Cross-Cultural Communication Lessons From The Academy Award Winner CRASH
By Judith Parker Harris and Dr. Jo Ann Piña
On the morning after the Academy Awards, I awoke with a question on my mind: "What do movies do best?" Do they help us understand the challenges others face? Do they teach us about other cultures and diverse backgrounds, or do they just make us feel good? While all of those answers are true, consider this: movies allow us to work out our own emotional issues through the actions of the characters on screen.
When CRASH won the Academy Award for Best Picture recently, I was thrilled. Why? Because the movie did what it was supposed to do. It made a whole lot of people "uncomfortable." For some, it evoked memories of their own discrimination experiences; for others, it calls to mind their own biased behavior or that of someone close to them. But is that enough?
Of course it's not enough. Now, it's up to you and to me and to anyone, left with emotional questions to answer after seeing the film, to take action and expand their understanding. What do we do with unconscious fears and unspoken prejudices the movie uncovered? If we don't find them, understand them and deal with them, we end up repeating behavior that creates cross-cultural misunderstandings (see more on cross-cultural communication athttp://www.DrJoAnnPina.com ).
Fear-based behavior comes out when we least suspect it as we experience racism, ageism, wealth-ism, homophob-ism or any number of "isms" and can't believe it's happening to us, inside of us, around us, or worst case that it's actually perpetrated by us---even today.
Kenneth Turan, film critic for the LA Times, suggests that CRASH is a "feel-good movie about racism... a film that could make you believe that you had done your moral duty and examined your soul when in fact you were just getting your buttons pushed." He used this as a reason that "liberal" Academy voters chose CRASH over BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN for the Best Picture Academy Award.
Both movies made people distinctly uncomfortable. My Diversity partner, Dr. Jo Ann Piña, and I submit that CRASH pushed more buttons. More people identified with the discomfort of CRASH. We ask, "What's wrong with a little button pushing if it pushes people out of their comfort zones and into change?" Now the job to be done is to bridge the learning and understandings we garnered from CRASH and apply them to our lives and our businesses or the movie's mission has been wasted and we will prove Kenneth Turan's pessimistic view to be right. Button pushing can be manipulative or it can be healing; it's our choice.
What can you do now? Listen to the prejudiced voices in your own head-they create cultural blocks (see more on blocks athttp://www.BlockedtoBlockbuster.com ). Notice the way you interact with others. Who do you choose to be with? Are the people similar to you or different than you? If you sense discomfort when close to someone who you perceive to be different from you, take just a few moments to imagine what it would be like to live that person's life. How does that feel?
Look below the surface of behaviors to identify the values and beliefs that drive particular behaviors. Do this for a few days then write down the thoughts and feelings that make you uncomfortable. Now try to determine who influenced you to think and feel this way. Once you answer that question, you can make a choice to give that thinking back to its original source and change your own thinking, feeling and behaving. This is an exercise you may use for the rest of your life-it will definitely keep you from CRASHING.
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About the Author
Judith Parker Harris and Dr. Jo Ann Piña are Cultural Blockbusters. They are the only team of professional speakers who assist leaders and teams bust through cultural blocks and attain a Business Attitude Makeover (BAM).
http://www.culturalblockbusters.comc
