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Communication Theories Within American History X

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Communication Theories Within American History X

Throughout this course, Theories of Communication and Rhetoric we have learned about several theories that exist in the world of communications. From Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM) to Symbolic Interactionism, all of the theories that we have learned about have been applicable to real world situations. For this final project I have decided to analyze the communication theories that exist within the film American History X. Several communications theories from the course can be applied to this film, but I will be focusing mainly on Symbolic Interactionism (SI) and Cognitive Dissonance Theory (CDT). There are several examples of Symbolic Interactionism and Cognitive Dissonance Theory in the film American History X.

About the Film …show more content…
The film depicts the lives of two brothers living in Venice, California. The brothers become jointly involved in the neo-nazi scene of Los Angeles. Early on in the film the older brother, Derek is sentenced to three years in prison for voluntary man slaughter. When Derek first enters prison he joins the notorious neo-nazi gang the Aryan Brotherhood. About on year into his sentence Derek becomes disinterested in the gang. Derek doesn’t agree with the groups peddling of narcotics, and their hypocritically friendly treatment of Mexican gang members within the prison. After voicing his concerns to the group Derek is brutally beaten and raped in the prison shower by members of the Aryan Brotherhood. After this incident Derek meets Sweeney, a counselor at the prison who is willing to help him petition for

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