Turner American History X

American History X makes Facism/Nazism attractive to white, lower-class, bullied, confused, and usually male, teens. The white supremacists groups offer these young impressionable teens protection and friends. In these groups they feel a sense of community and belonging. The group’s views become their own because they want to be a part of something and they look up to their fellow members who treat them well and with respect. The scene that best illustrates why this type of young people is attracted to Nazism is the one where the group of white supremacist neo-Nazis are about to vandalize and destroy the Korean-owned grocery store.

The group of white supremacist gathers in the parking lot around Derek. He is dominant in the scene and so he is viewed as the important character and gets the majority of the face time. Character placement is important in the scene. Derek is in front while his girlfriend and Danny are behind him, obviously supporting what he’s saying. Everyone else is surrounding Derek. Derek starts to talk and tells the group around him why they are taking action on the store. Everyone is looking at him and the camera shows close ups of some of the members listening intently and agreeing with him. Derek is young, buff, and manly, and could be viewed as an embodiment of white hyper masculinity. His speech is intelligent sounding and he makes points that could be convincing to certain people. The group is working together to accomplish something and even though that something is horrendous, this specific comradely may be attractive to certain young people.

The article states that “the loudest, longest, and most passionate voice or opportunity to speak makes a difference in the messages that viewers take from a film” and that “the white supremacist characters are clearly given more opportunities for unrefuted diatribes than the opposition.” This particular scene supports this idea, but I think that Derek’s views and what he says in this scene and throughout the movie are obviously ridiculous and so blatantly wrong that a viewer could not possibly take a racist message from the film.