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ambush · Mar 7, 2006, 05:02 PM

I just finished watching Crash...
First of all, it's a very nice movie. If you haven't seen it, you should.

Second, does it describe the racial situation in LA correctly? Is it as harsh? If it is, wow.... that's so bad.

Discuss.

I Bent My Wookiee · Mar 7, 2006, 05:07 PM

OMG I hated the movie sooo soooo soooooooo much. I thought it was terribly written and way to in your face with obvious racial crap

"Hey ******, you got a china man under the car."
"How did I get a china man under the car ******?"

"This gun costs $XX, are you going to use it to to become a terrorist"?

Perhaps it is because I NEVER hear anything like that even though I live in the most culturally diverse city in the world. If this is what L.A. is like it needs to be nuked right now.

greenamp · Mar 7, 2006, 05:09 PM

Yes I think it was accurate. Whites, Blacks, and Chinese all suck.

hickey · Mar 7, 2006, 05:10 PM

I thought it was really good, and I was glad to see Ludacris do a barely decent job acting.

Which city is the most cuturally diverse anyway?

I Bent My Wookiee · Mar 7, 2006, 05:11 PM

Originally Posted by hickey

Which city is the most cuturally diverse anyway?

Toronto, ON is the most cuturally diverse in the world.

ambush · Mar 7, 2006, 05:12 PM

I'm not quite sure it's the most diverse in the world, but anyways.

ort888 · Mar 7, 2006, 05:12 PM

I couldn't tell you, I don't watch movies with minorities in them.

wdlove · Mar 7, 2006, 08:01 PM

My wife has ordered the DVD from amazon.com.

mania · Mar 7, 2006, 08:07 PM

its a great movie - and i live in redneck colorado FWIW.

Jawbone54 · Mar 7, 2006, 08:17 PM

Originally Posted by I Bent My Wookiee

Toronto, ON is the most cuturally diverse in the world.

Toronto is incredible. As soon as I stepped out of the airport I realized that I was in a completely different world. In a few hours you might hear 15 different languages. A very, very diverse city.

Mastrap · Mar 7, 2006, 08:41 PM

Originally Posted by ambush

I'm not quite sure it's the most diverse in the world, but anyways.

It's pretty damn close. I live in little Poland, or what used to be little Poland. Within 10 minutes I can be in:

Little Italy
Little Portugal
Koreatown
High Park, where the Ukrainians live
Little Ethiopia

Five more minutes will get me to Chinatown, 10 minutes to Greektown. Little India isn't far off. And so it goes on. I love the diversity we have in TO.

Eug Wanker · Mar 7, 2006, 09:05 PM

Originally Posted by I Bent My Wookiee

Toronto, ON is the most cuturally diverse in the world.

I agree that it is one of the most diverse in the world, but if you're talking about the United Nations rating of Toronto, that's an urban legend.

Back on topic...

I thought Crash OK but not that great. I'm surprised it won Best Picture.

Originally Posted by ort888

I couldn't tell you, I don't watch movies with minorities in them.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Mar 7, 2006, 09:12 PM

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

I agree that it is one of the most diverse in the world, but if you're talking about the United Nations rating of Toronto, that's an urban legend.

I was wondering where you were.

Anyway, it is ONE of the most if not the most, it is hard to mesure these things.

Type in Google "most multicultural city in the world" and you get NOTHING but Toronto.

Plus:

"In 2004, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ranked Toronto second, behind Miami, Florida, in its list of the world's cities with the largest percentage of foreign-born population. Toronto ranked ahead of other major multicultural cities as Los Angeles, Vancouver, New York City, Singapore and Sydney. Although Miami ranked first, its foreign-born population is mostly Hispanic (and to a much lesser extent Haitian), whereas Toronto's foreign-born population is significantly more diverse.
Toronto represents a multicultural mosaic. The 2001 Canadian census indicates 42.8% of Toronto's population being of a visible minority; approximately one million non-Whites, or 26% of Canada's minority population, live in Toronto; of this, almost four-fifths originate from Asia alone. Annually, almost half of all immigrants to Canada settle in Toronto. In March 2005, Statistics Canada projected that the visible minority proportion will comprise a majority in both Toronto and Vancouver by 2012."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Toronto

hickey · Mar 7, 2006, 09:56 PM

I went to a high school where white kids were a minority. There were something like 86 different languages or races or something there. It was strange at times, but I enjoyed it most of the time.

screamingFit · Mar 8, 2006, 04:56 AM

"Oh, if a bunch of Hollywood pukes say it's the best picture of the year, I better see it!"

Ambush, I'm ashamed.

Ozmodiar · Mar 8, 2006, 05:20 AM

Originally Posted by Mastrap

It's pretty damn close. I live in little Poland, or what used to be little Poland. Within 10 minutes I can be in:

Little Italy
Little Portugal
Koreatown
High Park, where the Ukrainians live
Little Ethiopia

Five more minutes will get me to Chinatown, 10 minutes to Greektown. Little India isn't far off. And so it goes on. I love the diversity we have in TO.

