Characters Filled with Hatred in Movie American History X

665 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: American racism history

American History X is an invigorating movie that takes its viewers on a journey in a well thought and unsuspecting plot. The main character is consumed with hatred for every race excluding white Protestants. When he encounters desocialization/resocialization in a prison, he changes his thoughts and beliefs, and they follow him even after he leaves the prison. Groupthink and deviance are both displayed in this movie thoroughly. While groupthink is accepted in society and portrayed as the norm, deviance is unlawful and disrespectful among the social groups. Race and sexuality play important roles by shaping what’s socially accepted throughout the movie. American History X exposes us to groupthink in an obvious way. The DOC believes that by ridding of every other race/minority that they’ll solve the problem they face: no advances in the white race. To everyone in this social group, this is the solution they’ve come up with which in reality, is an incorrect approach to the situation. While trying to enforce their beliefs, they’re destroying their own town, and being criticized for how they act. Deviance plays part into the movie when Derek goes to prison for three years. There, he affiliates himself with a group like the DOC from home, but a key difference that would be categorized as deviant to his group back home is that they trade with the other races in the prison. When he finds out he breaks away from the social group he was affiliated with because he didn’t support their doings. This is considered deviance because he breaks the norm and begins conversing with a black male he does his jobs with. He realizes this wouldn’t be accepted back home but he doesn’t resort back to his original group. Another way deviance plays into the... ... middle of paper ... ...enarios where mainly Derek breaks away from what is socially accepted in his (before) social group. Race is a main focus in the film, there’s an encounter where a black male does something good for Derek, making him realize not all black people are restricted to their well-known stereotype. Sexuality is described in two different environments, showing how circumstances can change what is socially accepted. References Bergen, Timothy J., Jr. (2001). The Development of Prejudice in Children. Education 122.1. Retrieved February 26, 2014, from Gale Cengage Learning: http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA80856273&v=2.1&u=lincclin_pbcc&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=6747edca66d819a8aff015dd9a1b8d77 Nesdale, Drew. (1999). Social Identity and Ethnic Prejudice in Children. Retrieved February 26, 2014 from VTPU: http://www.vtmh.org.au/docs/crc/drewnesdale

Show More
Related

  • Response to Movie Ethnic Notions

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    The film observes and analyzes the origins and consequences of more than one-hundred years of bigotry upon the ex-slaved society in the U.S. Even though so many years have passed since the end of slavery, emancipation, reconstruction and the civil rights movement, some of the choice terms prejudiced still engraved in the U.S society. When I see such images on the movie screen, it is still hard, even f...

    Read More

  • Examples Of Prejudice In The Movie American X

    1180 Words  | 3 Pages

    Derek Vinyard and Danny Vinyard was associated with the Nazi praising group. They were prejudicial to everyone and gain hatred for colored people. Even though Derek and Danny were cleansed of their mistakes by going through redemption and changed, Danny was killed by a colored teenager because that colored person was also prejudicial. As we can observe in this movie, prejudice is an unbreakable chain that transmit through generation to generation. Prejudice will never cease until the human race is completely

    Read More

  • Baldwin's Theory: Intersection of Race, Religion, and Sexuality

    883 Words  | 2 Pages

    For example, “sociological and popular understanding of gay and lesbian relationships has been greatly distorted by the false presumption that only heterosexual relationships are normal ways of expressing sexual intimacy and love” (Andersen 1997, 95). This explains how society helps in influencing and identifying people sexual identities throughout their lifetime. Andersen admits that “heterosexual identity includes the belief that men have an overpowering sex drive and that women are considered more loving, soft and are link to sex [… and] contemporary sexual attitudes are shaped by phallocentric thinking-that which sees men as powerful and women as weak” (Andersen 1997, 94, 96). Although, society is lead to believe that men should be the dominant figure of the family. The reality is that, in gay and lesbian relationships, no one individual displays the behavior of an authoritative

    Read More

  • Exploring Identity: Role of Gender, Sex and Sexuality

    868 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the article “Sex And Gender: What Is the difference? By Tim Newman, he talks about how the society classifies gender and sex and how they define it. He talks about the stereotype

    Read More

  • Journal: American History X

    984 Words  | 2 Pages

    On the tape of an interview Derek gives after the murder of his father, he tells what he believes to be the reason behind the tragedy. He affirms that people like his father, "a decent hard working American", were getting robbed out by social parasites – namely, according to him, blacks, Asians, browns - minorities that went to America, he adds, only to exploit it and not to embrace it. He gives the examples of the poor white European immigrants communities which were able to succeed after a few generations to support his opinion that the social issues are in fact racial issues. He goes on saying that every crime in US is crime related: immigration, Aids, welfare. Derek is seeing in the background crying as he is being comforted by his mother. He is dressed as a teenager as the mise-en-scène here tries to make the actor, Edward Norton, look the right age for the moment the interview took place. One can easily see the American flag in front of Derek’s house.

