AMERICAN HISTORY X

[maikuu]

With "Fire in his Eyes, Cold Fire" --Junyi Lyu, 2015

[Daeyoungkim]

This film is not only very stimul[ating], but also the movie makes me a lot of thought that why America still has racism.

Racial struggle is the biggest issue and is well portrayed in a film, American History X.
Before in prison, Derek was the important person in Venice beach area because he was a racist. After killed two black guys, he went to a prison. Under this circumstance, Derek feels unsafe and oppressed in a prison since there are many African Americans and Mexican Americans than Caucasian Americans. He tries to find and get along with Caucasians because he is a minority in a prison and he needs a protection. In this prison, Derek meets a young African American man, Lamont, as they are assigned to works in a laundry room together. As they talk, Derek realizes that something doesn’t make sense.

The law clearly did not stand for African Americans, but the law was to protect Caucasian Americans “from” them. When Derek is released from a prison, he realizes that racism is destructive and unproductive for him as well as the whole society. Hating and killing minorities doesn’t make his or anyone’s life any better. He decides to stay away from the skinheads. In his mind, there is no more racism to Africa- American.

It was a great movie and it made me think about racism all over the world especially in U.S and Korea. It reminds me an article I saw few month ago, which says about racism issue in U.S., Ferguson shooting. I think the film displayed how hatred can bring unhappiness. The act of the characters adapting in society was also great. The description of hatred and love of family were so great as well. In short, I would like to say this film is a wonderful movie which can make people think about the confections of society and importance of family.

Teacher's note: Thank you author for a clear overview-and-reaction piece on "American History X." I don't think I have ever seen the word "confections" used as here in this article, but it makes sense, and I admire your creativity. I wonder what the reference to Korea means in the context of racism? I would not expect to encounter much racism in Korea since there is not a great deal of diversity there (I don't think).

For me, the simple observation of what this film represents is how we humans are so easily capable of blaming others for our problems. People who look or talk differently are easy to identify and thus blame. How convenient . . . and tragic, dare I say stupid? Thanks for a nice post.

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[Huanlin]

What is the basic conflict in this story?
I think there are actually two major conflicts in this story. The first conflict in the story is about racism, in particular, white versus black. Throughout the story, we can see a lot of themes with fights between white and black, including the school, basketball court, jail and so on. People are opposing to each other only because of their race and unreasonable hatred. You will be punished not only when you have different skin color, but also when you refuse to maintain the rival situation. For example, when Derek didn’t want to stay in the neo-Nazi gang and want to let go his hatred against Black, the members of the gang started to abuse him and his old friend Seth even tried to shoot him. These people worshiped him as a god, but right after they found out that Derek didn’t want to get involved anymore, they treated him as an enemy. That was how blind and how serious the race conflict is in the movie.

The second conflict is family relationship. The story starts with Danny’s report, which shows his embracement of Nazi. Later the movie used flashbacks to show the reason why Danny is neo-Nazi. Most of the impact comes from his brother Derek, who was a former Nazi-gang leader. To Danny, and to many people in the gang, Derek is a hero. He wasn’t afraid to express his anger and hatred toward Black and wasn’t afraid to take action. So when Derek came back from jail with an absolutely different attitude, the conflict started. Derek didn’t want Danny to be like him, but Danny acted exactly like how Derek acted before just to make Derek proud, so when Derek stopped him, he was confused and angry. Luckily, the family conflict was all solved at the end of the movie.

What does Derek learn in prison?
He learned to let go his hatred toward people of other races. He built a friendship with an African-American-Lamont. Though he was really rude to him at first, the prisoner never argued with him or persuaded other black prisoners to revenge. In contrast, he tried to communicate with Derek. They finally became friends and even accomplished great teamwork in the laundry room. Lamont was also the one who saved Derek during Derek’s the last 6 months in prison by secretly asking the black gangs not to hurt Derek. Mr. Sweeny also showed his concern for Derek. Though Lamont and Sweeny are all black, they both helped Derek. While the white gangs, the ones Derek first considered as alliance, beat him and raped him. This made Derek realize how pointless his bias and hatred was.

