Filed with violence and racial overtones, American History X managed to take a subculture and bring it to the front of the viewer’s mind. Seventeen-year-old Danny, a budding skinhead, is forced to rewrite his Civil Rights paper after the original was rejected by both the school and his principal. The black principal tells his he is being removed from his original history class and being put in his version of a history. The first assignment, tell the story of his formerly incarcerated older brother Derek. Derek, himself was a reformed skinhead, who while incarcerated in prison for manslaughter, learned of the realities of prison life and the hypocrisies that existed in his racial theology. Unable to change his violent past, Derek makes certain upon release to change his younger brother’s direction in life. The next day after he was able to remove both he and his brother from their white-supremist gang, a black gang member in the school bathroom guns down Danny. Although Danny’s death came at such an inopportune time for the family, it seemed to illustrate the director’s vision. The racial tension littered throughout the narrative had to come to head eventually. In this case, it was in a negative fashion. In some of Danny last words he states, “Hate is baggage. Life’s too short to be pissed all of the time”. All the hate being held by each of the characters can only cause conflict. Acceptance brings friendship. Continuing to live such a lifestyle can only bring destruction to one’s self, in Derek’s case prison in Danny’s death. This fiction film enable the viewer to see a subculture that might not necessarily viewed by the greater American audience. The director is able to manipulate the scene in order to portray the desired symb... ... middle of paper ... ...s the prisoners as well as the administration. During his period the rich were able to buy there way into particular incentives such as day passes and visitors. With that type of control some prisoners can gain more power than the guards that oversee them. Lastly, violence is a universal means to gain power. In the case of the white crime in the movie, violence was a means to gain control over a slowly retreating “American” society. Violence with the prison is a mean to impress a level of control over those subjected to its scope. Physically and mentally violence is a means to subdue the prisoner. Foucault explains that although modern guard violence is physical it is a means to control the soul of a man. Life with in prisons is a struggle of balancing the powerful with the powerless. Without one there would be no other and the intricate prison set up would suffer.
Understanding the organization of prisons and how the are can is a very complex mechanism. In “Stateville: The penitentiary in Mass Society”, Jacobs seeks to understand the organization in the Stateville prison system, one of the world’s toughest prisons. Giving the history of the prison does this and how things ran under different wardens, and how things were coupled throughout different organizations. When looking at these things Jacobs also points out issues in the prison and how they happened under what type of organization. By doing this, Stateville is easily relatable to understand leadership and authority.
“Conflict theory looks at society as a competition for limited resources”, which eventually leads to “individuals and organizations [who are able to] keep more resources than others, and these ‘winners’ use their power and influence to maintain social institutions” (Openstax College 16), and it seems that the “winners” of OITNB were taking advantage of their position of power and influence, and abusing it. Instead of maintaining social institutions, they created havoc. In addition, German sociologist, Georg Simmel believed that “conflict can help integrate and stabilize a society” (Openstax College 17). However, although there has always been passive conflict that kept reoccurring in the prison, nothing was done about it. When a conflict finally ensued, it was volatile, and did not not result in stability. Hence, a power shift from the powerful, to powerless, due to disagreement of the distribution of power is seen the main plot of the
This demonstrates to us that no matter how much your legal or moral laws are violated, what matters is how you as an individual react to the situation, justly or unjustly. This movie is centered around the notion that if you are a person of ethnic background, that alone is reason for others to forsake your rights, although in the long run justice will prevail
American Psycho is a savage account of a wealthy investment banker in the late 80s that commits heinous acts of murder, rape, and torture. Although on the surface, American Psycho seems as though it is just another horror story, it actually has a much deeper message. This story is a harsh critique of a superficial Wall Street society in the late 80s that was rampant with materialism and greed. This is the society in which the main character Patrick Bateman lives–where appearance, material possessions, and status define a person. This superficial existence leaves him hollow and dead inside and turns him into a psychopathic killer. A society such as this, devoid of any morality, inevitably creates psychopaths such as Bateman. The film shows an excellent portrayal of a vacant, nihilistic killer with no feelings or emotions. However, there is something more to the story that the film did not quite capture. The book seems to not only be a satirical take on this society, but a tragedy as well. Recreating the dinner scene with his secretary Jean shows that underneath the surface Patrick Bateman is, indeed, a human being with real feelings and emotions, and that it is a great tragedy that this superficial society has turned him into a monster.
was fighting a fire on duty as a firefighter, Derek blamed “blacks, brown, yellows, its all their fault” and that lead him down a dark path. Disgruntled and confused, Derek became a leading member in a Neo-Nazi group, which he called the D.O.C. Danny, his young brother, watched, listened, and breathed every word Derek spoke. He too bought into the world of hatred. During the time Derek spent in jail for killing three black burglars, Danny tried to do everything possible so his brother would respect him when he got out. But the time in jail transformed Derek. He rethought his whole life when his former black principal visited him in jail to ask, “Has anything you’ve done made your life better?” (Kaye).
