American History X
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Many different messages are being displayed in the film American History X. There are strong messages about racism, changing, how decisions affect others, and most importantly, the importance of learning from the mistakes of others.
Racism, prejudice against someone of another race or background, is a prevalent theme in the movie. It is based on the White Supremacist feelings of two young brothers living in Venice Beach. In the film there are unnerving scenes of racial violence, of black youths kicking a helpless white student in a high school restroom, of a Korean-owned grocery store terrorized by skinhead thugs, of an African American whose skull is split open by a skinhead who orders him to lie face down on a curb. The boys were members of these skinhead groups who, without any amount of guilt or remorse, would commit terrible hate crimes against anyone who wasn't white. The film itself is a brutal look at race hatred in our modern world.
One of the boys in the movie is Derek Vinyard; his past is told throughout the film in black and white flashbacks. He kills two black men when they try to steal his car. His younger brother Danny witnesses the whole nightmare...