It is a midterm paper for a film as a cross culture class. I chose the film American history x and I am supposed to talk about how the film touches on issues going on in society today and at the tie the movie was made. I was told to look into the many layers of the film, and dig into all the subtext as well. I attached a word document of what I started to type up but I got stuck.

Racism is a touchy subject. When racism is brought up in a conversation it ignites heavy opinions. We are all racist against some nationality at some point in our life. We would be lying to ourselves if we said that we never had racist thoughts against certain race groups. Some are passionate about their dislike towards certain races and some are not. As life moves along we go through certain experiences that may change our opinions on racism. Interaction with different races changes your opinions towards them. Where does this racism originate from? It can vary from how we were raised, where we are from, or from what we go through in life. In the 1998 film American History X we take a look into the life of a Neo Nazi racist who has no shame in expressing his hate against minorities, as the film moves a long that slowly but surely changes.

When watching American History X the main question that goes through my mind is where does all this hate towards minorities come from? The main character Derek Vinyard played by Edward Norton has so much hate within him that comes off as an obsession. This obsession has to have been ignited by something. The whole film you are led to believe that Derek hates blacks because his father was murdered by them. He has strong political opinions that he states that proves Derek is not just ignorantly obsessed with be racist. He states in many scenes that minorities should not have any more opportunities. He basically believes they have wasted their chances, and that the United States should not give them any sympathy. In the end of the film there is a flashback scene that in my opinion is somewhat a twist. The scene reveals that dereks father was somewhat of a racist towards blacks. This scene is crucial to the film because it finally reveals where Dereks hate towards blacks comes from. He was raised into racism. The way you are raised has a lot to do with how you view the world and who you trust and don’t trust. Whoever raises you teaches you right from wrong first hand. Schooling also lays a foundation of right and wrong, but your parents or whatever guardian you have in your life are the ones who lead the way for you. In this case Derek looked up to his father so this explains why he became so obsessed and angry after his father was murdered.

Derek losing his father left him with no father figure in his life.