American History X- The mind of a racist
Rosa sat so Martin could walk, Martin walked so Barack could run, Barack ran so we all can fly.
The above is a quote that has been making the rounds of the Net, ever since Barack Obama became the first non White person to enter into the hallowed precincts of 1600, Pennsylvania Avenue or what we better know as the White House.
Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King
The reference of course is here to Rosa Parks the woman who refused to vacate her seat in a racially segregated bus in Montogomery, Alabama, an incident when taken in context, is as significant as Mahatma Gandhi’s refusal to vacate his seat in a first class compartmen in S.Africa, and his being thrown out of the train at Pietermartizburg station. Rosa was later a key figure in the Civil rights moment led by Martin Luther King Jr, and the rest as we say is history.
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”-Martin Luther King Jr in his famous I have a dream speech.
I have a Dream speech
For a nation that was founded on the premise of “All men are created equal” and being led by a “Government of the people, for the people and by the people”, the US for a greater part of its history had to deal with discrimination and racism be it the treatment of Native Indians, the slavery system in the South and the segregation of the blacks from the white population in the early half of the 20th century.
Racism has not just been a question of Black and White in US. Jews, Irish, Italians, Poles, Asians have all suffered from racism in one way or another. And significantly the racism issue came whenever there was a large migration of people from other nations, into the US. For centuries the US of A has been and still is a becaon for immigrants all over the world. Some came to escape political persecution, some came to escape the poverty in their native lands, some came for bettter opportunities. In effect that made the US, one of the most diverse nations on Earth. But the diversity was something achieved at a great cost. Every time a new race started to arrive in hordes, people started to exploit the “outsider syndrome”, or in more simpler terms “see these dirty scum of earth, they are here to steal our jobs, our hapiness, our peace, drive them out”. The Irish experienced it when they migrated in hordes during the potato famine that impoverished Ireland, at the turn of the century it was the Italians and Poles who experienced hostility, later it was the Chinese who arrived in vast numbers on the West Coast as cheap labor for the construction of the great rail roads. In most of these cases, it was this fear of being swamped by “outsiders” that gave rise to racist attacks. The biggest irony is that those “natives” who were screaming hoarse about being displaced by “outsiders”, were themselves descendants of immigrants who displaced the native Indian tribes.
The racism towards blacks however had a different hue, here it was not the fear of “outsiders” taking over us. It was a belief that blacks were meant to be slaves and not good for anything else. Or more specifically blacks were sub human races, ”people of low character who cast lustful glances at white women, scum who indulged in robbery, murder and arson”. Or as the popular saying went “The only good black man was a dead one”. Civil war and Lincoln’s abolition of Slavery did little to improve their conditions. The terrible segregation faced by blacks in the Southern states, the mass lynchings, public hangings by kangaroo courts, the rise of the Klan were a painful era in American history. The civil rights movement in the 60’s, went a long way, in addressing the issues of black discrimination.
In contemporary US, segregation has become a thing of the past. Where riots broke out in 1900, when Teddy Roosevelt, invited a black educator, Booker T Washington, to the White House, today a Non White American of mixed origins occupies the Oval Office. Blacks have made a name for themselves as sportsmen, movie stars, musicians, artistes, writers and even businessmen. But has racism totally disappeared from US? While racially segregated spaces do not exist, and more blacks are a part of the mainstream, the fault lines still do exist. It bursts out at times like during the 1992 LA Riots or the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, where blacks complained of discrimination, during relief operations. While the Klan has gone underground, there are still a large number of White supremacist, Neo Nazi organizations, which dream of re establishing White supremacy again.
It is these issues which are explored in American History X, a look at racism in contemporary American society. The background here is not a remote Southern town in Missisippi or Alabama, dominated by rednecks. Rather it is the Venice Beach suburb of Los Angeles, a place having a diverse population. And Derek Vinyard( Ed Norton), is not your average ignorant redneck. Rather he is well educated, working but his racist ideology is of a different hue altogether. California for long has a reputation of being the most “liberal” state in US, and also a state where the non White population , notably Asian and Latinos, are more than the White Caucasian populations. The time period too is contemporary, the 90’s, not the 50’s and 60’s, where segregation was rife.
So what makes Derek the racist, white supremacist? Why is some one growing up in a “liberal” environment, along with other races, believe so deeply in White supremacy? Contrary to assumptions, not every racist, is an ignorant, red necked, bible thumping, Southerner who believes that blacks, Jews, Catholics should be exterminated. There are people like Derek, whose racism stems from the fear of being swamped by outsiders. Derek’s belief in racism, also stems from his family environment. His father,a fire fighter, was in a way responsible for his thought process. The most significant scene in the movie is the news clipping where Derek is interviewed after his father is shot dead, while putting out a fire in a run down neighborhood, notorious for its drug gangs.
