Derek And Danny example essay topic

American History X The film American History X gives a new meaning to racism. The story is about modern-day racial hatred going on in the United States today. The purpose of the story is to realize that racial hatred does not accomplish anything except create more hate. The director and writer of this movie accomplish their purpose through character development, the targeted audience, and cinematography. Character development best helps to accomplish the purpose of the movie. The most developed characters in this film are Derek and Danny.

Derek's character is full of racial hatred and plays as a leader of a neo-Nazi group in Venice Beach, California at the beginning of the movie. He does not become like this until his father was killed in a black neighborhood while extinguishing a fire. Based on this traumatic incident and an underlying climate of subtle racism, the elder son, Derek, focuses his rage on the minority community and becomes a racist agitator (McKenna 2). Derek preaches to young skinheads about his beliefs of the American society and how minority groups are corrupting the society and wasting taxpayer's money. They have to put an end to these immigrants, and Derek constantly encourages his followers to take any kind of actions to stop these immigrants.

Derek shows great hate towards minority groups by raiding the Korean market and by murdering two black teenagers who attempted to break into his vehicle. Derek's murderous attack on the two black teenagers gave him three years in the penitentiary. He had no problem with finding a group of friends that were also skinheads but later finds out that they were not true to their beliefs. Derek tries to get them to hate all the minorities and to become a white supremacist group but instead, they turned on Derek and raped him in the shower. Derek was forced to work with a black man in the laundry room that helps him survive the rest of his prison sentence.

He gradually began to discover the error of his racial beliefs and becomes good friends with the black man. After being raped, Derek realizes the pain and suffering he has put other minority people through and was asked a painful question: has anything you ve done made your life better? He shakes his head whilst refraining from crying, knowing that the path to redemption is much more difficult to walk down than the path to evil (Buckmaster 2). Having those experiences changed Derek and soon returns home determined to set his racist little brother straight. Danny, Derek's younger brother, attempts to follow Derek's footsteps and turns in a paper on Mein Kampf.

Concerned that Danny is following the same path as his brother, Sweeney gives him a new assignment to write about Derek's history as a skinhead, and how he came to be that way. Danny was shocked to see how serving time in prison has affected his brother greatly. Upon getting out of prison, Derek tries to change Danny's beliefs of white supremacy and does not want Danny to follow the same tragic path that he has taken. Derek tells Danny the tragic story of life in prison and how his life has been turned around. Danny understands the harm that hate can put a person through and also changes his racial beliefs. The scene where the two brothers are stripping the wall in their room helps viewers understand that both Danny and Derek no longer want to live a life of hate.

Another method the writer used to accomplish his purpose is through the targeted audience. The targeted audience of this film are the people in the United States. The United States has a variety of all different kinds a race. Many racial issues are occurring everyday and this films shows one main group that are racist against everyone who are not white.

Many racist people could be able to have their views changed like the skinheads. After watching this movie one might ask a question if he or she has accomplish anything in his or her life by hating others. The answer is obviously no. Being hateful to someone only causes more problems.

One might approach a racist person in a vengeful manner because he or she is racist and someone could get seriously injured. The director has done an excellent job in cinematography. The movie is filmed in color to represent the present time, but the director uses a great deal of black and white coloring to show the flashbacks of Derek's horrid past. This kind of cinematography gives a greater impact on the audience and helps the audience better understand what is going on throughout the movie. There are two major scenes in the movie that are filmed in black and white that shows the disgusted racial ways of Derek.

The first black and white scene is the killing of the two black teenagers that attempts to break into Derek's vehicle. One of the burglars was still alive and Derek made sure the thief knew how much hate he had towards blacks by placing his mouth on the curb and bashing his head in. Another scene is where the skinheads trash the grocery store. They were torturing the manager, cashier, the guys who stock groceries, and who ever else worked in that store simply because they were another race. The manager was brutally beaten up and the cashier lady was tortured by having all kinds of food shoved into her mouth.

These people who worked in the grocery store did not deserve this kind of treatment. They were being tormented simply because of their race. McKenna further explains how: The story is told in a mix of black and white and color, using the film tone to indicate transitions between the present and the past. Although this is a traditional cinematic device, it is used here with particular effectiveness. The black and white sequences are often heavily shadowed, giving them an indistinct edge, and the dream-like, incomplete quality of memories.

And of course, the whole format of black and white, where all people appear in gradations of grey, adds its own metaphoric subtext. (2) Black and white are simple colors which symbolizes the simple life of Derek as a skinhead, and color scenes represented the complex life Derek had to live after being released from prison. Another use of cinematography the director uses is slow motion. The director uses slow motion to help support the purpose of the film and to form a visual mood (McKenna 2).

One main scene that was showed in slow motion was when Danny was shot by a young black student in the bathroom. This creates great hatred towards the black murderer because the audience is able to look deeply into the killer's eyes and see that only hate comes between Danny and him. The viewers also feel the pain Danny was going through. Each bullet Danny was shot by had a great impact on the audience.

One bullet would go through Danny making the audience feel sympathetic towards him and then a couple seconds later another creating even more sympathy and hate. In conclusion, the director and author both team up to create an outstanding movie. Using character development, the targeted audience, and cinematography helps accomplish what the purpose of the film is. Derek has become a changed person but yet another family member has died by another black person. Will Derek go back to his old, horrid, racial ways or did spending time behind bars have a great affect on his life that he will stay the same sentimental person as he is? Derek has definitely learned a lesson.

His old racial ways has only created more hate and anger that led to the murder of his younger brother.

Bibliography

Buckmaster, Luke. American History X. American History X. (6 June 1999).
McKenna, David. Review: American History X. American History X. (11 July 1999).