American History X American History X (1998) illustrates how segregation is aggravated by missing father figures as well as the herd mentality of the characters in the film. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of the herd mentality states that people need a concept or a worldview to adopt in order to give meaning to their lives. This herding of people who choose to adopt this certain ideal or ideals in effect causes the stifling of individual thoughts or creativity because everyone chooses to think a certain way (Floyd). This mindset that people are attracted to is not always chosen or forced but is rather seen as an obligation because of loyalties certain people have to others. Derek Vinyard, played by Edward Norton, starts to adopt this racist mindset that all races other than white are the downfall of society in a flashback scene where he is speaking with his father about school and his father tells him not to listen to the “nigger bullshit” of his black Social Studies teacher, Dr. Bob Sweeney played by Avery Brooks. Derek’s obvious interest in Dr. Sweeney’s lessons fades almost immediately upon hearing these words from his father and Derek begins to agree with his father’s statements. Derek is not forced by his father to feel this way; however, he took it upon himself to feel this way because he looks up to his father. His individual thoughts are stifled because he wants to be more like his father. The racism instilled in Derek from his father is not enough to bring him to the violent lifestyle he starts on to lead, but it does teach him to stay away from black kids from an early age. This herd mentality to stay only with white people has been brought to another level when Derek Vinyard’s father dies. His father is shot and killed by blacks while fighting a fire in a black neighborhood. Derek immediately places the blame on black people, not just a single black person but all black people. After his father’s death, Derek joins forces with Cameron Alexander, played by Stacy Keach. Cameron is an older man who is a Neo-Nazi and he uses Derek to recruit young adults into a new gang called the Disciples of Christ (D.O.C.). The creation of the D.O.C. provides all the white youth of Venice Beach, California to feel a sense of belonging. Just like the young black males were a part of, and protected by, the Crips, the young white ki... ... middle of paper ... ... is the brutality of hate and racism. The emotions running high in the movie makes it powerful and moving and the death of Derek’s younger brother Danny Vinyard is shocking enough to bring tears to many viewers’ eyes. The movie ends with Danny’s voice reading his paper out loud and he ends his paper with a very important quote by Abraham Lincoln. This quote shows how Danny’s, as well as Derek’s, mindset changed from the beginning of the movie to the end. When hearing this quote it leaves the viewers in awe that Danny finally started to look past his hateful ideologies but ends up dead because of the lifestyle him and his brother decided to lead. “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained we 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”. Works Cited American History X. Dir. Tony Kaye. Perf. Edward Norton, Edward Furlong, Avery Brooks, and Beverly D’angelo. 1998. DVD. New Line Home Entertainment, 2004. Floyd, Brandon. “American Nihilism Organization.” American Nihilism Organization. 24 Aug. 2004. 19 Oct. 2004 .
The French saw the Natives as uncivilized and felt it was their duty to improve the land in order to get the most out of it. Though Witgen does not note it as such, in An Infinity of Nations, this is our first experience of a gender roles between the two sides. Witgen often refers to the French as “the Father” and to the Indigenous tribes as “the children”. In efforts to create their empire, Witgen argues that the French felt as though they were the “Father giving birth to Native children, literally creating and suckling Indian nations into existance.” (WITGEN 230) While having this feeling of fatherhood, Witgen touches on the motherly traits of the French as well. “Native peoples need not disappear; they might be reborn as the children of the empire. Their French father would not only give them a new life, he would also nourish them as only a mother could,” Witgen notes. (WITGEN 112) With the sense of fatherhood and motherhood, the French felt as though they were responsible to impose their power on what should be the Native New
The English took their land and disrupted their traditional systems of trade and agriculture. As a result, the power of native religious leaders was corrupted. The Indians we...
“ [They] spent most of the conquest and colonial periods reacting and responding to the European strangers and invaders” (99). Both sides were different in many ways; Their communication, transportation, culture, and the way they survived differentiate the Europeans from the Native Americans. They both acted as wisely as they could when this encounters began after the discovery. “[Tribes] worked mightily and often cleverly to maximize their political sovereignty, cultural autonomy, territorial integrity, power of self identification, and physical nobility” (100). The Europeans were stronger, had better technology, better weapons, and had plenty of experience fighting people like the Native Americans. They could have easily conquer them , but they had a problem of resources, reinforcements and survival. Native American were many but they lacked the knowledge and experience of war and evolution. Europeans were technologically evolved and were experienced at fighting wars, but they ...
... that the film opens with. While the story may be slightly dramatic and pieces of the story “coincidentally” seem to fall into exactly the wrong place at the wrong time causing the tragedies in the film to happen, the events in this film are entirely capable of being a reality. Racism and prejudice continue to be prevalent issues in our society, but like Anthony, we can learn to overcome anything that holds us back from putting unity into practice and making our world a better place for everyone.
support would mean that they would not fully commit to the women, the children or the good
The Birth of a Nation (1915) is one of the most controversial movies ever made in Hollywood, some people even consider it the most controversial movie in the long history of Hollywood. Birth of a Nation focuses on the Stoneman family and their friendship with the Cameron’s which is put into question due to the Civil War, and both families being on different sides. The whole dysfunction between the families is carried out through important political events such as: Lincoln’s assassination, and the birth of the Ku Klux Kan. D.W. Griffith is the director of the movie, and him being born into a confederate family in the South, the movie portrays the South as noble and righteous men, who are fighting against the evil Yankees from the North, who have black union soldiers among them, whom overtake the town of Piedmont, which leads the KKK to take action and according to the movie become the savior of white supremacy. During this essay, I would focus on the themes of racial inequality, racism, and the archetypical portrayal of black people in the movie, which are significant especially during the era when the film was released.