Every problem in this country is “race” related. Every problem, not just crime. These problems are rooted in the black community, the Hispanic community, the Asian…every non-Protestant group in our society. Look at the shit. Immigration…welfare…AIDS…they’re all the problems of the non-white. Look at the statistics.
Again Derek’s thinking here is like that of any average individual. The country is beset with problems, needing a solution, so what to do. Take the easy way out. Find some one to blame it on. And in this case its the “others”. Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany’s defeat in WW1 and its economic misery, back home MNS-Shiv Sena blames North Indian immigrants for the problems Mumbai faces. It is much easy to blame some one for a problem, and then assuming kicking them out would solve it. So throw out all Bhaiyyas from Mumbai, and it would be a clean and green place with no crime, kick out all Latinos from US, and there would be no drug problems, throw out all Muslims and terrorism is eradicated presto.
The other catalyst for Derek’s thought process is personal. Quite often its human tendency, you have a couple of nasty encounters, with people of “X” community, so all people of that community are nasty. Being a Telugu person, i get those jibes, “You gulti guys gang up together and dont let others join a company”, replace Gulti with Mallu, Tam, Bhaiyyas and the tenor is same, “I had a bad experience with A, he/ she belongs to X community, so all members of X community are bad”. In this case Derek’s father was shot dead by couple of Black youths, in that neighbourhood, and that only further deepens his hatred.
Because my father was doing his fucking job! Saving a nigger neighborhood he didn’t give two shits about! And he got killed by some drug dealer who still collects a fucking welfare check.
The racism of people like Derek is more scary than that of an ignorant redneck you would encounter in the Deep South. Because Derek is some one who could as well be your neighbour, and unlike the person in the Deep South, Derek’s racism stems not from ignorance, but from knowledge, or more specifically half knowledge. Try reasoning with a person who goes on a rant against “X” community, and the response is “You cant face the truth, it always hurts”. More likely what is being given is the half truth. So statistics on Blacks being involved in crime, are taken as the basis for “All blacks are criminals” or statistics on illegal immigration become the foundation for “All Hispanics are illegal immigrants, who breed like rabbits, and steal our jobs”.
Derek also thrives on having the power, as a white supremacist member. The power which makes him a kind of hero for the people around him. His kid brother Danny( Edward Furlong) who totally hero worships him, his ditzy girlfriend Stacy ( Fairuza Balk) and his loser friend Seth who keeps hanging on with Derek. Derek in turn idolizes Cameron Alexander, a 40 plus leader of a white supremacist gang, who mentors Derek. Cameron, is a kind of hero to people like Derek, some one who defends them from the Black and Latino gangs in that neighborhood. In one way its a question of gang identity, and another way its a question of race identity. In the same way, people consider Arun Gawli, as a hero, because he stood up to the “Muslim” mafia gangs of Dawood Ibrahim. Cameron in turn uses Derek’s oratory skills and gift for rabble rousing to the best effect. He circulates the video tapes of Derek’s interview to other hate groups, as a kind of motivational tool, or as Dr. Sweeney, the black principal of Danny’s high school says a “Gettysburg Address for all hate groups”. Derek takes pleasure in his heroism, which include assaulting a Korean store owner, and challenging black players in basketball games. The basketball court becomes a venue for the race games played out by Derek, to show off their supremacy.
While Danny is impressionable, and easily swayed by what he considers as Derek’s “heroism”, Seth who is a total slob and loser, hangs around with Derek, to take a kind of vicarious delight in Derek’s heroics. Seth is even more racist than Derek, for him racism is a way of overcomming his inferiority complex, of not being good at any thing. The only sane persons seem to be Derek’s helpless mother Doris, who is unable to prevent her son’s slide into bigotry, and his sister Davina, who hates their bigoted views. For her Seth is no better than a “loser Nazi scumbag”. Derek’s blind racist rage hits the peak, when he brutally kills a black person, attempting to steal his car, in one of the most violent scenes ever. He is unrepentant about what he has done, and goes to prison like a hero. And which is another facet of racism, most of the times racists, have no qualms about what they do.
