American History X:
American History X is clearly a film dealing with the social topic of racism. The interesting thing about this film is the way in which the subject is presented. First of all, it is obvious that, though racism is always a difficult subject to deal with, American History X presents it without any reservations or dummying down.
Second, the film's figurehead for racism, Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton), is not an unintelligent redneck racist as films often portray them, but is in fact well-spoken, charismatic and bright, although he clearly holds ideals that are terribly wrong. Finally, the film shows that it is not only the white, neo-nazi racists who are fools for being involved in this, but all those who hold hatred in their hearts. Through these methods, the film instills this idea upon the viewer, in an extremely convincingly way, that hatred and racism will destroy a person and those closest to them.
It is immediately revealed to the audience at the onset of this movie that there will be no holds barred and no playing down the realism of this intense racial hatred. When the film flashes back to the reason for Derek's incarceration, we see Danny, awoken by the sound of breaking glasses, rush to wake up his brother and alert him that some black guys are trying to steal or wreck his truck. At hearing this, Derek immediately jumps out of bed, grabs a gun, and shoots one of them, wounds another, and fires at the third as he drives away. Then, in one of the most brutal scenes in film history, Derek forces the remaining, wounded man to put his face on the curb and Derek kicks the back of his head, smashing in the man's skull. This scene is a perfect example of cumulative causation, for it depicts the endless circle of hatred as the swelling of mutual fear, anger, and discrimination clash between both parties involved. For example, the young, black men were disgraced by the white male in a local game of basketball; therefore, the black men go to do damage to the white males car, which in turn, leads to the white male killing the young black men. It's a vicious circle with no end in sight.
The film also did a very good job in the way they tie racial issues in with the portrayal of Derek's character as a strong and bold leader. The things that make Derek such a powerful and frightening character is not the fact that he is racist, it is the fact that instead of choosing a somewhat regular, backwoods, unintelligent racist as the films central character, Derek is well spoken and bright. It is these qualities that allow him to recruit the youths of Venice Beach and form, with the help of his mentor Cameron Alexander, the entire ...
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The film also did a very good job in the way they tie racial issues in with the portrayal of Derek's character as a strong and bold leader. The things that make Derek such a powerful and frightening character is not the fact that he is racist, it is the fact that instead of choosing a somewhat regular, backwoods, unintelligent racist as the films central character, Derek is well spoken and bright. It is these qualities that allow him to recruit the youths of Venice Beach and form, with the help of his mentor Cameron Alexander, the entire white supremacist culture permeating the area. Instead of just telling them to hate black, Hispanic, and Asian people because they are of that race, he makes speeches, telling them charismatically and passionately how these people are stealing their jobs, causing Americans to suffer a poor standard of living. He tells them "America needs to take care of Americans before dealing with immigrants." And his speeches clearly incite this hatred in the young people of that area and flare up their tempers, causing behavior, such as we see in the movie when they destroy a grocery store because it was bought by a Korean immigrant who employs, "40 fuckin' border jumpers" instead of Dave and Mike, good, American citizens. He continues to say, "This isn't our neighborhood it's a battlefield." A man who is smart enough to deliver this kind of rhetoric to young people, to tell them "be a part of something," knowing full well that is exactly what they want, is a frightening person. He is very, very dangerous because of these qualities, and the film makes that clear. This also shows that racism is not just people hating each other for no reason, or misunderstanding. It shows that it is deep-rooted and all consuming. When Derek expounds upon all his theories and delivers his sermons, you can see how evil this view really is.
Another interesting thing about the way this film portrays racism is that it shows it as a problems of two sides, not simply one group hating another. In "American History X", the people Derek and his crew commit hate-crimes against and oppress are also clearly shown to play a part in this as well, and have their flaws and faults. For example, a group of black students, including the one who later shoots Danny, beat up a white student in the bathroom for telling the teacher one of them was cheating. Also, as mentioned before a group of black guys try to break into Derek's truck at his house. White neo-nazis also rape Derek in prison, and a black man saves Derek in prison, so clearly this film shows that racism is not a simple one-way street, it involves two parties and has many facets. This also demonstrates the Dillingham Flaw very effectively, for it shows us that inaccurate comparisons based upon simplistic categorization and anachronistic judgments can be just as dangerous as racism, and is more likely a major cause of it, itself. You cannot assume just because some black males are violent and in gangs, that all black males are violent and show gang-like characteristics. Also, you cannot assume that because some white males are racist, that all white males are racist. If we allow assumptions like that to continue we will never be able to escape this vicious circle of cumulative causation that we have found ourselves in.
Also, Derek's time in prison holds great importance in the film as well, for it shows the results of this terrible way of life. From the moment he takes off his shirt in the outdoor workout area, revealing his huge swastika tattoo to the other neo-nazi inmates, he becomes tangled in another web of horrible events, resulting in his being raped in the showers when things go wrong. It is at this time of the film that Derek finds himself reconsidering the life of hatred that he chose. The final revelation that changed Derek for the better occurred during a visit from his old high school teacher, now principal, Bob Sweeney. During this visit, Sweeney asked Derek whether anything he has accomplished has made his life better, which in turn Derek answer no. The reason this impacted Derek so much was because of that answer. Nothing that he had done in his past life had made a difference, or changed his life for the better. That question was, in my belief, the basis for the movie and a great question at that. If people asked themselves that simple question, their lives would be drastically changed for the better. Derek realized that hatred towards people did not help him, his family, or the situation at hand. Instead of being negative and destructive, he considered why not be positive. Hurting people and destroying property does not solve problems, but only makes them worse by causing more resentment and tension between people. Nothing good has ever come out of a situation where one person has been the victim of a crime or abuse. Good things come out of situations where people show hospitality, good will, and compassion; not hatred.
Perhaps the most tragic scene of the film is also its most effective in delivering to the audience, the emotional destruction that racism can cause. The scene referred to comes at the end of the film, when a black student Danny had previously encountered and angered shoots him repeatedly. Derek, making a visit to the school, runs in to find that his worst nightmare had come true. His brother was dead, due to racist actions, and his life and the lives of his family will be changed forever for it.
For an explanation unknown to anyone, some people are inclined to hating others. Motives may perhaps be because they are insecure of who they are, feel threatened by someone, or an explanation which no one has. This movie explains that a major reason why people hate is because they want to blame someone else for their misfortunes. It is always nice to put the responsibility on somebody else's shoulders. Hopefully in a near future people can begin to comprehend how foolish it is to hate all the time, and then start to love.
