... 46
5.2 Suggestions ... 47
REFERENCES
Ary, Donald; Jacobs, Lucy C & Razavieh. 2002. Intoduction to Research in Education. Sixth Edition. New York: Holt, Rineharth, and Wadsworth, Inc.
Dirks. 2010. Main Film Genre. Retrieved from http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html
Klarer, Mario. 2006. An Introduction to Literary Studies. Second Edition. London and New York: Routledge.
Law, Ian. 2010. Racism and Ethnicity: Global Debates, Dilemmas, Direction, Pearson Education Limited. 2010. London. Licensing Agency Ltd.
Midega, John. 2011. in the Presentation during Awards. Retrieved from http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html.
Stewart, Elbert W. 1981. Sociology: The Human Science. McGrawHill Inc. United State of America.
Wiyatmi. 2006. Pengantar Kajian Sastra. Buku Pengantar Teori Bagi Para Mahasiswa Maupun Umum Sebagai Dasar Untuk Mengkaji Sastra. Yogyakarta. Pustaka.
Zanden, James, W.V. 1982. SocialPsychology. Third Edition. New York. Ohio State University.
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the background of the study, the statement of the
problems, the purposes of the study, the significance of the study, the scope and the
limitation, and the definition of key terms.
1.1 The Background of the Study
Literature is human’s expression. People usually have many ways of
expressing their feeling, experience, thought, imagination and idea. When people read
literature, people acquire a pleasure and it will not make people satisfied because they
are curios to the story which is entertaining. Midega (2011: 1) states:
Literature shares with film because it has the ability to employ the structures and devices of narrative. The sequence of images on screen tells a story like the sequence of words on page in the novel. Films, just like in literature, i) present, ii) action, and iii) images words replicating life.
The statement above shows that literature shares with film because both of
them use narration. The sequences of images in film which are depicted on screen are
same as the narration which tells the story printed on page in the novel. Film also
represents the reflection of human life. Therefore, it can be concluded that film is one
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Film makers may also get inspirations from short story or novel to be filmed.
The audiences are easier to enjoy film than reading novel or short story because it
spends less time to see the description through its depictions. As Klarer (2006) states,
“Film is means of photographic depiction far surpass the means of realistic portrayal
in the theater.” It shows that through its depiction, film is different from other written
literary work.
Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that film is part of
literature because its presentation reflects human life. The themes of film can also be
various such as: racism, a problem which often arises in the social life. It is related to
discriminative attitude toward certain people based on race.
As Barker in Zastrow and Ashman (2001: 205) states:
Racism is stereotyping and generalizing about people, usually negatively, because of their race; commonly a basis of discrimination against members of racial minority groups. Most racist ideologists assert that members of other racial groups are inferior.
Racism is giving discriminative attitude and unequal treatment toward certain
people by considering their race. Based on the theory stated above, racism means
generalizing people which is usually negative because of their race. It may make
certain race feel considered superior or inferior because of the discrimination and
unequal treatment. The inferior group tends to get unequal treatment because they are
considered as minority. Barker in Zastrow and Ashman (2001) explains that minority
is a group of people who are distinct racial, religious, ethnic, or political identity that
3
treatment is a social action which may affect social conflict. Racism is one of facts
occurring in human social life. It has been inspiring the Film makers to depict into a
good Film. Therefore, study on racism is necessary to conduct.
The writer chose Crash film to be analyzed because this film contains racism
problems among the characters. Moreover, racism problem in this film not only
occurs between white and black people, but also between other races such as: Chinese
and Arabian. It means the conflicts occur in this film are among multi races. Crash is
a film that tells about many characters who come from various races, such as:
Chinese, Arabian, Mexican, Caucasian, White American, Black American. They deal
with the tense race relations. Among the characters, there are the Caucasian lawyer
who uses race as a political card. His Caucasian wife has recently been carjacked by
two black men. She believes that her stereotypical views of non-whites is justified
and cannot be considered racism. The two black carjackers use their race as an
advantage and as an excuse. They steal Caucasian’ car because they have a view that
Caucasians, of course, underestimate them as black race. While a Negro film director
is very angry to white policemen because her wife has been treated impolite by a
white police. That incident happens because white police hates black men very much.
This makes Crash film is interesting to be analyzed.
Racism is expected to give the explanation about the social phenomena which
is a social action causing conflicts in the society. Therefore, the writer is interested in
4
describe the phenomena about the attitudes toward certain people based on certain
race.
1.2 The Statement of the Problems
1. How is racism described in Paul Haggis’ Crash film?
2. What are the conflicts resulted by racism which appear in Paul Haggis’ Crash
film?
1.3 Purposes of the Study
1. To describe racism in Paul Haggis’ Crash film.
2. To know the conflicts resulted by racism which appear in Paul Haggis’ Crash
film?
1.4 The Significance of the Study
The result of this study has significance for the following people:
1. For the English Department Students
The students can take the lesson about racism which can bear the conflict
between human and enable them to underestimate other race outside their own
race. Furthermore, it is expected to encourage students to study more about film
5
2. For the Lecturers
The lecturers can use this study as reference when they teach social and
culture, especially about racism or film.
3. For Other Researchers
It is hoped that this study can be an inspiration for them who are interested in
analyzing films.
1.5 The Scope and Limitation
The scope of this study is focused on racism. Racism studied here is limited
on racism which is exposed in the Paul Haggis’s Crash film through the dialogue,
action, or situation.
1.6 The Definition of the Key Terms
Racism is stereotyping and generalizing about people because of their race;
commonly a basis of discrimination against members of racial minority
groups (Barker, in Zastrow and Ashman, 2001: 205).
Crash is a 2004 American drama film co-written, produced, and directed by Paul
Haggis. The film is about racial and social tensions in Los Angeles,
