# Crash: Did I miss something **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 25, 2006, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132 "2006-04-25T13:15:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/21 "2006-04-26T14:17:19Z")
Well, I was hoping to read a thread about **Crash** that wasn’t all about the Great Blanks Debate, but maybe that’s not possible! (FWIW, I think she did know, and that’s my interpretation of the movie, so in my world I’m right!! ::insert stick out tongue smiley here:: ) I just watched it the other day for the first time and I was blown away, truly. The movie had me laughing in some scenes, crying in others, and pissed off in even more. And the performances were all top-notch. I think Matt Dillon did a good job, but I was absolutely riveted by Terence Howard. Not sure how the Academy picked Dillon out of all those performances to give only him a nomination. I dunno, maybe I am easily impressed like **Stranger on a Train** suggests, but not every movie touches me in the same way this one did. (Hmmm, but I did also like _Grand Canyon_, so maybe you’re on to something!!! :dubious: ) ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/22 "2006-04-26T14:35:52Z")
Thanks, **Hello Kitty** , for contributing more than just your take on the blanks issue. When I started the other Crash thread, the blanks thing was just one of my questions, and the whole thing kind of turned into a debate (not a great debate, mind you). Not that I don’t appreciate those that tried to answer my question. Now, does anyone agree with me that Ryan Phillipe should be the gold standard of "bad actor "? He makes Keanu Reeves look like Ollivier, fer cryin’ outloud. I’m not sure exactly what it is. Maybe it’s just the roles he’s cast in, which is another puzzlement in itself. If they made a movie about the rise and fall of The Boy Band, he’d be perfect, but anything where he’ supposed to be even remotely masculine or over the age of twelve; not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/23 "2006-04-26T15:07:11Z")
> [@HelloKitty](#): > > I just watched it the other day for the first time and I was blown away, truly. The movie had me laughing in some scenes, crying in others, and pissed off in even more. And the performances were all top-notch. I think Matt Dillon did a good job, but I was absolutely riveted by Terence Howard. Not sure how the Academy picked Dillon out of all those performances to give only him a nomination. Obviously the Academy is racist, giving the nom to a white actor instead of a black one. I keed, I keed. Probably Dillon got the nom because his character was one of two (the other being Sandra Bullock channeling Jessica Tandy in _Driving Miss Daisy_) who had a pseudo-transformative racial moment. Dillon goes from being a racist to being…a racist who pulled a black woman out of a burning car. Academy voters like that sort of depth. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/24 "2006-04-26T15:13:54Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > The director messed up by not making it clear that she knew. The _point_ is that her _father_ didn’t know. The daughter really is a tertiary character: she wasn’t shown to have any racially-based predudices, nor did she face any consequences from them. > My view on “ownership” of released art is that the artist retains 51% ownership. Why would the daughter knowingly let her father go about with a gun loaded with blanks? I guess you could just argue that she was a colossaly stupid individual and then the argument is won no matter if she knew or not. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/25 "2006-04-26T15:22:41Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Why would the daughter knowingly let her father go about with a gun loaded with blanks? I guess you could just argue that she was a colossaly stupid individual and then the argument is won no matter if she knew or not. Because she didn’t want him to kill anybody? And he didn’t, so Mission Accomplished. That maybe? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/26 "2006-04-26T15:43:13Z")
> [@Ellen Cherry](#): > > Because she didn’t want him to kill anybody? And he didn’t, so Mission Accomplished. That maybe? :dubious: Yabbut, If he pointed what he thought was a loaded gun at someone and that someone took offense and fired back, how was she planning on living with herself? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/27 "2006-04-26T17:36:39Z")
You buy blanks for someone who doesn’t know much about guns because you limit the chances of the stupid gun user from hurting himself or others accidentally. You can still hurt yourself (and indeed kill yourself) with blanks, but you have to work at it a bit more. ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/28 "2006-04-26T17:45:14Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Obviously the Academy is racist, giving the nom to a white actor instead of a black one. ``` Well, Howard was nominated for **Hustle and Flow** , so that's only half true! ;) ``` > [@Otto](#): > > Probably Dillon got the nom because his character was one of two (the other being Sandra Bullock channeling Jessica Tandy in _Driving Miss Daisy_) who had a pseudo-transformative racial moment. Dillon goes from being a racist to being…a racist who pulled a black woman out of a burning car. Academy voters like that sort of depth. Good point. I agree, **Wookinpanub** about Ryan Phillippe. He is beyond bad. We watched **White Squall** the other day which Philippe is also in…he was horrible even when he was a young kid. But he is pretty to look at. I’m just ignoring all the posts in here about the blanks…!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/29 "2006-04-26T18:49:08Z")
