Sociology summarizing paper - Essay Example

In "American History X," the issues of racism are depicted by exploring the socio-economic roots of fascism in the characters, their cultural environment, and community. The film, directed by Tony Kaye and written by David McKenna stars Edward Norton, Edward Furlong and Beverly D'Angelo as a poor middle class family of a single mother and two sons growing up in modern, suburban America. (IMDB, 2011) The father of the family was a policeman who was killed in the line of duty. This transforms the eldest son from a model student at the top of his class into a neo-Nazi skinhead who eventually commits murder.

Derek Vinyard, the oldest son, becomes an inspirational leader to other poor, marginalized “white” youth who find identity in Nazi skinhead culture. The socio-economic aspects of the family and the path of the eldest son are interesting because they directly reflect the traditional root causes of fascism in society. For example, the film compares the emasculating effects of the father figure defeated and fallen, as in the Kaiser’s Germany in post-World War One Germany or in Derek Vinyard’s father.

The poverty and helplessness of the family is contrasted with a violent outburst Derek has when his mother dates a Jewish man and invites him home to dinner. The psychological aspects of humiliation are related to the familial issues as a symbolic way to discuss the socio-economic and psychological roots of fascism, racism, and anti-semitism through the characters, making it an excellent example for the deconstruction of the racist mentality. In “American History X,” a new brand of neo-Nazi culture is depicted to be thriving, accessing the tools and vehicles of modern culture such as information technology, pop culture, music, and fashion.

The neo-Nazis are composed of skinhead, racist punks and led by an old KKK headmaster. The racism and hatred displayed by the characters is so abnormal in the greater context of American society, which in the movie is depicted by a typical high school. Contrasted to this is the prison environment, where the Nazi skinhead gangs also rule violently. It is in these marginal environments, prison, social isolation, socio-economic humiliation, poverty, and lack of education that fascism thrives and collects its strongest supporters.

Psychologically, the need to project violent hatred outwards contrasts with feelings of personal insecurity, and this is depicted in the characterization of the neo-Nazi skinheads and racists in the movie. Neo-Nazi fascism is an extreme identity mask in contemporary American society that is more symptomatic of psychological and developmental problems or abuse than a political movement in the context. Yet, the movie also suggests that greater institutions that bring diverse individuals together into a community setting, such as a public high school or prison, would also be simultaneously the battleground where racists and Nazi gang members battled other ethnic gangs such as African-American or Latin-American groups as well as mixing, integrating, and learning together in isolated instances that allow for the opportunity to transform individually.

That Derek Vinyard is ultimately able to overcome his racist beliefs and see them as brainwashing, programming, and untrue, the director suggests that it is more due to the natural intelligence of his character, making him the exception rather than the rule. This example illustrates a further issue from the film “American History X,” which is the ability of people deeply brainwashed into a violent, hateful ideology such as neo-Nazism or the skinhead gangs to reform, change, and become positive members of society.

The film depicts long-term and unrepentant racists in a realistic and graphic manner, but suggests the influence of positive members of society working through public groups and agencies, as well as family intervention, as possible means of breakthrough. The message is graphic and stark in depicting a choice between a dead-end lifestyle of murder, prison, and race war contrasted with the contemporary mainstream tolerance of multiculturalism. In this context, the racists and fascists appear to be a minority more determined by socio-economic problems such as poverty, lack of education, and self-hatred leading to a misinterpretation of history warped around psychological factors of abuse.

In looking at the manner in which these factors interrelate, it is easier to see fascist and racist patterns in society and their root causes. Because the cultural identities of the movie are intended to reflect historical patterns which engendered fascism internationally, “American History X” can be seen as an accurate and advanced discussion of the root causes of racism and fascism, particularly relating to the neo-Nazi and skinhead movement in America, but able to be extrapolated as symbolic of more universal cultural patterns of personal and collective psychological development.

Sources Cited: IMDB (2011), American History X (Film -1998), [119 min - Crime | Drama – Released 30 October 1998 (USA)], The Internet Movie Database. Web. Accessed 1 April 2011, .