American History X Essay

America has come a long way with how people are treated as opposed to how things use to be not so long ago. In the film American History X (1998) we see how some parts of America were not adjusting to change in their towns which resulted in violent outbreaks and many deaths. Although throughout the movie we see the main character, Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) that at the beginning of the film is in a “white power” gang and later transforms as a character to protect his brother and the rest of his family from being hurt and corrupted by the racist world that they were living in.
The movie starts out in a black and white color, which represents in flashback points of what happened in the Vinyard family past. In that black and white scene there

He now knows he was setting a bad example for Danny and he knows that the way they were living was not the right way to live. After their talk they head home and go into the room that they share, and tear down everything that was related to white supremacy off their walls. That symbol of them removing everything that they once stood shows how Derek got through to Danny. Danny did not understand the change that Derek went through, but he understands enough that if it was powerfully enough to change his brother, then he should listen to him and follow him too. And Danny most likely would not want to go through the same things his brother had to go through just to change the way he thinks, so they mutually agreed they were done with that life style when together they both pulled down the posters, the pictures and the Nazi flag off their bedroom wall, which symbolized the war they were fighting was

There are many actions in the film that cause Derek to change as a character, but when he helps change his brother Danny, that his when the major change happens, they both agree they are done with their old life style and are ready to leave it behind. Derek walks Danny to school that next morning and explains they might be in danger from the decision that they have made, which got a few of their old gang members hurt that night. So Derek drops Danny off at school. In the article Contemporary Justice Review, they explain the end of the movie as, “newly reformed, happy-go-lucky Danny being gunned down in the bathroom by the clack boy he had blown smoke at earlier in the film. We hear him say: ‘Hate is baggage – it’s not worth it’” (Finley 229). That last quote Danny says show’s how both he and Derek have changed over the course of the film. They both learned in different ways that “Hate is baggage and it’s not worth it.” Although Derek is extremely upset by the death of his brother it is safe to say that he was a least proud that he had died not in hatred but as a new person. Just as how the old Derek had gone away and came back as a new