He also learned that what he had done, including the riot, the murder and all the other things he did, didn’t make his life better, but make him lost and in jail. He realized that anger wouldn’t improve the situation.

Is the ending Derek’s final step toward redemption or a U-turn back into his previous life?
I believe it was a step toward redemption. Just before the movie ended, Derek and Danny both let go of their hatred. They got rid of all the posters in the bedroom together. [Despite] the ending of the movie, I don’t think Derek would go back to who he was because he has really realized how pointless hatred was. Also, Derek should live a redeemed life not only for himself, but also for Danny. Derek must knew how Danny has changed so I don’t think he would want to disappoint him.

Write a setup/opinion of American History X
I watched the movie with a heavy heart because I know that although the movie wasn’t based on the true story, it doesn’t mean that the racism issue isn’t severe. It was bizarre how people would hate another just because of the differences between skin colors, however this problem has never really been solved. Also, I learned how family could affect a child. The power of family education is even stronger than school education. At first, Derek doesn’t feel anything among black people, he even though Mr. Sheeny was really brilliant and special. However, he was affected by his father’s words and his death. He turned from a normal student into a fanatical Nazi, and he even turned his brother Danny into a Nazi as well. Luckily, the negative effect can also be cured by family. Danny wouldn’t listen to his teacher, but he always thought about what his brother said or did. Only one night with Derek, Danny changed his mind. It was really sad that he didn’t have the chance to live his new life and make friends from different races.

[Junyilyu]

Hi Mike!

American History X is so great that I have to take a few days to recover from the shock it has brought to me. The movie, through the lives of two brothers and their family, discusses deep-rooted and complicated racism problem in American history. "X" in the title has indicated that it will not be a gentle and mild movie but will reveal dark side of American History. The actors, both named Edward, are genius. They have performed so well that the personalities and changes of two main characters have been showed vividly to the audience.

The elder brother, Derek, impressed me a lot. He used to be fierce, cynical and full of hatred, especially to black people. No one will hate because of no reason. Derek hates so strongly because when he was a teenager, his father, the hero in his mind as well as a fire fighter, was shot to death by a black man. And this is not the whole story. When his father was alive, Derek had accepted the opinion from his father about discrimination and animosity to African American and these ideas became more powerful after his father's death. Derek went to jail because of killing two people, one of whom was black.

I will never forget what his face was like after killing the black man using an extremely cruel way. His eyes were on fire, but it was cold fire--indifferent to people's lives, enthusiastic to his evil belief. However, Derek changed completely to another person when he came out of the jail. In prison, Derek met a black man who was humorous, friendly and helpful to him. He was also sexually abused by a bunch of white people. These two things have tremendous influence on his mind and from that moment, he started to open his mind and accept new information from reality rather than fulfill his mind merely with hatred. Derek started to learn to be responsible to his family. He cared his mother, sisters and became very concerned about his little brother, Danny, who was following the old track of Derek.

Danny admired his brother as well as his father. Since his father was die, Derek became the only hero in his mind. Danny witnessed the process of Derek's killing of those two people right on spot. No one can as shocked as Danny about what happened to Derek. Therefore, it is understandable that instead of choosing to believe what is right, Danny chose to avoid feeling ashamed and guilty for his brother and protect himself with the belief that what Derek had done is right. He forced himself to follow his brother, his hero. But when his hero changed, he could not accept that until was told about the story in jail. Deep in his mind, Danny was kind and credulous. As long as he got a good mentor like the teacher in his school rather than Cameron, he could be an excellent young man. But he would never have the chance. His death, as the conclusion of his paper, will ring a thousand times in my mind. The quote he used in the end was also thought-provoking. Indeed, we are friends rather than enemies and we do not need more hatred to block our eyes and our minds.

Racism is too complicated to be solved immediately, and that is why the movie did not provide us with a happy ending. Although the movie has ended, it is too early to close the book of this issue. But the pictures of sea, children and sunrise in the end did gave us hope and courage to face the problem directly and to welcome a brighter future.