Sounds a lot like Chicago. Only instead of 10 minutes it's more like 2.

Ozmodiar · Mar 8, 2006, 05:23 AM

Originally Posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker

Type in Google "most multicultural city in the world" and you get NOTHING but Toronto.

I did that and got Melbourne, NYC, and Birmingham (England).

Mastrap · Mar 8, 2006, 05:41 AM

Originally Posted by Ozmodiar

Sounds a lot like Chicago. Only instead of 10 minutes it's more like 2.

I love Chicago, and know it well, but it's nothing like TO as far as diversity is concerned. Now, if we're talking beauty and architecture, it beats the pants of Toronto.

DeathToWindows · Mar 8, 2006, 06:09 AM

I've seen Crash a couple times, and agree with the most negative comments in the thread:

1. If LA is really like that, the most civilized thing to do is to blow it to hell.
2. How much crack was handed out to get Best Picture... I mean, dear Lord!

ambush · Mar 8, 2006, 08:03 AM

Originally Posted by screamingFit

"Oh, if a bunch of Hollywood pukes say it's the best picture of the year, I better see it!"

Ambush, I'm ashamed.

I'm in my spring break week. Hint: I'm bored.

Plus, I "got" it in 1 hour and 30 minutes.

ReggieX · Mar 8, 2006, 09:25 AM

It's a great movie, very true to Ballard's novel. I've met a couple of death-car fetishists, and the movie portrayed them very accurately. Cronenberg rules!

V · Mar 8, 2006, 09:36 AM

Ridiculous movie. Bad acting (Sandra Bullock!) , laughable scenario.

Binarymix · Mar 8, 2006, 09:43 AM

What's it about? Quick breakdown of the story?

Mastrap · Mar 8, 2006, 09:50 AM

Originally Posted by ReggieX

It's a great movie, very true to Ballard's novel. I've met a couple of death-car fetishists, and the movie portrayed them very accurately. Cronenberg rules!

Different movie methinks.

euchomai · Mar 8, 2006, 09:54 AM

Oklahoma City is easily the most diverse city in the world.

No, LA isn't all like that. I'm sure there are areas but come on nuke it because some are like that? I know you were being facetious, but seriously LA is a great city in most places.

Monique · Mar 8, 2006, 09:55 AM

Yes remind people that Canada is very divided. Aren't we all Canadians or not. By putting emphasis on the fact there are different neighborhoods and that they do not mix and stay in their little corners; you are saying that we are not one but we kind of tolerate each other and do not mix, who really cares if Toronto has 49 or 69 percent of visible minorities.

As for Crash, I do agree it is overblown, it reminds me of the year the English Patient won for best picture. I do not think that all racist interactions happen within one day or one week but over years. And it is just an ensemble of white guilt and this is why it won for best picture not because it is a great movie.

euchomai · Mar 8, 2006, 10:07 AM

Why is is that Oscar winners are never all that great (IMO). I typically know that if it got nominated for an award like that, I'll pretty much hate it. Of course there are exceptions, but for the most part it is true.

I Bent My Wookiee · Mar 8, 2006, 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by Binarymix

What's it about? Quick breakdown of the story?

The separate lives of a bunch of "ordinary" people living in L.A. Thing is each one of them is incredibly racist yet are forced into ridiculous situations where they have to interact.

I.e. A racist cop molests a black chick and later is the first on the scene when she is in a car crash and needs to be rescued by him.

I almost turned the movie off right before the end when that whole extremely corny kid shooting thing was going down.

Eug Wanker · Mar 8, 2006, 10:35 AM

BTW, one thing I noticed about LA vs Toronto.

LA has a lot of visible minorities too, but my impression was that it was more ghetto-ized in a sense than Toronto.

In Toronto, most of the so-called ethnic areas have somewhat of a mix, but if you say go into say a Hispanic area of LA, it's often 99.9% Hispanic. I guess one could say similar things about Chinatown in Toronto, but that's usually true of Chinatowns all over North America.

OTOH, while Toronto is safer than LA, Toronto's winter is a lot less pleasant than LA's.

Trygve · Mar 9, 2006, 01:49 AM

In 2004, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ranked Toronto second, behind Miami, Florida, in its list of the world's cities with the largest percentage of foreign-born population.

I'd be curious where Dubai falls on that list. About 85% of the local population are foreigners.

Ozmodiar · Mar 9, 2006, 01:54 AM

What's Dubai like to an outsider? I've never spoken to anyone from there (or who's been there for that matter). I think it would be a cool place to visit.

PB2K · Mar 9, 2006, 02:47 AM

Bahar Soomekh

Mastrap · Mar 9, 2006, 06:05 AM

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

LA has a lot of visible minorities too, but my impression was that it was more ghetto-ized in a sense than Toronto.
)

The difference is that in Toronto everybody piles into everybody else's ethnic areas to find out a: what's cooking or b: what is available cheaply in the local supermarkets. Did you know that the Korean superstore on Bloor is selling dried oyster mushrooms at ridiculously low prices?