Friday, November 5, 2010

Innella American History X


There are several seasons in American History X in which Naziism is made to look appealing to a certain demographic. The season that best illustrates this is the scene where Derek goes to a party hosted by Cameron who is the leader of the Neo-Nazis. Derek's intends to go to the party and tell Cameron that he is done with the gang and no longer believes in their ways. The party is set inside of a barn where there are tons of teenagers, alcohol, and a band playing a heavy metal version of a song that talks about the "white man" marching on. Behind the band there is a large Nazi flag hanging on the wall. Before the party, Derek told his brother Danny not to go to the party but despite Derek's request, Danny is still in attendance. Derek goes up to Cameron's office only find Danny talking to Cameron. After making Danny leave Cameron's office, Derek starts telling Cameron that he is done with the gang. Cameron tries to convince him that he does not actually want to leave the gang, he is just going through a confusing time because he was in jail for so long. The two get into an argument and Cameron threatens that he will not leave Danny alone. Derek punches Cameron down to the ground and then kicks him to a point where he is lying on the ground bleeding. As soon as Derek leaves the room a member of the gang, Seth, goes running into the looking for Cameron and finds him on the ground injured. Seth returns outside with a gun pointed at Derek threatening to kill him. Derek's girlfriend starts a chant calling him the N word. She wants Seth to kill Derek but Derek disarms the gun from Seth and runs out of the party with Danny. This scene shows racism to a point where it has somewhat brainwashed all of the members of the gang.

1 comment:

  1. You summarize the scene, but you need to discuss the issue of class that the blog prompt brings up. That issue is central to the message of the film.

    ReplyDelete