Everyone needs to keep on their medicine intake--

The term American melting pot means that in America eventually all cultures and traditions will forge together into one ultimate superior culture. According to this term clashing cultures will find a middle ground to agree upon. Of course this idea doesn’t take into account that one cannot possibly unlearn much of their own culture and automatically accept all other cultures and traditions. In theory the example would be one particular culture embraced all parts of other cultures to be a part of a final American culture.
Native Americans have been categorized into two stereotypical terms in culture: bloodthirsty and noble savage. The bloodthirsty savage is disgusting, full of rage, constantly seeking violence and destruction. They are mostly portrayed as such villainous creatures in Westerns and specifically as the character Magua in James Fennimore Cooper’s novel The Last of the Mohicans. Also represented in Cooper’s novel is the noble savage. The novel savage is submissive to nature and the white man. Another role of the noble savage would be a guide through the dangerous wilds for the white man. Does Sacagawea count?

The movie Crash is not a positive film about race issues because in the long run it doesn’t provide audiences with a solution for change. The best way to describe Crash is an attempt to bring white America to terms with the big elephant in the room called race and racism and the dominance of white patriarchal society. The message is that everyone is prejudiced therefore its okay if everyone else is doing it. The message doesn’t provide a true solution to racism. Furthermore, it minimizes the two truths: the United States has a dominant white patriarchal society and that there people in LA who get along despite race issues. To pick a side, I would have to agree with Jensen and Wosnitzer that Crash did more damage than good because it left audiences with a drained out truth and implied justification of racism through heroism-- exemplified in the highlighted character Officer Ryan. Of course there are many problems with this film, as with all films, but because this particular film focused on the issues of race, racism and white dominance it missed the target which defeated all of its good intentions.