Character Analysis
First World Problems
Jean Cabot is a rich white lady who is the wife of DA Rick Cabot. Crash doesn't have a single character it doesn't want to stereotype, so Jean is the worst kind of rich, bored housewife. She has a son we never see. She complains about the smallest, most pointless thing: her dishes are still in the washer—the horror, the horror. She stereotypes Black people in front of her husband's Black assistant. She stereotypes Mexicans in front of her Mexican housekeeper.
It goes on and on.
And like everyone else in Crash, this lady is prone to really, really, really long diatribes, like this one after she is carjacked:
JEAN: I just had a gun pointed in my face! […] and it was my fault because I knew it was gonna happen. But if a white person sees two Black men walking towards her and she turns and walks in the other direction, she's a racist, right? Well I got scared and I didn't say anything and ten seconds later I had a gun in my face. Now I am telling you, your amigo in there is gonna sell our key to one of his homies and this time it'd be really f***ing great if you acted like you actually gave a s***!
There is a lot of white guilt here, and maybe aspects of it are justified. But Jean goes from insinuating that she isn't racist—something only racists seem to do—to calling her locksmith an "amigo" and referring to his friends as "homies," thereby stereotyping him as a thug. She doesn't seem like a stupid woman, so she must be aware of her hypocrisy, right? Maybe she should feel guilty.
But instead of taking a moment to shut up and do some introspection, she keeps complaining. And then she whines about how other people have made her feel angry (of course she takes no responsibility for her anger herself):
JEAN: I am angry. Yes! At them! Yes! At them, the police, at Rick, at Maria, at the dry cleaners who destroyed another blouse today, at the gardener who keeps overwatering the lawn. I... […] I just thought that I would wake up today and I would feel better, you know? But I was still mad. And I realized... I realized that it had nothing to do with my car being stolen. I wake up like this every morning! I am angry all the time, and I don't know why.
Oh, no, her lawn is overwatered—how can she live?
Jean Cabot has everything. Well, except a decent personality. Why is she angry? We get a hint when she falls down, like, three steps and lies there on her side crying like a little baby. Jean's "friend" won't take her to the hospital, since she is having a massage—but Jean's housekeeper Maria does drive her.
When this happens, Jean gives Maria a big ol' hug and says she is her best friend.
Wut?
What else would Maria do? Not drive her boss to the hospital, and then get fired? We hope Maria gets a raise along with her new "best friend" title. She shouldn't have to fluff her boss' pillows for free.
But the point seems to be that Jean has no real connections with anyone. Her white friends turn out to be totally lame and superficial. One act of human decency is enough to show Jean how wrong she's been. Will she change?
Jean Cabot's Timeline