While American History X scores overwhelmingly in the scenes which explore Derek’s descent into racism, culminating in the horrifying scene, where he stomps the black guy to death on the kerb, it was Derek’s transformation from a rabble rouser racist to some one disillusioned with his ways, that seemed a bit too easy and simplistic for me. The scenes are well shot, but the sequence is totally predictable. So you know that Derek, is going to join up the Aryan Brotherhood, and he is going to feel cheated, by the gang’s dealings. Add in a prison rape in the shower, some brutal assault sequences, your friendly Black character Lamont, and a bit of preaching from Sweeney, and we have Derek turning a new leaf. Some how this transformation part seemed way too convenient. The post transformation part is a mixed bag again. Derek comes out of prison a reformed man, but now the poison of racism, has got into his brother Danny. For long Danny, had idolized his brother, and now he has totally imbued that racist ideology.
In one of the earlier memorable scenes, Danny is asked to explain his essay on Mein Kampf, by his school’s principal Dr. Sweeney and his Jewish history teacher Murray, where he comes out with the assertion of Hitler being a Civil rights icon. Something which prompts Dr.Sweeney to give him a history lesson in whats actually happening, or what he calls as “American History X”. Danny however is too deep in to the racist thought process, as we see by his VO, where he repeatedly blames the Asians, Latinos, Blacks for whats happening in the nation. And now it is Derek’s turn to purge the poison from his brother’s mind, the poisonous seed which he had planted here. Derek has to turn away from his racist past, from Cameron, Stacy, Seth people whom he hung around with. And most important he has to make sure that his brother does not go down the same path of self destruction he had.
American History X, is not a perfect movie. As i had mentioned earlier, the transformation of Derek, is a tad too convenient. And while the scenes where Derek tries to disown his legacy of racism and hate, as well as the scenes where he confronts his previous gang members are well shot, the scene where he thrashes Cameron is pretty much brutal, there seems to be an attempt to portray him in a totally white shade, as opposed to his greyish shade. Also while characters of Derek and Danny are well developed, most of the other supporting acts, are the kind of seen that already. The good hearted friendly Black guy, the helpless mother, the more liberal minded sister and the loser friend. But in spite of its flaws, i would still rate this as one of the best movies on racism. As a movie it does hit you hard, as it forces us to take a look at ourselves, our views, our prejudices. Derek could be us, it need not necessarily be Venice Beach, it could be some one sitting in Goregaon who idolizes Raj Thackeray as a hero, or the Indians idolizing Hitler as a hero, or those who believe Muslims are scum needing to be kicked out of the country.
American History X is not an easy movie to watch, apart from the continous shifting between flashbacks in B&W to the present day, some of the scenes do make you flinch, especially Derek’s violent assault on a black person. But as a movie it makes you question your views on “race” and “heroism”. It is a movie that does raise a lot of uncomfortable questions, of why racism is still prevalent, why do people of one skin color hate those of another one. And add to it, a superlative performance by Ed Norton, as Derek, brilliantly capturing the transition from a racist white supremacist to a repentant ex con, who has to stop his brother from heading down the same self destructive path. Watch the maniacal expression in his eyes after he clobbers the black guy to death, scary. And yet you see his vulnerability and sensitivity in the scenes, where he tries to convince his brother to abandon the path.
American History X is a movie that holds up a mirror to the ugly racism prevalent in us. Its not a pretty picture, but its something we can’t choose to ignore.
Tags: American History X, Ed Norton, Martin Luther King Jr, Racism, Racism movies, Rosa Parks
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
It’s one of my favorite films of all time, had watched it at a time when i was very intrigued about the concept of Neo-Nazism
Made me think…Well timed and a good post bro. Did you experience anything like this in your US trip? Whose the director of the movie?
I absolutely love the ‘no holds barred’ way in which Americans discuss their racial problems in movies, songs and drama and debate and bring things to a closure. What more superior purpose can art serve than this? We ought to learn from this and start focusing on our issues meaningfully through free art than sweeping things under a carpet.
As far as the movie’s convenient transformations go, that was an understandable compromise – the characters have been created occupying some positions which are so stiff, the point was to see the reaction from them if Derek changed his mind. How he changed his mind is a secondary consideration for the plot. If we build up too much into how he changed his mind, then the actual drama around Derek’s brother and the school principal and Cameron will lose the screen time and space. So I would tend to forgive the simplistic nature of such transformations shown on screen.
Really good post on a really good movie!!
Keep it coming Ratna – diamond of a post this one.
@ Debarun
On Neo Nazism, check out Romper Stomper, one of Russel Crowe’s early Oz movies, which has him starring as a skin head. Really hard hitting, and considering the attacks recently in Oz, this is a movie worth re visiting.
