Simon American History X

American History X is a movie that deals most entirely with racism. Some people argue whether the movie is justifying racism by showing the Vinyard brothers robbing stores, brutally beating people, and even murdering people they believe to be disgusting due to their race. I personally believe this movie is to show the real meaning of nature verses nurture. The Vinyard brothers are raised by a father that was rather out spoken in the home about his feelings of white supremacy, which lead to his oldest son, Derek, to become the future "leader" of the white supremacy group. The movie focuses on Derek's younger brother Danny. Danny is coming of age and his brother expects him to follow in his footsteps, but it is made very clear that Danny is not sure if he harbors the same hateful feels as his father and brother. In the movie there is a scene that clearly states Danny's true feelings while also showing the way Derek feels Danny should look up to him. In the middle of the movie Derek kills a black guy in front of their home. Danny is forced to watch this and is terribly horrified by his brother's actions. While the murder and Danny's reaction are important, the most important and scaring imagine of the scene is when Derek is about to be arrested and he turns in slow motion to Danny and smiles with his back turned to the cops behind him. He then spreads his arms and holds them like the image of Christ on the cross. The entire scene is in black and white which gives it a great affect of power. The brightest part of the image is Derek's bare chest, and the cops are in the shadows of the background. The importance of this light is to show what Danny must have seen. He saw his brother kill a person and then gladly give himself up the way Christ did. This scene goes to show how strongly Danny, and many other kids like him, were pulled and pursued into the life that surrounded them. This goes back to the nature verses nurture. Derek and Danny were raised a certain way, they were not born racist. By the end of the film Derek and Danny seem to have been reformed, but it is too late. While using the bathroom Danny is shot. If you look closely, The way Danny falls is with his arms stretched out in the same way as Derek had them previously, the same way Christ had his. This could be a representation of Danny dying so that it would teach the other people around him to change their ways before it is too late.