Justin Kaplan- American History X
In class this week we watched the film American History X. I had first seen this film last year for another class and never really paid that much attention to it. I was kind of in shock when I saw it the first time because I just thought that it was a really racist movie and never thought that they were actually trying to show how bad racism was and just how extreme these people really are. Derek was the head of a neo-Nazi racist group in Long Beach, California. He grew up hearing things from his father about how the blacks were just trying to take over the world and that whatever they said was total B.S. These things that Derek heard come from his fathers mouth were the words that helped shape him into the ideologist and terrible racist that he was. Derek's scene of when his group raids the grocery store was just a fine example of how crazy and insane these skin heads were and how they really believed that no one who was born outside of this country should be allowed to come here and take the Americans jobs. They went in there and absolutely terrorized innocent people just because they were not white. The beliefs of these people go to the extreme ends of the totem pole and they will let nothing get in the way of what they believe. This movie used racist acts and symbols to try to get the audience to see how bad racism really is. In the article L&P Finley argue that, "American History X depicts hatred as a group phenomenon and that rednecks are depicted as the worst possible racist losers" (233). I don't exactly agree with this statement because I believe that if he used a different group, such as an all black hate group, then the blacks would be viewed as the worst possible racist lovers. Danny, Derek's brother, idolized him wanted to be just like him. He did not always believe all of the stuff that Ethan told him to believe but he said it because he felt like that was the right thing to do because everyone else believed it. Derek's jail time proved to be a very positive and eye-opening experience for him. He went in thinking that no one could touch him and that he would be just fine because of his reputation. Danny soon finds out that the jail, just like in everyday society, has its own little checks and balances system and when he sees that one of his group members is dealing with a "spick" as he called it, he becomes very angry. He thinks this is totally unacceptable and because of the way he reacted to this, he is unfortunately raped later on in the shower. Danny soon realizes that what he is doing is completely wrong and his old principal Dr. Sweeney helps him realize this. Dr. Sweeney completely changes Derek’s opinion on the whole skin head group and his racist views. I believe that this film is an amazing depiction of what happens when you have these extreme views and what it really does to people. I definitely agree that this movie is an anti-racist film but it just shows it to us in a different light. As Beck puts it in his “Your Worst Nightmare: The Siege, American History X, and our Views of Enemies Foreign and Domestic” reading, “The horrors of the neo-Nazi movement are offered as a warning and as an object of condemnation, but they are also presented in exciting images of power, passion, and self righteousness.” I really feel this quote explains the movie in that it shows how bad racism really is but it shows it in the context of how these terrible racist skin heads view it as. This is not just a hobby for them, this is a way of life, they live, breathe, eat, and sleep for this hate group and soon they will find out what they have been doing to these innocent people will bite them in the butt in the end.