a fire fighter and he was shot by a black drug dealer which fueled Derek’s
fire for the hate of black people. Full of anger, Derek becomes the leader of
a local white power movement, despite his intelligence; his hateful actions
culminated in a brutal murder and his imprisonment. 3 years later, Derek is
a changed man because he had to work with black people in prison and
realized that they are just like him and everybody else. Fresh from prison
and ashamed of his past, he is in a race to save his family from the
violence he has brought down on them.
When Cameron is shown, he always thinks that he is in control. This is
shown best when Cameron and Derek are talking because Cameron
always told Derek what to do e.g. sit down, or have a drink, relax. I think
that Derek feels patronized by this because he refuses and ends up
beating him up. There is rock music coming from outside of the room that
Derek and Cameron are in. The music is diagetic, and the camera is
always looking up at Cameron and down on everyone else in the room
which shows he has greater authority than everyone else. I think this
creates the perfect atmosphere for a neo Nazi party because everyone is
getting drunk outside and singing racial songs e.g. “The white man
marches on” and business is dealt with inside. Cameron is really intelligent
because he uses Danny who is Derek’s brother to get to Derek. In one
scene, Danny is talking to Cameron and there is a lot of close ups of Danny
with Cameron in the background. I feel that this shows how vulnerable
Danny is because he always looked up to Derek and wanted to be just like
him. I think this is shown best when Derek shaves his head and gets a hate
tattoo because Danny does the same. Cameron’s plans work because
Derek barges in to the room and orders Danny to leave so they can talk
privately.
In my opinion, Cameron is a coward but really intelligent. This is because
he uses other people to carry out his beliefs (Black people shouldn’t be
equal to white people; punish illegal immigrants) He chose Derek to be the
leader of his group because he knew how strongly Derek felt about black
people. When Derek’s father was murdered, he went on the news and
expressed his views there for everybody to see. There were no white
gangs in Venice Beach before Derek and Cameron hooked up.
DR Bob Sweeny (Avery Brooks) is the principal of Danny’s school and he
works with the police to capture Cameron. He does this because he taught
Derek and is probably the only black man that Derek does trust. This is the
same with Danny because he is forced to see Bob everyday for one lesson.
They bond in this time and Danny thinks that he is different to other black
people but he is too brainwashed by Cameron’s beliefs too see any
different. Bob understood how strongly Derek feels about black people and
he knows how far he was willing to go to uphold his beliefs. He knew this
because Danny told him in an essay he was made to write about his
brother. The essay told Bob how Derek had no remorse when he was “The
skinhead” because he made a black man put his mouth on a curb when he
tried to burgle him and Derek stamped on it. In this scene, I feel that it was
very effective because it was in black and white which showed it was a
flashback. Danny was there and watched this brutal, fiendish murder
happen.
Overall, I believe that Cameron (Stacey Keach) deserves the place of
37th/100 on the most successful villain scale. There should be no
Improvements to him. This is because Cameron plays the part brilliantly
and his character fits in perfectly. Any other type of villain (spooky mad
scientist, evil James Bond nemesis ect.) wouldn’t fit into his part at all; it’s
as if the part can only be played as a redneck.
Sam Booty
