American History X is an American crime movie directed by Tony Kaye and produced by John Morrissey in October 1998. It tells the astonishing tale of two Venice, Los Angeles brothers who become skinheads through the neo-Nazi movement and strived to make the white American culture more efficient. It stars Edward Norton as Derek Vineyard, Edward Furlong as Danny Vineyard, Stacy Each as Cameron Alexander, and Avery Brooks as Dr. Bob Sweeney. This essay will focus on the deviant behavior committed by some of the people in this movie. Further, it will discuss different theories as to why they committed the crimes. The three aspects that will be discussed are Differential Association Theory, Reaction Formation Theory, and which one serves as a better explanation. The main plot of the movie is focused on Derek Vineyard and his younger brother Danny Vineyard, both white Americans. After their father had died by black men, Derek got reeled into the neo-Nazi movement, by Cameron Alexander, who is considered “the biggest distributor of white power literature.” Derek had thought the murder was typical because this country is “becoming a haven for criminals decent. Hard working people like my dad are getting robbed out by social parasites like blacks and browns” (Kaye, Morrissey, 1998). He believed everything was race related and minorities have only come here to exploit America. However, he refused to admit that he was part of a “bunch of rednecks like the KKK” (Kaye, Morrissey,
The movie shows the hardship and struggles of the black children and adults who are just trying to live their life in a disrespectful, uncaring white society. The movie has many scenes that show how blacks were treated by others, some scenes were more intense in showing racism than others. Some scenes are less graphic but racism was still obvious. An example of this is the way that other white coaches would talk to each other about Texas Western and insult them just because they were different from other college basketball teams at this time. There was one scene where the team was on the road traveling and they stopped for dinner one night at a restaurant. Before the basketball team enters the restaurant, people in the restaurant were talking badly about the team and giving them dirty looks simply because of their skin color. In some scenes, racism was also shown in more intense ways. An example of this is when the team stopped at a restaurant to get some food and get ready for the game. One of the players left the team to use the bathroom. While the player was in the restroom, that player was ganged up on by two or three white men and the player was assaulted and beat up very badly. The events and blatant racism really took its toll on the team. After some of these
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"
This movie Directed by Paul Haggis who also directed Academy Award Winning "Million Dollar Baby" and had also won an Academy Award for this movie as well puts a twisted story in this film. This movie is trying to symbolize what goes on in the world today in regards to racism and stereotypes. He tries to make a point on how societies view themselves and others in the world based on there ethnicities. This movie intertwines several different people's lives, all different races, with different types of beliefs. Such ethnicities include Caucasians, African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Middle Eastern. This movie includes conflicts on both sides of the picture from cops and criminals as well
Ku Klux Klan also has a main role in this movie. They are very strong together. They are cold blooded murders and just want to get rid of the black people. They have a high status in society, mainly because no one has the courage to do anything to them.
“ Some of these early productions have racial themes which reorganize the world in such a way that black heritage is rewarded over white paternity; they are schematic renunciations of the prevailing order of things in white American society where, historically, the discovery of black blood meant sudden reversal of fortune, social exclusion, or banishment.” (Gaines, P.3) Within the movie the amount of mistruths about African Americans was sad. Within the movie you notice that the blacks were always or seem to be yelling, acting uncivilized and doing
The degree of connection between all of the characters in the movie is so coincidental and interrelated to emphasize the point that we do not always know what is going on with everyone else we may encounter. It also accentuates the fact that racism is not one particular race against another. It also shows that we never know someone’s situation and what is happening in their life to make them act the way that they do if
The reason many people in America today, as well as in the movie are racist is because this is how they were brought up, by the labels they were taught to live by. Past generations were exposed to segregation between ethnic groups, which has greatly carried on to how people look at others today. Up until 1967 it was prohibited for blacks to marry white people in 38 states
This movie continues to show all different types of racism. In one scene, two black men were walking down the street complaining of how everyone is so racist. The district attorney, Rick Cabot (Brendan Fraser), and his wife, Jean Cabot (Sandra Bullock), were walking down the street. She was holding his arm and started to hold him closer because she was cold. The two black men saw her and assumed that she was scared as they walked by them. Later on, the two black men steel a SUV at gun point. The passengers of the SUV just happen to
In the film we see issues of race and racism as being a "white" problem, contrary to what we see in society as race and racism as being a "colored" problem. Victor and David Lee both make the statement that to be "American" is to be white. In society we usually see racism as individual acts of violence or discrimination towards others, but as David Lee points out, racism is an invisible system conferring unsought racial dominance by am oppressive group, mainly whites. "White power secures its dominance by seeming not to be anything in particular" (Lipsitz, 135). Victor says how he could get things his mother couldn't get just because his skin was a lighter black than hers. Lee then brings in a picture of Victor and his mother where the difference in skin color can be seen. Lee often brings in pictures of the participants of when they were young, and when they are with their families. This helps the viewers to draw more of identification with the characters.
Race does not play a large role in this movie, which tells you a lot about the community the movie is set in. None of the characters in the movie are people of color. This tells the audience that the movie is dealing with an all-white, poor, rural community. This allows the audience to fill in information regarding this community based on what is already known about such communities.
In the 1998 film American History X, Derek Vineyard is paroled after serving 3 years in prison for brutally murdering two black men who were breaking into his truck. Through his Brother Danny’s narration of a paper he is writing, it is learned that Derek was the leader of a large Neo-Nazi group known as D.O.C., or Disciples of Christ, that committed many acts of racial crime throughout Los Angeles. During his time in prison Derek decides that hate is a waste of time after being violently raped by fellow white supremacists, and his only friend being a black man, who was only in prison for a misunderstanding. After getting out on parole, Derek learns that Danny is headed down the same racist path as him, and decided that he must put a stop to it. Throughout this film there are many examples of the five theories of deviance; Functional, Conflict, Labeling, Broken Windows, and Differential Association. From Derek’s initial exposure to racism, all the way to him deciding to change, all five theories are exemplified through Derek, Danny, their Father, Cameron, or the D.O.C. as a whole.
Throughout the film, American History X, Derek feels victimized and threatened as a white American. He blames gangs, blacks, immigrants and even his mentor Cameron for all of America's problems. For instance, in one of the scenes in the film, both whites and blacks were playing basketball on the local basketball court. After an argument with one of the blacks, Derek decides whoever wins the game keeps the court and whoever loses leaves for good. “ If you win, we will walk outta here, but if we win, no bitching, no fighting, right here in front of everybody you pack up your shit and get your black asses outta here (American History X).” The violent game came to an end and the black gang was kicked out. Instead of kicking each other off the court, they should have shared at least half. However, Derek felt the black people don't deserve to play on the same ground as the whites. Derek claims his fathers
Will racism ever come to an end or will its path go on infinitely? For the most part, the majority of people respect those who are different either in color, race, and/or heritage; however, there are those few that hold bigoted views towards people who are different than they are. The movie American History X by Tony Kaye displays an example of people who hold bigoted views. Derek, a Neo-Nazi leader, must contend with his actions relating to his past racist views and actions. This powerful movie explores its characters thoroughly and gives reasons why people become so callous and turn towards a racist group. It also exposes insight to problems that plague America when it comes to racism in
this gang. The film American History X will be analyzed using cultural relativism to determine
Steven Spielberg directed the film and the main motivation of the author was showing that every single person, not depending on the color of skin has the right to be free. In other words each person is born free and nobody can take this freedom away from him. According to