Chapman’s research shows evidence of 211 stabbings taking place in three years at one prison in Louisiana. Bloody riots, rape, robberies, and exhortation are just a few of the everyday occurrences that can be expected when entering a penitentiary.
In 1757 through 1837 there was a shift in prison rules and laws. They established a new form of law that removed torture and established punishment by the law. Punishment has many consequences because it was created to be a source to stop the criminal behavior from occurring again. However, torture was removed because it focused on a physical penalty. Foucault main point is that he wants to challenge the system by using history by explaining how the system has changed over time and how the new power and genealogy presents power and rules. Also, how the system is it affected by the power relations in punishment and the structure of society. Torture and punishment are inhumane and punishment doesn’t focus on criminal acts and focuses
... 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.
being watched), but he can’t understand the subjugated experiences they have. For Foucault, the idea of control shifts power unequally to the observer. In his work, Discipline and Punish, he focuses on punishment in social context and uses that to examine how power relations change which effects punishment outcomes. He brings up an interesting point between discipline and punishment. In his words, punishment is about shame/pain or locking people up (whipping people) and discipline is about regulating the body to ensure it continues to fulfill what society needs it to do. He also discusses the idea of surveillance like the panopticon. A panopticon is a type of prison which has a tall tower in the center and all of the prisoner’s cells surround it. It gives the impression that prisoners are always being watched so they must behave. In this instance the prison is one part in a discourse that defines and creates criminals and then punishes
“It’s really clear that the most effective way to turn a nonviolent person into a violent one is to send them to prison,” says Harvard University criminologist James Gilligan. The American prison system takes nonviolent offenders and makes them live side-by-side with hardened killers. The very nature of prison, no matter people view it, produces an environment that is inevitably harmful to its residents.
...he Vigilante" first dehumanized the black man and then beat him which was very cruel. ("he got up, and then somebody else socked him and he went over and hit his head on the cement floor."P.137). The manner in which the characters commit the violent actions helps show the evil of man.
... is the brutality of hate and racism. The emotions running high in the movie makes it powerful and moving and the death of Derek’s younger brother Danny Vinyard is shocking enough to bring tears to many viewers’ eyes. The movie ends with Danny’s voice reading his paper out loud and he ends his paper with a very important quote by Abraham Lincoln. This quote shows how Danny’s, as well as Derek’s, mindset changed from the beginning of the movie to the end. When hearing this quote it leaves the viewers in awe that Danny finally started to look past his hateful ideologies but ends up dead because of the lifestyle him and his brother decided to lead. “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained we must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature”.
From this, the films narrative follows Danny's perspective as he is assigned to write a new essay based on his brother Derek, titled American History X. By doing so it helps him to express his emotions and perspectives, as he reveals the true motives behind Derek's
American history, though nowhere near as epic as the history of Europe, is wrought with its own heroes and legendary personalities. The three most important span political, economic, and social borders. In its 300 years, the United States has not seen finer heroes than Benjamin Franklin, Alan Greenspan, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Their contributions in politics, regulation of the US economy, and roles in racial diversity, these legends have no precedent. Benjamin Franklin contributed to the culture of the US through his literature and his political presence. Franklin was born in the early 18th century, when England still had a grip on the politics of the colonies. Following the revolutionary war, in which he had important diplomatic duties, Franklin was one of the key framers of the Constitution. By then, Franklin was a ripe 81 years old, in the twilight years of his life. During his youth, he was an important author, contributing to one of the first papers, and also writing the Poor Richard’s Alamack. His autobiography is also a very important work to this day. Franklin was also an important scientist of his time. His personality influenced many of the leaders of the baby American government. This coupled with his exceptional achievement made Franklin a great inspiration to the people of his time that lasts to this day. Alan Greenspan is a recent figure in history, but his impact on the present and future economics of America is incalculable. The chairman of the...
In American History X, directed by Tony Kaye, a grade school student Danny Vinyard writes a paper about his older brother Derek Vinyard depicting his struggles as a past neo-nazi leader. Derek and Danny’s father, whom has racist tendencies, was murdered by a few black males while trying to put out a fire. The death of his father fuels Derek’s rage for racism, and he soon creates a gang called the Disciples of Christ. After dinner one night, Danny hears noise coming from their drive way. Outside their house, two black males are trying to steal their father’s truck. Derek walks out of his house with a gun and shoots one of the males. He then grabs the other male, drags him to the side of the road, and curb stomps to death. Derek is arrested, and sentenced to three years in prison for voluntary manslaughter.