@ VPJ
Racism as an issue has been dealt with in many movies like To Kill a Mockingbird, The Defiant Ones, A Time to Kill, The Mississippi Burning, but where most of these movies concentrated on the Deep South, and earlier eras, for me American History X was significant, because it looked at racism from a more contemporary view, or wat u say the racist undercurrents in US society.
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I take your point about Derek’s transformation, as i had mentioned, the flaws can be overlooked for the movie at the end of the day, does make you think and take a look at yourself. Another excellent scene i loved in the movie was the dinner table one, where Derek’s father, rails against the minorities and affirmative action. That scene shows how Derek’s ideology was influenced right at an early age.
very detailed post. just to mention, manish acharya’ loins of punjab dealt with reverse racism.
You did a good job in doing a deeper look at the problem of racism with the movie in the background.. This was needed at this time of racial unrest..
Wish more people saw this wonderful film ..
@Ratnakar
Thanks for the advice. Will check it out
@ ratnakar
brilliant post bro. this is easily one of my fave movies. I watched every movie of Ed norton after this one – he was just brilliant. yes, it does make you think about so many race related issues when watching and also after watching.
* the dinner table sequence with derek’s dad.
* the sequence of TV interview after his dad dies.
* the table sequence when he rips apart his mom’s boyfriend.
* of course the maniacal sequence of kicking the black guys face on the curb( I twitch everytime I watch it)
* the basket ball game scene
* the voiceover through the entire movie.
* the prison scenes, gym, shower and hospital
man… this is one seriously good f**in movie !!!
A must watch for anyone , who has not watched it..
Liked the way you’ve threaded different parts of racism to the film Ratnakar. Tx…
This movie had an enormous impact on me.
I watched it in college with a white friend of mine and after the show we were speechless for at least an hour.
The movie was directed by Tony Kaye who had such a bad experience working with Edward Norton that he has never made a feature since. Allegedly Ed Norton went out of this way to break the guy’s career.
That curbin scene was one of the most shocking back in the day, especially the details in which it has been shot.
when the black dude puts his teeth on the curb, you can actually see the teeth making little scratches on the curb when he’s opening his mouth.
And the way Edward Norton walks to the cops, the swagger and cockniess is something I have seen in many skin heads and racists.
It’s a alot about pride, they feel they have lost it and want to regain it.
That goes pretty much for everybody that’s a conservative. These guys jsut take a step further.
I just feel bad that my favorite scene got copied in Shootout at Lokhandwala by Vivek Oberoi of all people.
We went from one of the most gruesome scenes of it’s days to a head and shoulders commercial for an arrogant prick that wants to rejuvenite his career…
I guess that says it all in so many ways…
@ Yunus
Tony Kaye was not happy with the final cut of the movie, he had intended it to be shorter, but it ended up much longer than he had liked. Also he was not happy with some of the more melodramatic scenes. BTW, Ed Norton does have a reputation of interfering in scripts, it came to fore again during The Hulk, where he re wrote the script.
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But while Norton and Kaye, had their differences, i am not sure if he was instrumental in destroying the latter’s career. Kaye has a reputation of being an oddball, eccentric, and a difficult guy to get along with. I think Kaye’s career was destroyed in Hollywood, mainly due to the fact that he took on New Line. There was this incident where he tried to get American History X removed from Toronto Film Fest, and then his repeated attempts to remove his name from the credits, that did not go down well with New Line executives.
The curb scene really does make you flinch. And more violent is the scene where he assaults his sister, after an argument. Found it a lot disturbing, because it shows what happens to a person so blinded by his hate filled ideology, that he does not even care about his family members.
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“It’s a alot about pride, they feel they have lost it and want to regain it.”
I guess thats what is the movie’s strong point. It does not demonize Derek, just takes a look into his mind, allowing us to understand why such people think that way. In fact its a bit scary, you dont agree with Derek’s ideology, at the same time, you cant help feeling that he raises valid points too.
@ Bipin
Yeah u have pointed out all my favorite scenes in the movie.
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One more disturbing scene when he assaults his sister, trying to teach her “some respect”. Grabbing her by hair, stuffing the meat into her mouth. Gosh that scene just threw me off. It just shows how hate has turned him into such an animal, that he does not care for his Mom or Sis.
@Ratnakar
Nice article…Please write something about tanvir habib,one of the greatest stalwarts of Indian theater..Hope to see an article about great man..
yeah I heard about that incident too and Eddie’s involvement is a bit like Amir Khan’s reputation.
