1. In the aftermath of 9/11 several stories connecting sexism, racism, and classism are woven together to explore the prejudice.
2. A character I was interested in was Anthony. He made himself out to be the victim at first but then proved himself wrong.

“ Look around! You couldn’t find a whiter, safer or better lit part of this city. But this white woman sees two black guys, who look like UCLA students, strolling down the sidewalk and her reaction is blind fear. I mean, look at us! Are we dressed like gang-bangers? Huh? No. Do we look threatening? No. Fact, if anybody should be scared around here, it’s us: We’re the only two black faces surrounded by a sea of over-caffeinated white people, patrolled by the triggerhappy LAPD. So you tell me, why aren’t we scared?”

“Because we have guns”

“You could be right.”

His arguments here are valid and meaningful but then they prove the stereotype they were just complaining about by robbing a car at gunpoint. This is an interesting choice by the director as he took an important and meaningful observation about life for black people in LA and diminished it by having them play the role they are trying to shake. They also made Anthony himself a racist character. I understand that the director was probably making a statement about how people can’t be black or white good or bad, rather they can be both the victim and the aggressor. However, we just established that we can’t really consider him to be that much of a victim. Also, his entire “redemption arc” is ridiculous. It doesn’t redeem him at all. He steals a car with a bunch of Cambodian people chained in the back and instead of selling them he lets them go.

Anthony : [as he let go all the Asian people that are in the truck]  Look, here’s 40 bucks. Buy everybody chop suey. You understand?

[an Asian man takes the money and doesn’t say anything as he leaves] 

Anthony : Dopey fucking Chinaman.

His words prove he didn’t get a better understanding of the fact that racism toward all cultures is bad and also I would never have considered him to be such an evil or “bad” person that he would sell them in the beginning of the movie. Like, did I miss something? He was stealing cars from people. Is that really even comparable to selling other human beings?

3. I honestly don’t know what the directors intention was. I guess it was what I said before about people being good and bad but he did a really bad job of portraying this with Anthony. It comes as no surprise to me that Paul higgins is white.

4. Haggis manipulated viewers using stereotypes to force them into the realisation of their own prejudice. He took characters that we would expect (because of their ethnicity, class, job or sex) to be “bad” and made them protagonists and vice versa. An example of this are the policemen. Tom Hansen and John Ryan begin the movie in very different and opposing positions. Tom watches racist and sexist John molest a lady he pulled over and requests a transfer. The viewer also sees John be discriminatory towards shaniqua on the phone. He tells Tom:

“You think you know who you are. (Officer Hanson nods) You have no idea.” Haggis makes us trust Tom because he has an honourable job and seems to be just and fair in doing it. Later in the movie he reveals our