In a shocking opening scene. adolescent Danny Vinyard who is played by Edward Furlong. races to state his older brother. neo-Nazi Derek. about the immature inkinesss interrupting into his auto in forepart of the house. whereupon Derek gets his gun and with no forethought shoots the young persons in their paths and he forces the other adult male to set his oral cavity on the kerb. so viciously kills him by stamping on the dorsum of his caput. oppressing his oral cavity against the kerb. Danny tickers in horror as this unfolds. The constabulary arrest Derek as he smiles at a aghast Danny. . Derek holding already been influenced by the latent racism of his bigoted fireman male parent. Derek is driven to action when his male parent is changeable and killed while contending a fire in a suspected Compton drug lair.

Finally Derek becomes second-in-command of a neo-Nazi street pack. The D. O. C. ( Disciples of Christ ) . and entices immature Whites to fall in. Tried and convicted. Derek is sent off for three old ages in prison. where he acquires a different mentality as he contrasts white-power captives with black Lamont. his prison laundry colleague and eventual buddy. Flashbacks. told in contrary chronology and represented by black-and-white throughout the movie which is opposed to the contemporary events represented in colour. Meanwhile. Danny. with a shaved caput and a rebellious attitude. seems destined to follow in his large brother’s footfalls. After Danny writes a favourable reappraisal of Hitler’s Mein Kampf. black high-school chief Sweeney puts Danny in his private “American History X” class and assigns him to make a paper about his older brother. who was a former pupil of Sweeney’s. This serves to present flashbacks. with the movie turn backing to exemplify Danny’s history of Derek’s life prior to the dark of the shot. Monochrome sequences of Derek taking a Venice. California pack are intercut with colour footage of the mature Derek stoping his past neo-Nazi associations and trying to detour Danny off from the group led by white supremacist. Cameron. who one time influenced Derek.

At a neo-Nazi party which Derek and Danny are both go toing ( despite the fact that Derek told Danny non to go to ) . Derek confronts and tells the leader. Cameron Alexander. that he will no longer tie in with him and the pack and tells him to “Stay off from me and Danny” . at which point Cameron provokes and abuses Derek. Derek beats him up and eventually. boots him in the caput. which knocks him unconscious before go forthing his office. At school the following forenoon. after Danny uses the urinal in the bathroom. he is confronted by a immature black pupil named Little Henry. with whom he had a confrontation the old twenty-four hours. The pupil pulls out a gun and shoots Danny in the thorax. killing him. When Derek arrives. he runs into the bathroom and tearfully cradles his dead brother in his weaponries. The stoping credits are Derek stating one of Abraham Lincoln’s celebrated expressions. “We are non enemies. but friends.

We must non be enemies. Though passion may hold strained it must non interrupt our bonds of fondness. The mysterious chords of memory will swell when once more touched. as certainly they will be. by the better angels of our nature. ”There are a few struggles in the film. One is that Derek between the neo-Nazi after he gets out. The term subculture refers to cultural forms that set apart some section of a society’s population. Cultural diverseness besides includes straight-out rejection of conventional thoughts or behaviours. Counterculture refers to cultural forms that strongly oppose those widely accepted within a society. In American History X it explores the neo-Nazi skinhead subculture in America.

The bootboyss are portrayed as hate-mongers ; they believe in white domination and fault everyone else for their jobs. The film in a strong manner. Teachs that everyone deserves a 2nd opportunity in life. Racism exists in many ways while American History X portrays one facet of racism. The manager portrays the neo-Nazi civilization of America ; their beliefs. grounds. and premises on others. American History X exhaustively exposes America as what it is today. Every twenty-four hours. offenses of hatred are being committed largely by inkinesss and Whites. In the film Derek’s male parent is portrayed as an ordinary working-class household adult male instead than a bigot to demo that racism can stem from ignorance and the demand to happen a societal whipping boy. Shots of Derek gazing attentively at his male parent so looking down and playing with his nutrient demo his confusion. and his concluding entry under his father’s demands for understanding “Yeah…I ne’er thought about it like that. ” The confusion shows that Derek is waxy. and eventually believes that societal jobs can be generalized to be blamed other races. The alteration that comes from this scene is shown in a intelligence interview tape after Derek’s male parent is shot while fire-fighting in a black vicinity. Derek’s turning hatred forces his alteration in that minute from a cautious. sorrowing boy to an angry immature adult male whose choler is given an mercantile establishment by the shady grownup neo-Nazi. Cameron.

In chapter three the writer negotiations about norms which mean the regulations and outlooks by which a society guides the behaviours of its members. Moress are referred to norms that are widely observed and have great moral significance. Peoples are more flexible about folkways. Folkways are norms for everyday ad insouciant interaction. Examples include thoughts about appropriate salutations. and proper frock. In the film American History X there were a few ethical motives that were shared between the members of this subculture. One of the chief ethical motives was that the white domination was better than the remainder of the ethnicities. In one scene of the film Danny says “I hatred anyone that isn’t white Protestant. ”

Ethnocentrism is the pattern of judging another civilization by the criterions of one’s ain civilization. Some grade of ethnocentrism is necessary for people to be emotionally attached to their manner of life. But Ethnocentrism besides generates misinterpretations and sometimes struggles. Cultural relativism is the pattern of judging a civilization by its ain criterions. Cultural relativism requires non merely openness to unfamiliar values and norms but besides the ability to set aside cultural criterions we have known all our lives. Even so. as people of the universe come into increasing contact with one another. the importance of understanding other civilizations become of all time greater.

One individual who is ethnocentric is Danny who Judgess other civilizations chiefly the black civilization because he was raised around a neo-Nazi brother and male parent most of his life. Derek was ethnocentric but due to some fortunes he turned into cultural relativism because he was more unfastened and more understanding since he came back from prison. He went to prison because of his actions as an ethnocentric. He came out a changed adult male because he got raped because he was a neo-Nazi and his cell mate was a black and he was the lone 1 who helped him and before Derek was released his cell mate was murdered.

The societal message in this film was that racism is still a large job here in America. It might non truly look like it but it still exists. The film penetrations of the racialist of our societal universe. It besides shows the audience an penetration of the ethnocentrism community.