Himeros et Pothos

American History X

EU111

Belief systems or world views are formed most commonly in two ways: self-discovery and/or influencing a more pliable person. Belief systems or world views are basically a set of beliefs that a person or group has adopted, and how it is applied in real life, no matter how subtle or vulgar. A world view is closely related to a person or group’s self image. This is how a person or group knows what place they hold in the society they are moving around in. This belief system that a person has, contributes a large percent to how a person relates to other people in their society.

The movie American History X focused on the world view of a smart young man who was led astray with his white-supremacist bull. Through out the whole movie we are led to believe that Derek Vinyard came out with his own racist beliefs (one of the early scenes where he is shown crying during a news interview after his father gets shot), and how his “hawk” of a friend, Cameron, exploits this extreme hatred for his own ends.

I have to say that given the situation this guy, Derek, was in, it wouldn’t have been hard to start hating and blaming “blacks, browns, yellow, whatever”. With all that grief, he was only looking for an outlet. Or at least, this is how we thought he started. The video of Derek crying about his father’s shooting led us to believe his father’s character was spotless; a regular Joe doing his job who just got shot – poor kid, poor guy.

As Danny narrates the final parts of his paper about how, whenever asked, his brother would always say it all started after his father’s murder, we soon realize that the seeds of racism did not start with the murder, nor were these seeds really nursed by Cameron into budding. We realize that Derek’s racism was a result of an idealistic and easily impressionable young boy’s adoration for his father. Often times, the seeds of what are to become another set of your beliefs, are not shoved quite as blatantly in your face. More often it starts with casual conversations at the dinner table, half-hearted comments here and there, and eventually, those seeds take root. We are shown how Derek was a naïve but brilliant young boy, what with how he was going on about how great Dr. Sweeney was. His opinion of his teacher changed just as soon as his father opened his mouth. Consequentially, his younger brother Danny starts to believe the same things he does too. This just goes to show how belief systems/world views start early on, in the most basic unit of society, the family.

The movie made use of fantastic imagery to convey its message. Black and white flashback scenes show us how his belief in neo-Nazism put him in the dark, void of color or warmth. The present scenes, regularly colored, shows us how he realizes his mistakes, and how Derek and Danny were finally shown the light.

Natasia Noble