Junyi Lyu (Lyra)

[ttangra]

It is the first time for me to watch American History X; and without question, I am totally shocked. Not only the story itself has so many provoking parts that reflects the real world’s dark sides and cruelness, but also the bigger problems that behind the scene cause our further thinking. Racial issue, which is also the basic conflict in this story, has always been a scabrous problem in the US; and racial minorities have always been facing inequality and stereotype in almost every aspect. However, do all the hatred and violence really have that much to do with RACE? For me, the answer is NO.

Admittedly that race seems to be an obvious reason since the color of your skin is always so easy to identify. Nonetheless, projections of our own trouble and anger, as well as seeking interests for our own group may be the real motives. When the first group of black men arrived at the American Continent, they were not slaves and there were no noticeable hatred towards them; however, when the needs for more labor for the plantation increased, racialists emerged. When Derek’s father complains about the “Nigger” problem in hi work place, he may just cast his hostility towards those three black men out of his own dissatisfaction in work. The NAZI gang in the film, which commits crime against innocent racial minorities, may just be a bunch of angry kids who have no prospects and their own thoughts.

Since they can’t change their own situation; so they blame others. After Derek realizes that what he has done before was totally wrong and brought huge harm to his family, he returned back to tell everybody he’s out. Then he is called the “Nigger” by NAZI, not because of his color, his appearance, but only because that he has become one of the “others” to be blamed.

“Has anything you have done made your life better?” I believe that Derek will not go back to his previous life since he has already been aware of the crucial problem to be fixed in his life-the well being of his family. Hatred does not fix anything and help anybody, what the best we can do is to care about those we truly love.

[xueting]

The scene which impresses me most is that when the African American guy [Lamont] who became Derek's friend then was joking with something so as to make Derek happy, Derek, for the first time, smiled to a black brother. I strongly believe that after this broken of ice, Derek truly began to think about [question] the doctrine he had trusted in for such a long time which is that blacks and whites should be always on opposite sides and could not integrate any more.

Instead of paying less attention to how another person looks like, he came to focus on how a person's personalities are and whether this person really treats him as a friend. He began to realize that there is no absolute equity in the world but only balances in different aspects. And all the conflicts between seemingly opposing groups are generated by human's selfishness, which makes them be more likely to see merely what they don't have but ignore the loss of others.

Unfortunately, this is incredibly hard to resolve because it stems from human nature, an apparent drawback of humanity. However, people don't have any choice but have to choose one certain side to stand on because the person stands in the middle will be easily excluded by either side and, just like what Derek went through after he had became friends with that black guy in prison, be always at risk of being hurt by each side.

It's impossible to stop people from continuing to judge others unreasonably in some way, but, people should try their best to understand one another at least in mind. No one lead[s] a better life than others, everyone has his/her own struggles that cannot be simply understood by other people. Hence, giving others more respects will surely help people satisfy themselves, getting rid of unreasonable discontentment as well as hostility.

[Taro]

It is a movie that brought me a deep thought. The story talks about conflict between white and color people in LA. I felt sorry what happened to Danny in the end of the movie and although I somehow guessed that it would not be a happy ending, I hope it would be because everyone have learned something from the past.

At the beginning, I thought Derek to be a decent man before, because he indeed cares his family. For one thing, although he was a jerk to treat his mum and sister like that, after that he realized that he was out of control and said sorry to them. For another, at the basketball court, he used a fair competition to fight with black guys instead of simply beating them. As might have been expected, he respected other people when he was young. However, his father tutors him in racism and gradually, he lose his control and killed black people violently.

But what happened to Derek at the prison totally changed him.

Here, in LA, comes the history. Every day I meet different people from different countries, and I thought that is wonderful because all of us live harmoniously. Every time I thought about the America history in this area, such a tragedy, I felt regret. Back to the story, although I felt upset in the end of the movie, I found that Danny learned a lot from his brother’s perspective. I like the conclusion he made.

“Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time. It's just not worth it. Derek says it's always good to end a paper with a quote. He says someone else has already said it best [Abraham Lincoln]. So if you can't top it, steal from them and go out strong. So I picked a guy I thought you'd like. 'We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it 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.”

Vengeance has a way of rebounding upon oneself.

