American History X

American History X is a film about a high school student played by Edward Norton, who deals with the influence of a neo-Nazi group called the Disciples of Christ (D.O.C.) in Venice, California. The character played by Edward Norton is named Derek. In day-to-day life, Derek and his younger brother Danny, played by Edward Furlong, grows up in a household where their father displays racist tendencies in reaction to school assignments from Derek’s English teacher. The racial tension is always…

storytelling method. As a result, I am going to analyse and discuss the narrative structure of the dramatic crime film, American History X; as throughout the film, they have included several attributes from a number of narrative theories that are encoded within its narrative structure. Structuralism: AMERICAN HISTORY X From analysis, the basic structuralism in American History X supports Syd Fields theory of the 'Three Act Structure'; as each of the films Three Acts help to serve a relevance…

A Movie Analysis: “American History X” Introduction “American History X” was directed by Tom Kaye and released 1998. It is a story “partly based on the life of reformed skinhead Frank Meeink, who served three years in prison for charges related to white supremacist beliefs; now an accomplished anti-skinhead author and lecturer.” (Sean Hutchinson; Mental Floss, 2015) The setting is Venice Beach near Los Angeles, California 1998, where a growing number of immigrants chose to reside after…

American History X When I started watching the movie I wasn’t sure I would like the topic and what I assumed the movie would be all about. The main character Derek I doubt could have been played by any other actor, He drew me into his character and the whole movie. Having worked in the prison system and then fifteen years in the county jail I could name at least 200 men and even women who I witnessed struggled with the gang mentality of the Arian Brotherhood. Even after their release quite…

The movie “American History X” is centered around a violent, racist, neo-Nazi named Derek Vinyard. After killing two black men he is sent to prison where he rethinks his beliefs on racism and the affect it has had on him and his families lives. Humans are visual animals, meaning that our first instinct is to asses and classify the things we see. We make judgements on people and the objects around us based on our experiences and what we are taught. Racism is a learned behavior and to some…

drive a man to kill two other men? What would drive a man to get a tattoo of pure symbolic hate across his chest? What would drive a man to lead his brother into his same fate? What would drive a man to change and leave that whole world behind? “American History X”, a 1998 movie directed by Tony Kaye and written by David Mckenna, is the story that answers all of these questions. A story with a simple synopsis to answer all these questions. The rhetoric we hear in the environment that surrounds…

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…

Another very important scene that Tony Kaye has used mise en scène is when Derek walks out of the shower and slowly places his right hand over his right breast with tattooed Swastika, and the flashback that he remembers during the scene. What we can see in this scene is the swastika and the shower water landing on his body. This scene has a very powerful meaning behind it because every single wicked deed that Derek has committed is related to the swastika. The swastika represents that he is a…

Journeys are a catalyst for individual transfiguration and offer experiences that can lead to new perceptions. The emotional consequence of one’s actions is heightened in Shakespeare’s tragedy, King Lear and American History X written by David McKenna and directed by Tony Kaye, both exploring the corruption of political power, who become a victim of their external influences. Both illustrate how Journeys extend and help shape ones understanding of the world, enable individuals to alter their…

Old boy, The fighter and American history x are three movies that have nothing in common at first glance. My thinking of movies that are similar are rush hour and ShowTime because they’re both movies about two cops, one serious and the other a comedian, taking on the entire city. My definition of similar movies is that similar movies are substitutes, a hotdog can be substituted by a burger, an apple by an orange, etc. Old boy, The fighter and American history x are like compliments. For Example,…