Bonilla-Silva’s Four Frames of Colorblind Racism

The purpose of this essay is to apply the four frames of colorblindness racism as presented by Bonilla –Silva to the social world today. For this paper, I chose the movie crash and media analysis since it brings out race as one of its primary themes.

Bonilla-Silva highlights that the views of the whites constitute an ideology as opposed to prejudice. For this reason, the views of the whites ought to be understood in such a way that power relations between the blacks and the whites are maintained in the racial arena. The inner frames of this ideology form the basis for understanding this information. These frames include naturalization, cultural racism, minimization of racism, and abstract liberalism .

The movie crash highlights the lives of different individuals from different social classes. These people have life-changing experiences between their different stereotypes and prejudices . The plot of the crash is made up of a series of interrelated pieces about people of varied socioeconomic groups and ethnicities who interact with one another, mostly in a violent way. The interaction of these characters prompts one to question stereotypes while also acknowledging the truth with which they contain. Since the scenes are all related, with one character in one scene reappearing in another, we can analyze the different sides of a personality. For instance, a character appears to be a racist in one scene is shown undertaking an act of kindness in a different scene. This structure is useful in stressing the interrelationship of human beings while at the same time underscoring the complexities of racism and prejudice. This chosen film exhibits the four frames of color-blindness of Bonilla-Silva and it has been analyzed below.

Abstract liberalism uses ideas such as individual effort, meritocracy, and equal opportunity that are associated with liberalism. It flows down to each having economic as well as political liberalism. Political freedom means that everyone is accorded equal opportunities. This is when the dominant group sees it unfair for the minority group to be given an advantage. The dominant group always believes that the minority groups, for instance, people of color, still have to work harder to attain their goals without receiving any particular kind of treatment

Abstract liberalism is seen in the movie Crash when the racial minorities become targets of racism and prejudice. For the Iranian families, it has become a common phenomenon to be mistreated whenever they go. Although carrying a gun is a right every American citizen enjoys, the shopkeeper questions the intentions of an Iranian man who arrives to buy a gun with his daughter. He is even labeled Osama despite being clean shaven, his only crime being his accent and skin tone.

Analyzing the Movie ‘Crash’

We also come across another black couple, Christine and Cameron, who are drastically disrupted one night despite leading upper-class lives. While returning from an evening out, all dressed in formal attire; they become police prejudice victims. They are stopped by the police and abused, simply for being black. Cameron is taunted and threatened. For Christine, however, because of her gender, becomes a victim on an intense new level. She is not only harassed by the officer, but also moleste. This couple is, therefore, reduced to ethnic bodies regardless of their education and class. Dillon’s character has been brought out as that of a racist cop. However, his character is later redeemed when eventually elevated as a hero when he is left with no option but to save Christine’s life from a fatal car accident. This act of kindness goes against this frame of abstract liberalism.

The blacks continue to be reminded of their citizen class as a second class. While walking in downtown Los Aneles, Anthony and Peter discuss how they are ill-treated and ill-perceived, and the numerous glances they receive on the way. Similarly, we encounter Latino locksmith, who, because of being black with a shaven head and tattoos, is labeled a thief and a gang-banger despite being hard-working. He is later accused by another customer of being a cheater.

Naturalism is the second frame of Bonilla-Silva. It allows the whites to justify racial inequality as if it was natural or inevitable. This is commonly used when using self-segregation to refer to social segregation. When whites say that the blacks segregate themselves, the history of redlining and discriminatory, disinvestment as well as exclusionary real estate practices are minimized. A structural problem arising from this mindset is the tendency for people to gravitate to their racial group. This is often seen as natural despite going against the colorblind ideal.

Crash reveals different places as those of disadvantage and those of privilege. As Peter and Anthony walk down the streets of L.A in the beginning, Anthony can’t help but notice the rich divide between the poor and the wealthy neighborhoods. While Jean Cabot has a maid just for emptying her dishwasher in her luxurious home, Detective Graham’s mother only owns a refrigerator and lives in squalid conditions. Peter’s and Anthony’s discussion, therefore, heightens the relationship between class and race in America.

Not only do the spaces created carry significance but they are also interlinked. When we look at, for example, Ken Ho’s course as an immigrant, he takes a history which influences his present-day circumstance. Similarly, his neighborhood has not naturally evolved, neither has have Peter’s and Anthony’s slums. These spaces exist as a result of unequal economic relations, both current and historical. The neighborhoods are not gradual but have been formed as a result of past relations of power. Just as the regions are constructed, they give a particular meaning to the individuals occupying them. Jean Cabot’s block, for instance, highlights her sense of belonging, and, in quintessence, her being white. Her notion of hegemony, superiority, civility, and wealth rely on her insecurity whenever a black person arrives in her neighborhood. Her concept of demarking the maid as ones who occupy unregulated and cheaper labor force puts them at constant risk of deportation and exploitation.

Abstract Liberalism in ‘Crash’

Cultural racism is the third frame of Bonilla-Silva. It justifies the whites as to the racial, social reality we face today. The lack of analysis of discrimination effects in the educational markets, housing, and labor, and the impact of race discrimination on upper and middle-class speople of color have seen whites deem the situation of blacks a cultural thing, by relying on the previous culture of property. Culture is still looked at as a marker of political, economic, and social inequality. It is therefore used to explain why some groups find it hard to overcome their current life situations.

