Whitlock American History X

Facism/Nazism is attractive to lower middle class white Americans. They need someone to blame for being in their socio-economic class, and in American History X, this group of people chose to blame it on every single race other than white people. This sort of ideology is described in the article as "Racism as an Individual Problem," not to say that hate crimes are only committed by people in hate groups, but the group of white supremacists in American History X believe that blacks have had enough time in this country to "get their act together."

A scene that illustrates the idea that Facism/Nazism is attractive to lower middle class white Americans is when Derek goes to visit Cameron during the celebration party that Cameron is throwing because Derek was released from jail. He tells him that he wants to be out of this group and then an argument ensues. Derek tells Cameron that he preys on these young kids and feeds ideas into their heads. They are corrupted because of him. He says that Cameron just uses them for his "cause." Derek feels that Cameron is just using these people as his puppets and is able to tell them to do anything that he wants because of the hatred that Cameron feels. In this scene, when they are fighting, the camera proximities move back-and-forth from social to intimate. When the camera does pan out to show their stance, the camera always shows Cameron's back and Derek's face, this shows that Derek is the good guy because you are able to see him and see his real-ness. The lighting is pretty low-key and the second thing that you look at in every scene are the multiple pictures of swastikas and Hitler hanging on the walls. The confined space is just an explosion of propaganda.