The morning after the Academy Awards, I woke up 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 solve our own emotional problems through the actions of 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 lot of people “feel uncomfortable.” For some, it evoked memories of their own experiences of discrimination; for others, it remembers their own biased behavior or that of someone close to them. But is that enough?

Of course it is not enough. Now, it’s up to you, me, and anyone to be left with emotional questions to answer after watching the movie, take action, and broaden your understanding. What do we do with the unconscious fears and unspoken prejudices that the film uncovered? If we don’t find them, understand them and deal with them, we end up repeating a behavior that creates cross-cultural misunderstandings (see more about cross-cultural communication at http://www.DrJoAnnPina.com).

Fear-based behavior arises when we least suspect it, as we experience racism, age discrimination, wealth, homophobia or any number of “isms” and we cannot believe that it is happening to us, within us, around us or in the worst case scenario, we perpetrate it, even today.

Kenneth Turan, film critic for the LA Times, suggests that CRASH is a “feel-good movie about racism … a movie that might make you believe you’ve done your moral duty and examined your soul when in fact its buttons just pressed. “. He used this as a reason why “liberal” Academy voters chose CRASH over BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Both films made people clearly uncomfortable. My Diversity partner, Dr. Jo Ann Piña, and I said CRASH pushed more buttons. More people identified with the discomfort of CRASH. We asked, “What’s wrong with pressing a little button if it pushes people out of their comfort zone and into change?” Now the work to be done is to bring together the learning and understanding we gained from CRASH and apply it to our lives and our businesses or the mission of the film has been wasted and we will prove that Kenneth Turan’s pessimistic view is correct. Pushing a button can be manipulative or curative; it is our choice.

What can you do now? Hear the judgmental voices in your own head: they create cultural blocks (see more about blocks at http://www.BlockedtoBlockbuster.com). Observe the way you interact with others. Who do you choose to be with? Are people similar to you or different from you? If you feel uncomfortable around someone who you perceive to be different from you, take a few moments to imagine what it would be like to live that person’s life. How does it feel

Look beneath the surface of behaviors to identify the values ​​and beliefs that drive particular behaviors. Do this for a few days and 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 the decision to return that thought to its original source and change your own thinking, feeling, and behavior. This is an exercise that you can use for the rest of your life; it will definitely keep it from GETTING CLEAR.

By Judith Parker Harris and Dr. Jo Ann Piña