Crash highlights how we often succumb to our previous quick misjudgments no matter how cautious we try to be. We come across Officer Hansen who works hard to avoid the racist dogma but tragically falls victim to it. We see his determination to be a rational officer, struggling to change his partner but is accused of a pretentiousness problem by the public. He even goes ahead to protect Cameron. This action goes against the fourth frame of minimization. Sadly, he misjudges Peter’s gesticulation for the pocket as going for a hidden gun and his laughter as mocking. This movie not only highlights how we misapprehend others but also how our personalities are affected by our coopted racism. For instance, Anthony, a black man, criticizes Peter, his best friend, for fancying hockey rather than basketball, and country music as opposed to rap. To Anthony, Peter does not fit into his model of what a black person should be. Crash, therefore, effectively highlights how people are continuously slotted into ethnic categories and how many victims have, coopted racism themselves.

Minimization is the last frame of Bonilla-Silva. It operates in yet another manner that allows the racial or dominant group to brush off racism. It is a particularly insidious frame as it enables the whites to ignore any claims of racial inequality from black communities and individuals experiencing it. It also allows the whites to embrace racism through the rhetoric of colorblind racism by telling those suffering and complaining about racism that they are hypersensitive hence silencing them.

The movie crash highlights how the media is used to manipulate the truth and build regulated bodies. Foucault explains this by underlining that some organizations create and enforce rules to control individuals thus producing practiced and subjected bodies. We see Rick Cabot, the District Attorney, work to maintain his power by using the position of power and the fact that he is white to use the mass media to do his murky work. The D.A can, therefore, shape the actions and images he wants to present in the film for the public. He present awards to recipients, call a press conference or shift people to token positions, all at a whim. On the other hand, Cameron, who is a TV producer, has a post with the potential agency just as the lieutenant. Though a victim of racial profiling himself, he works towards maintaining mainstream values and appearance. Cameron decides to, during a shoot, depict a black actor’s accent and character as that of mainstream English but is turned down by his supervisor who prefers to characterize it as a genuine, urban talk. Caught in the reproduction of popular stereotypes, Cameron is integrated into a system that only reinforces mainstream ideas.

Naturalization in ‘Crash’

Bonilla-Silva clearly highlights that racial disparity and inequality are embedded in the American society despite the racist practices being converted from apparent to color-blind forms. The experiences conveyed by the movie characters portray the racial views and ideology in contemporary America. The technology of performance used also enhance the ability of the target audience to, through words and actions, detect the practices of color blind racism. The awareness created about color-blind racism should, therefore, prompt the American residents to think carefully through racism. This should also apply to individuals from other dominant groups living outside the United States. It is crucial for the globalization of whiteness to be scrutinized in the international community today.

If this practices are to be carried on, then people’s identities will be invaded since race is tied entirely to the identity of any given individual and signifies tradition, heritage, language, and culture. For this to be stopped, the Americans have to cease the feeling of being threatened by the people of color. Also, the racist experiences will be invalidated since this ideology takes race off the table and pretends it is empty thus resulting to self-doubt, self-blame, and internalized oppression. We, therefore need to create an environment where such experiences can be brought up, heard, valued, and addressed accordingly.

As much as the movie crash provides us with snapshots during the period of racism in America, its boundaries are restricted to the occupants. It, on a micro level, fails to provide a critical analysis of race in the framework of resistance and power. Moreover, it does not bring out the relationship between structural inequality and individual’s lives. Although it gives a hint to their influences, it lacks further exploration of the dominant ideology, media, history, and law on individuals. Furthermore, voices of agency and resistance do not emanate in the movie despite bringing out the issue of racist ideology. It is through such lens that we can be able to gear our society towards an inclusive multiracial democracy.

References

Bonilla-Silva, E. (1997). Rethinking racism: Toward a structural interpretation. . American sociological review, 465-480.

Bonilla-Silva, E. (2003). New racism,’color-blind racism, and the future of whiteness in America. White out: The continuing significance of racism, 271-84.

Bonilla-Silva, E., & Dietrich, D. (2011). The sweet enchantment of color-blind racism in Obamerica. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 634(1),, 190-206.

Bonilla-Silva, E., & Forman, T. A. (2003). IT WASN’T ME”: HOW WILL RACE. Research in political sociology, 12, 111-134.

Foucault, M. (1980). Selected interviews and other writings,. Power/knowledge, 1972-1977.

Harper, S. R. (2012). Race without racism: How higher education researchers minimize racist institutional norms. The Review of Higher Education, 36(1), 9-29.

Indrianingsih, E., Ariatmi, S. Z., & Hum, M. (2017). A Pragmalinguistics Analysis of Anger Expressions in the Crime Movies. Doctoral dissertation, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta).

Leiter, B. (2007, March 29). Naturalizing jurisprudence: Essays on American legal realism and naturalism in legal philosophy. 

Michaels, W. B. (1987). The gold standard and the logic of naturalism: American literature at the turn of the century (Vol. 2). . California : Univ of California Press.

Ramadhaningtyas, K. (2009). STEREOTYPES AND PREJUDICES IN PAUL HAGGIS’S THE CRASH: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH. Doctoral dissertation, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta.

Valdivia, A. N. (1998). Stereotype or transgression?: Rosie Perez in Hollywood film. The Sociological Quarterly, 39(3), 393-408.

Widianti, A. (2010). The flouting of Grice’s conversational maxims done by the characters in the Crash movie. SKRIPSI Jurusan Sastra Inggris-Fakultas Sastra UM.