'Crash' producer talks race, prejudice

Race, cinema, prejudice and psychoanalysis were all topics of conversation Monday night in Fisher-Bennett Hall.

An interdisciplinary panel discussion, “Crash: Conflict, Character and Culture,” featured Andrew Reimer, the executive producer of the 2004 film Crash.

The dialogue began with the audience viewing clips of the multiple Oscar-winning movie, selected by Karen Beckman, director of the program in Cinema Studies.

Beckman introduced the film as a work which uses “cliche positions” to convey deeper themes of racism and violence in Los Angeles. She questioned whether this or any film could transform opinions or represent these intense issues accurately, adding that Crash was met with diverse critical reception after its premiere.

Reimer, a partner in Inception Media Group and self-proclaimed “movie geek,” explained his involvement with Crash. While the film was the largest he had ever worked on and came with significant financial risk, he read the script and was confident in its success. He also discussed the ensemble cast and the various actors who dropped out early in production, including John Cusack, who was scheduled to play Matt Dillon’s role as a racist cop.

John Jackson, professor of Communication and Anthropology and associate dean of Undergraduate Studies at the Annenberg School for Communication, said films such as Crash are some of the most powerful means of defining humanity in the contemporary era. He stated that the movie explores the “question of complicity” as regards race and prejudice in the United States today.

Bruce Levin, training and supervising analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia and long-time friend of Reimer, added his thoughts as a psychiatric professional. He analyzed the influence of fear and the necessity of human interaction as it relates to the film. Levin also explained the Freudian themes of envy, guilt and defensiveness which were present in the film.

The discussion was part of an ongoing series — “Freud, Franklin and Beyond: An Interdisciplinary Forum on Mental Health and Society” — sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania Departments of Psychiatry and Cinema Studies, Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia, the Thomas Scattergood Behavioral Health Foundation and the Social Planning and Events Committee.

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