The title of American History X is derived from the name of a class Danny (Furlong) is forced to take after writing a controversial essay on Adolf Hitler’s autobiography‚ Mein Kampf. When his Jewish teacher (Gould) becomes outraged‚ he bursts into Principal Sweeney’s (Brooks) office and complains. Danny is called into the office and is told that he must write about the life of his brother‚ Derek Vinyard‚ and have it on his desk the next morning or face immediate expulsion. Danny continually complains
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Opening Act: A school getting bombed‚ flames exploding onto the screen. Screams can be heard from the inside and distant sirens get louder and louder. The camera comes closer and closer‚ reaching the school the same times the firemen’s get there. They begin to hose down the school while others prepare to enter the building. The camera cuts to the front doors of the school. A women‚ presumably a teacher is shown to struggle out of the building. She leads 4 children out of the flames‚ 3 boys and a
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AMERICAN HISTORY X American History X (1998) illustrates how segregation is aggravated by missing father figures as well as the herd mentality of the characters in the film. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche ’s concept of the herd mentality states that people need a concept or a worldview to adopt in order to give meaning to their lives. This herding of people who choose to adopt this certain ideal or ideals in effect causes the stifling of individual thoughts or creativity because everyone
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American History X I chose the movie American History X because of it’s brutally graphic examples of racism‚ hate‚ and deviance. This movie “crosses the line” of the norm of society and digs deep into theories of prejudice and deviance. American History X shows the importance of what happens when the cycle of affluence is not broken and an impressionable young teen follows in the footsteps of hate. We have all been there it is just to what degree or extreme; the views that we have today on race
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American History X The movie American History X is designed to show a better understanding of the serious racism-taking place in America today. The graphic and somewhat upsetting film shows anger and dislike between a “ghetto” black community and a white neo-nazi gang. One of the main ideas in this movie is to show how someone whose whole life has been centered around racism and later he realizes that all races should be treated with equal respect. Derek who is the main character of the movie
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Racism has a strong history in this country and even though it ended nearly 150 years ago‚ it still exists today. American History X is a movie surrounded around the hate crime caused by the division between the white supremacists and other minorities. Blacks and whites refused to even play basketball with one another and rejected each other because of the skin color. But no one is born with such hate‚ it is learned. There are many ways one can learn‚ but the movie focuses on two ways‚ rhetoric and
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These are just a few areas of what the movie American History X touches on. The primary sociological behavior displayed in this movie is deviance‚ which is defined as an individual going against the norms of society. Norms are a standard to a particular society or group as displayed here with race. The father in this movie‚ Dennis Vineyard‚ was a firefighter who worked for his community and while putting out a fire was killed by African American drug dealers. While raising his children‚ he
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American History X The setting takes place in Venice‚ a little beach town in the Southern California. Derek‚ the leader of the neighborhood skinhead gang gets arrested and put to jail for killing two members of a Crip gang that tried to steal his car. His little fourteen year old brother has seen everything and testified for Derek‚ for only that reason he did not get life sentence‚ and just three years in a prison. In jail Derek learns the truth behind “white power” gangs and what he believed
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Reflection on American History X After watching American History X‚ I swore to myself that this would be one of my favourite movies of all time. It changed my view on racism‚ violence‚ abomination and change. These four were all exposed in the movie. Those three were very much shown in the film even at the beginning of the story when Danny told his brother‚ Derek‚ that a group of black guys were breaking in to his car. Their father‚ Danny and Derek‚ was killed by a black man that caused Derek’s
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American History X This is my favorite movie. One would think that America as a more modern society is moving forward with affirmative action‚ equal rights‚ and government laws. Differences in skin color and cultural beliefs are the visual characteristics that have caused various hate crimes. Laws that give non-white ethnic groups the rights to share in education and form businesses add a new frustration to white America. Danny Vineyard‚ played by Edward Furlong‚ young life has seen its share
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