[Jessica]

The movie is a statement of the racial conflict here in the United States. America is a mixed environment with the Caucasian as the majority and other ethnicities as the minorities. Although discrimination is forbidden in the society, the idea of discrimination against other races are just in the blood of certain races. The movie depicted the racial conflict in a bold and aggressive way. American History X indeed placed a shock on the audience.

Prison turned Derek into a more peaceful person. Before he enter the jail, he was a extreme racist who will kill an African American without a blink of eye. However, the friendship that he found with an African American prisoners, and the treatment from other racist clan in the prison make him to rethink about the racial issue. If it is not that African American prisoner, he could had already dead in the prison. He learned that hatred is not the solution, life is too short to be pissed of by these trivia things, and people should never look back in anger.

Apparently it is a sad story. While I think the main characters got their salvation and ready to start a new life, Daniel['s ]fate is not fair, it gave Derek second chance, but not Daniel who had done nothing. However, I think Derek will continue to abandon the thought of racist and discrimination. After all, as Daniel's paper stated, black and are not enemies, and they should not hold up hatred against each other.

The ending is very desperate to me. I felt that the whole movie is a convincing statement of how people should treat each other equally. However the ending is a strike on me. I almost felt that all the efforts that the characters been done through the movie were gone. By looking at that African American kid's confusing face, he probably did not even know what he is doing. Just because he felt that white boy is impolite to him in some ways. It would be an implication to the society - the vicious spiral between races. It is probably the thing that deeply bury inside the society, and it is too sensitive to talk about. After the civil war, America is struggling to create a country with freedom and equality, however, they are doing so superficially because it is political correctness or out of other reason? The answer is probably too complex to be dig out.

[zhang]

The basic conflict of this story is racism. And many other conflicts have derived from it, family, school, and society. Racism also interweaves with some parallel problems like poverty and education.

In the prison, a black man Lamont has become Derek’s friend. By working as a team, Derek has the opportunity to better know about Lamont. And Lamont is an interesting, friendly, and positive person, who affects and supports Derek emotionally and practically – Lamont tells other African-Americans not to bully Derek. There are several scenes in the prison that impress me. The first is that a prisoner tells Derek in the joint he is the negro. It’s true that in the prison, the European-American Derek becomes the minority and suffers from the dilemma that any subordinated group could meet. It makes me think it is not the skin color that decide your initial power, but it is the power itself that attaches different meanings to the color. And when Lamont tells Derek that he is sentenced for five years because of stealing a television. I can see the subtle confusion on Derek’s face since Derek is only sentenced three years for killing black people. To some degree, it reveals to Derek a bigger picture about racism than what his father presented to him. Derek’s teacher Mr. Sweeny also helps him a lot. “To ask the right question” is a lesson for me too. When we feel confused about life and there is no answer to satisfy us, chances are we ask the wrong question and even blame something irrelevant for our hardship.

I think the ending is Derek’s final step toward redemption. “What I did?” By Derek’s question, we can know that when he holds his brother’s body, he doesn’t resent anyone else but see through what he has done.

“Hate is a baggage. Life is too short to be pissed off all the time. It’s just not worth it.” This movie does not give the answer to the big issue of racism. Maybe we still have not found the RIGHT question to ask about it. But this movie does offer its opinion on how we can let it go – don’t be pissed off all the time. People in the movie who are pissed off all finally become the result of their angry. At the end of the movie, I see the smile on the kid’s face. He is so happy. He doesn’t yet know the feeling to be pissed off. Life to him is something deserving to running in the sun.

[Xiaoyu]

To be honest, I enjoyed this movie very much. I think the story is very moving.

What is the basic conflict in this story?
The conflict is between black and white. Derek was a anti-black person when he was young. He blame his father's death on black people. And he joined in an association which included anti-black young people in it. He was famous because he shot several black people who broke in his house.

What does Derek learn in prison?
He learnt that black people is not that bad as he imagine. A black people in the prison even help him out of a trouble. On the contrast, white people bullied him in prison.

Is the ending Derek's final step toward redemption or a U-turn back into his previous life?
He end up with turn into a good person.

This story tells by Denny, Derek's brother in the movie. He talks about hid older's past and why he changed. What Derek did before gives Denny big influences. The story telling method is unique in this movie, which impressed me a lot.

Thank you!