Although there were many concepts that were present within the movie, I choose to focus on two that I thought to be most important. The first is the realistic conflict theory. Our textbook defines this as, “the view that prejudice...
From an outsiders perspective one may see brainless and beautiful robots, which scream and perform neat tricks. This is not the case from the inside; cheerleading is so much more than that. Many people are under the impression that cheerleading is not a sport. I am the voice of reasoning that will let you in, and I will show you that cheerleading, in fact, is a sport. Cheerleading requires much physical demand from the body just as any other sport would. Cheerleading, in general, is a team effort. There are many sides to cheerleading, which make it a versatile sport. When it comes to cheerleading there’s more to it than what meets the eye.
Tension between the African Americans and Caucasians have been present in America since slavery. In the movie Crash (2004), race and culture are major themes that can be seen in the lives of the characters in the film. One character in particular, Cameron, a prestigious color vision director, displays the friction between two cultures. He belongs to the educated, upper class of the Los Angeles area. He is also an African American, yet he seems to have no ties with that class. He has a light-skinned wife, attends award shows, and it appears that his acquaintances are predominately white. When he and his wife, Christine, get pulled over by a racist cop, he experiences emotions of powerlessness and helplessness that he never knew he would experience due to his upbringing and place in society. Cameron goes through a radical transformation where he comes to grips with his background and how he fits into these two clashing cultures.
There exist so many different societies and cultures in this world. Some like to discover and learn about new people and their ways of living but others can not seem to understand how a certain group of people can live in a different way from how they are living themselves. They simply do not want to accept other societies or cultures which can create clashes. This is something that was created socially, mainly by how people perceive ideas and other faces they are not quite used to. What are the causes of somebody looking at different cultures negatively? What issues can this type of thinking cause and what can we do to minimize it in today’s society? We will try to answer these questions by analyzing the movie “American History X.”
Bodybuilding is a sport that tests both the body and the mind. For thousands of years, people have used it. However, only for a little over a century has it been popular. A big question asked by many in the sport is, how much has bodybuilding really changed from the silver era (the 1940s)? The answer is a lot, since the 1940s many changes have occurred. Some of these are steroid abuse, competition categories and ranks, and money (Robson). Modern-day bodybuilders have incredibly large “stacks” (slang for the steroids they use on their cycle), more opportunities to compete than they did in the 40s and even more ways to market for money. The sport of bodybuilding has been around for thousands of years and has changed more than ever in just
American Psycho is a savage account of a wealthy investment banker in the late 80s that commits heinous acts of murder, rape, and torture. Although on the surface, American Psycho seems as though it is just another horror story, it actually has a much deeper message. This story is a harsh critique of a superficial Wall Street society in the late 80s that was rampant with materialism and greed. This is the society in which the main character Patrick Bateman lives–where appearance, material possessions, and status define a person. This superficial existence leaves him hollow and dead inside and turns him into a psychopathic killer. A society such as this, devoid of any morality, inevitably creates psychopaths such as Bateman. The film shows an excellent portrayal of a vacant, nihilistic killer with no feelings or emotions. However, there is something more to the story that the film did not quite capture. The book seems to not only be a satirical take on this society, but a tragedy as well. Recreating the dinner scene with his secretary Jean shows that underneath the surface Patrick Bateman is, indeed, a human being with real feelings and emotions, and that it is a great tragedy that this superficial society has turned him into a monster.
The Native American Indians are a vital piece of the society of the United States. While their kin have existed on this land for many years, today their numbers are reducing. Once, the Native Americans lived on this continent with little discourse and disturbance. They were overall nourished, content, and established. Truth be told, the men and women generally were set in regular parts. The men were seekers, warriors, and defenders, while the women watched out for the youngsters, their homes, and cultivated. It relied on upon the tribe when it came to craftsmanship. In a few tribes, the men would really weave baskets and blankets. Common nourishments were expended and chased. Deer, wild ox, fish, and different feathered birds were the wildlife of decision. Corn, beans, squash, berries, nuts, and melons were the leafy foods that were expended. Berries were additionally frequently utilized as a characteristic color for fabrics. While the late 1800’s into the 1900’s and past started to bring battle to the Native American Indians, they battled an intense...
Although, it is proven difficult to completely change your point of view from the society you are brought up in. The characters in this film go through a lot of self-reevaluation to find their place in society, as well as a reevaluation of their initial prejudicial
... supremacist gang, to rioting in an Asian owned grocery store, to finally brutally murdering someone. We observe as family ties become increasingly strained in every way, the viewer can easily conclude that Derek’s racism as well as his eventual influence on his younger brother ultimately contributed to their own downfall. As controversial as this movie maybe for the offensive language and brutal violence, it is a movie that deserves to be seen, and even discussed. It really provides insight into some factors within society that cannot be contained by the law or even deterred by even the harshest punishments. Even though American society is becoming more modernized as time goes by in terms of tolerance, racism will unfortunately always be prevalent in society and inevitably it will also lead some individuals to violently express their distorted mentalities.