But I have not seen either falter so I have faith in both of them and the choices they made.
I also think the improvements made to the Hulk script were a big part of its commercial succes.
I am sure now critics are turning away and proclaiming the Ang Lee Hulk to be superiors but that’s just elitist snobism in my eyes comparing it to a Skhakespearian tragedy, i wonder how some critics can look themselves in the eyes with all the crap they spew :-)
In any case after watching American history you need to watch La Haine, only for seeing a Skinhead getting beat up by an arab, a black dude and a jew. Hail to the french!
Amazing article Ratnakar.
What a movie….the last moments when the tension builds up and we know something is going to happen…but what happens is unexpected. And the positioning of the dinner scene with Derek’s father, was quite clever too. As you rightly pointed out, it kind of put things in perspective……
It’s so important that issues like racism are portrayed in a balanced and objective manner so that it resonates with all parties involved, and makes them think……the preachy way in which we deal with issues in our movies, I wonder if it has really changes anybody’s perception for the better…..
@ Yunus
Ang Lee’s Hulk vs Ed Norton’s version is something which would be as much debated as Tim Burton’s Batman vs Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins, that would be another topic though,LOL.
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Wud check out La Haine, thanks for recco.
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Also check out Romper Stomper, pretty much bleak, gritty movie on Neo Nazi skin heads in Oz, with Russel Crowe as a skinhead.
@ Avn
The reason why AHX is one of my favorites, is the fact that i myself have been though that phase, when i had the same kinda feelings that Derek has in the movie. And its not just Derek, the prejudices he has against people of other races, are prevalent in the average person. I seriously wish our movie makers take an objective look at such issues, rather than going into the preachy mode, which really dont touch upon the real issues.
Ratnakar
What do fans of RGV have in common? They also like the same Hollywood movies..Hence u write and I read about Goodfellas, My cousin Vinny and now this one.
I agree with Younus that this movie makes you speechless. Theres a lot of people including myself who went silent for a time after watching this movie. I watch it every now and then and must say that spellbinding effect still lasts.
I don’t know or need to say anything about this movie that you or the others have not already mentioned. But just to add my 2c here’s a list of Ed Norton films that no one can afford to miss. In my opinion he is the most underrated actor post 90s.
1. Pride and Glory – watched it for maybe the 20th time since it came out last year. Already considererd one of the best cop movies ever made.
2. 25th hour – Spike Lee classic and an unbelievably realistic portrayal of post 9/11 NYC underbelly.
3.The Score – Watch the young Ed hold his head up with stalwarts like Brando and De Nero.
Keep writing man, I like your posts.
@ Abra
Missed u dude. And nice to know ur an Ed Norton fan like me, check out my other post about him. http://passionforcinema.com/ed-norton/
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Related to Ed Norton ur right, he is one of the more under rated actors. His movies are not the typical crowd pleasing, summer blockbuster kinds, most of them are the artsy, indie stuff.
Have not seen Pride and Glory, but 25th hour was awesome, especially Norton’s ranting scene.
Some other Norton flicks i liked.
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Down in the Valley- Sort of a revisionist Western cum love story, Norton playing a troubled character who gets into a passionate affair with a much younger female.
The Painted Veil- Fabulous performance by Norton again as an idealistic doctor in China.
@Abra
If we are making list you need to push 25th hour a bit higher.
I have not heard anything as beatiful as the final monologue Brian Cox gives at the end:-)
How about a list of Eddie’s dialed from home performances :-)
Or have we forgotten the Italian job?
and it is a weird concidece we re all RGV fans here :-) ( Altough I cant give a pass to his Nisha Kothari work)
@Ratna
Yeah Romper was good but didn’t have the impact for me as AHX did.
Probably as I saw it at a much different time in my life.
i need to stop using smiley’s
Ed Norton’s Fuck You monologue in front of the mirror in 25th Hour was aweseome. I would rate it equivalent to De Niro’s “Someday rain will wash away all this scum” monologue from Taxi Driver or any of Pacino’s famous monologues.
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And one real cult flick was Rounders starring Norton and Matt Damon, with the poker and illegal gambling backdrop. It was a treat to see both Damon and Norton, in full form.
Totally love the movie. Hard hitting.
About 25th Hour, I saw it in zee studio and so, there was no “Fuck You monologue” at all :( Watching movies in TV with added censorship sucks..
loved rounders, it s one of those movies i can watch every day, a bit like the GOONIES :-)
@Ratna, sorry bro i m not on Orkut, catch me on my blog though