    Read More

  • American History

    1024 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is important to be proud of who you are and where you have come from. After watching the film American History X, whites are far from proud. We are ashamed to admit that people just like us can act in such a horrible and disillusioned way toward those that are different. As you watch, you see scenes of brutal violence, hear songs of hate and feel the pain of all involved. These acts show the viewers how easily young minds can be influenced to believe anything. Teachers, parents, siblings or any person of authority in a child's life can have this deep of an impact on them. American History X is the story of how powerful an influence people of importance can have upon youth. Adults can be the enemy of many teenagers. Yet when a kid is vulnerable and looking for adoration and love, they can latch onto any adult that makes them feel important or special. Cameron is the first example of the adult filling an empty space. Both Derek and Danny Vinyard, the neo-Nazi brothers of the film, fall for every word Cameron says to them. At one point in the film, Cam makes a comment to Danny about his black school principal Dr. Sweeney. To him, Sweeny is a "manipulative, self-righteous Uncle Tom" for making Dan re- write a civil rights paper because it was about Mein Kampf. Sweeney has his own opinions about Cameron stating that he preys on "insecure, frustrated, and impressionable kids. This assumption is dead on. As the organizer and unofficial leader of the Venice Beach white gang, what the middle-aged Cameron has to say about being a patriot and a proud "white Protestant" fills a void for the kids. Many, as seen most apparently in Seth, the overweight, clumsy, and dim-witted teen, have low self-esteem and lacking hom...

    Read More

  • Movie Analysis: American History X

    1365 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... supremacist gang, to rioting in an Asian owned grocery store, to finally brutally murdering someone. We observe as family ties become increasingly strained in every way, the viewer can easily conclude that Derek’s racism as well as his eventual influence on his younger brother ultimately contributed to their own downfall. As controversial as this movie maybe for the offensive language and brutal violence, it is a movie that deserves to be seen, and even discussed. It really provides insight into some factors within society that cannot be contained by the law or even deterred by even the harshest punishments. Even though American society is becoming more modernized as time goes by in terms of tolerance, racism will unfortunately always be prevalent in society and inevitably it will also lead some individuals to violently express their distorted mentalities.

    Read More

  • Racism In The Film 'American History X'

    1305 Words  | 3 Pages

    American History X is considered to be a dark film which shows how stereotypes, prejudice and racism still coexist and how the “American

    Read More

  • Legalizing Prostitution

    2503 Words  | 6 Pages

    Milstein, Susan A. Taking Sides Clashing Views in Human Sexuality. Ed. William J. Taverner and Ryan W. McKee. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.

    Read More

  • Stereotypes And Discrimination

    1922 Words  | 4 Pages

    A stereotype is the grouping of all members of a certain common distinction into a set of standardized rules and aspects (Moore 36). Common areas people stereotype are race and gender; however, people also use sexual preferences, age, religion, and attractiveness as distinctions to group. The use of stereotypes is ethically wrong and not always correct. People use these judgments as a way to separate a...

    Read More

  • Social Psychology In The Movie Crash

    732 Words  | 2 Pages

    The movie Crash is in the streets of Los Angeles. If you notice all of the characters seem to play the victim and accuser in different racial situations. There is a story behind each character over a two day period. There is the detective who is prejudice against his own race whose younger brother is a criminal. There is Jean who is prejudice against black people after getting robbed. John is the cop who is racist against all black people and sexually assaults Christine in front of her husband. This movies show’s so many of the social psychological principles through the story of each individual.

    Read More

  • The Invention Of Heterosexuality Katz Analysis

    270 Words  | 1 Pages

    Jonathan Katz talks about the initial creation of the term “heterosexuality” and how it was used to classify certain groups of people’s way of practicing sex. Along with the negative ideology the term reflected upon society. The author talks about the early definition of the term “heterosexuality”. Katz closely examines the different cultures and what sex meant to them prior to the term and over all labeling of “heterosexual” and what become of them after the fact. Katz illustrates the many faces of the term “heterosexual” starting with the early definition of the word, which was at the

    Read More

  • Gender And Sexuality Essay

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    Some of the most controversial issues in society have historically revolved around matters relating to gender and sexuality. As gender plays an integral part in how we function in society, we quickly learn what is expected of us through our gender roles at a young age and our sexual scripts as we get older. We are expected to conform to our respective gender roles of femininity or masculinity depending on the sex we were assigned at birth. We learn that certain characteristics and expressions are attributed to each gender, but are never taught that gender is fluid, but instead it is binary. We also become subjected to assumptions of our sexual desires and attraction based on our sex and our gender and are expected not to deviate from it.

    Read More

  • Theories

    2632 Words  | 6 Pages

    There are two types of deviance, primary and secondary (Fulcher & Scott, 1999). Primary deviation is behavior that is normative to expectations of a group, but which is “normalized” by them. “While marijuana smokers might regard their smoking as acceptable, normal behavior in the company they move in, they are fully aware that this behavior is regarded as deviant in the wider society” (Taylor, Walton &Young, 1973 cited by Haralambos & Holborn, 1995).

    Read More

  • Media Reflection Paper

    1734 Words  | 4 Pages

    During this course, many societal issues regarding sexuality were discussed in great detail. Through class discussions and assignments, I was encouraged to thoroughly examine in what ways people are perpetuating stereotypes in our society, and how this proves to be damaging. Certain topics led to a shift in my thinking, while others offered support to reinforce my current standpoints on specific issues. Analyzing concepts by looking into the historical context of our society served to be very enlightening. I had several epiphany-like moments throughout the course, and was personally impacted in unexpected ways.

    Read More

More about Characters Filled with Hatred in Movie American History X

Open Document