**Otto** , great comparison, Bullock’s character (which is so one-dimensional it doesn’t even qualify as flat) with Miss Daisy. A change in outlook on that extreme of a level doesn’t happen overnight. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/30 "2006-04-26T19:08:30Z")
I really didn’t like it. It was a really overrated movie that tried to touch on racism a bit too much for my tastes with a plot that I wasn’t really interested in. Brokeback mountain should’ve won. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/31 "2006-04-26T19:31:22Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > **Otto** , great comparison, Bullock’s character (which is so one-dimensional it doesn’t even qualify as flat) with Miss Daisy. Kind of hard to miss it, what with Bullock directly quoting Tandy and all (“You’re my best friend.” Oh yeah? Then why do you make her call you ‘Mrs,’ bitch?). ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/32 "2006-04-26T19:33:25Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > **Otto** , great comparison, Bullock’s character (which is so one-dimensional it doesn’t even qualify as flat) with Miss Daisy. A change in outlook on that extreme of a level doesn’t happen overnight. On the surface I agree with you both, but as I mentioned in the other thread, I think the characters and situations were supposed to be over the top. I never viewed it as a realistic, slice of life type of picture and didn’t imagine the director intended it be one. Does anyone know his stance on this? In any event, though Sandra’s character was way out there, and obviously very unlikable, I thought she did a great job with the role. Could be because it’s such a departure for her, but I’d love to see her in more roles like this(well, perhaps scaled down a bit so as to be believable). ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/33 "2006-04-26T19:49:36Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > The director messed up by not making it clear that she knew. The _point_ is that her _father_ didn’t know. The daughter really is a tertiary character: she wasn’t shown to have any racially-based predudices, nor did she face any consequences from them. > My view on “ownership” of released art is that the artist retains 51% ownership. He did make it clear to anyone with half a brain, and an understanding of movies. He explains how he made it clear in his commentary. There are at least two scenes which allude to the fact that she knew. To think she didn’t know is retarded. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/34 "2006-04-26T20:20:10Z")
> [@brickbacon](#): > > He did make it clear to anyone with half a brain, and an understanding of movies. He explains how he made it clear in his commentary. There are at least two scenes which allude to the fact that she knew. To think she didn’t know is retarded. The only thing more puzzling than why people are still debating this is why you feel the need to be such an ass about it. Yeah, we get it **brickbacon** , you’re a freakin’ genius. :rolleyes: I asked the initial question about the blanks because I’d watched it at home and admittedly not paid very close attention (like one would in the theater). You and lots of others weighed in that she did indeed know they were blanks. About the same amount of people explained why they thought differently. You have the director’s commentary to back up your superhuman powers of perception. Does the number of people who didn’t catch that particular aspect of the storyline not suffice as an argument that perhaps the scenes were not executed as well or clearly as the director had intended? Forgive me for going off half cocked, but your attitude is unfounded and insulting. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/35 "2006-04-26T20:43:54Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > The only thing more puzzling than why people are still debating this is why you feel the need to be such an ass about it. Yeah, we get it **brickbacon** , you’re a freakin’ genius. :rolleyes: > > I asked the initial question about the blanks because I’d watched it at home and admittedly not paid very close attention (like one would in the theater). You and lots of others weighed in that she did indeed know they were blanks. About the same amount of people explained why they thought differently. You have the director’s commentary to back up your superhuman powers of perception. Does the number of people who didn’t catch that particular aspect of the storyline not suffice as an argument that perhaps the scenes were not executed as well or clearly as the director had intended? Forgive me for going off half cocked, but your attitude is unfounded and insulting. I think it’s really strange when people like **Brickbacon** and others appeal to the notion that anyone with “half a notion” about storytelling would see things their way. The _only_ appeals to principles of storytelling which I have seen have been arguments for the view that she _didn’t_ know. If she did know, the story is not told well. If she did, then the story is told well. The argument has been repeated many times, I don’t need to rehash it here. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/36 "2006-04-26T20:56:07Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > If she did know … She didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/37 "2006-04-26T21:06:03Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > I think it’s really strange when people like **Brickbacon** and others appeal to the notion that anyone with “half a notion” about storytelling would see things their way. The _only_ appeals to principles of storytelling which I have seen have been arguments for the view that she _didn’t_ know. If she did know, the story is not told well. If she did, then the story is told well. > > The argument has been repeated many times, I don’t need to rehash it here. > > -FrL- Oops, should read: “If she did know, the story is not told well. If she didn’t, then the story is told well.” -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/38 "2006-04-26T21:19:26Z")
> [@brickbacon](#): > > He did make it clear to anyone with half a brain, and an understanding of movies. He explains how he made it clear in his commentary. There are at least two scenes which allude to the fact that she knew. To think she didn’t know is retarded. Insulting other posters in Cafe Society is not appropriate, **brickbacon**. Insult the work being discussed, but let’s keep the conversation as polite as possible. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/39 "2006-04-26T21:20:01Z")
> [@brickbacon](#): > > He did make it clear to anyone with half a brain, and an understanding of movies… You see that’s the problem, most of us have more than half a brain. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132/40 "2006-04-26T21:27:15Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > She didn’t. Except that the writer and director of the film said she did. Was he lying? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crash-did-i-miss-something/354132.md?page=3)