MovieChat Forums > American History X (1998) Discussion > Who actually watched this movie and beca...

Who actually watched this movie and became less “racist” at the end?


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dXxI5UN46F8&fbclid=IwAR03KE_syodEvQdx2NhIdQspGBMzVQcxIN8XxuIWL-wGXuccF2nT1_RzB74

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vU9mI4fkiDo

These two scenes negate everything that happened in the end. The entire third act is wholly unrealistic. Even if the fellow skinheads were tired of his moralizing and preaching...there’s no way they would have risked internal civil war by gang raping a high ranking guy in the movement just because he was “preachy” about their values. He had like 18 months left in his sentence...they would have bit the bullet and simply waited him out, go back to regular business once he got released. But the writers probably realized that they made Derek as too sympathetic a character and his views were making too much sense, so they needed some drastic plot technique to make him “change his ways.” To justify why he would even think of doing so.

And what did it get him in the end? That “change.” His little brother got killed by a black gangbanger. So much for his “redemption.”

There’s even a deleted scene at the end after his brothers death where Derek is staring at himself in the mirror and as the scene fades to black the sound of a buzz cutter is heard. They didn’t want that kind of ending. Too truthful and too realistic. So they went for the “Hollywood” ending.

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This movie and dozens of images from it are actually used by a lot of NeoNazi posters on the Internet. There are even videos on Youtube where Nazi Youth groups have tattoos of Ed Norton's picture from the very poster on their arms, chests and butts

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That’s funny lol

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"But the writers probably realized that they made Derek as too sympathetic a character and his views were making too much sense"

The WRITER (there is only 1 credited writer, I would recommend that, if you are an adult trying to have adult conversations about art, to do the bare minimum bit of background research beforehand) realized that the words that he himself wrote about a character made too much sense? Are you saying that his racist rants were truthful? That's ok, you are far from the only racist on this board, so I am not gonna fake indignation. I've seen nonsense like this frequently on here

What sense was he making? Derek just spouts off crime statistics and whines about the "genocide" of the white race. The same basic shit talking points that you see regurgitated daily on the internet. There is nothing profound, nothing that makes "too much sense" unless you are already an indoctrinated hatemongerer

"And what did it get him in the end? That “change.” His little brother got killed by a black gangbanger. So much for his “redemption.”'

LOL. You do understand that these are all fictional characters, right? The consequences of his conversion from neo-nazi to not-a-neo-nazi were contrived by a screenwriter. You are questioning the wisdom of his choice based on the the end-results. I could argue that your interpretation is too simple, but I don't think it's worth bothering considering that IT IS FICTION. It was a CHOICE that a writer made to have his little brother killed by a black gangster. Presumably because it would have more emotional impact, not because it made a lot of narrative sense. The writer was in his early 20s when he wrote the film. I don't think he was a fully developed artist when he wrote it

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I am not a racist, so I can't be less racist.

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If you were to take this concept and make the main character a disenfranchised non white guy there would be no doubt at all that most people would feel sympathy for them. That there would an outpouring of emotion for the man's plight.

Because he is white though and a Nazi of sorts (oddly enough, he and his friends wouldn't have actually fit in with the real Nazi's) we are just expected to see him as inhuman.

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ME...I WAS A TOTAL RACIST...THEN I WATCHED THIS MOVIE...I LOVE ALL COLORS OF PEOPLE NOW.

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Why should I become less racially aware because some leftist Jewish anti White propaganda piece?

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Good answer

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You are right about the first part but not about inciting a civil war. A shot-caller in prison who rapes another male, would lose any respect he once had by everyone including his own gang members so the idea that other gang members would help him rape someone is far-fetched.

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I don't think any film has that power.

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