The Dangerous Message of American History X, Essay Example

American History X, which starred Edward Norton and Edward Furlong, and was directed by Tony Kaye, contained a number of controversial scenes depicting racial violence, prison rape and an infamous scene involving the murder of a young black man by the character Derek Vineyard.  However controversial those scenes may have been, it does not compare to unsettling message of the film. On the surface, American History X appears to be a morality tale about the emptiness of hate and the possibility of reform, however the imagery presents a different story, a different view of the racial state of America; hence the title American History X.

The morality tale of redemption and salvation is what the audience craves and has come to expect from films depicting racial issues. The general expectation is that, although a character may hate an individual or racial group in the beginning of the film, by the end, that character has reformed his or her ways and now sees the world anew.  Audiences have also come to expect the unjustified hatred by the character in question, so that the audience can separate themselves from the main character.  The audience wants to identify with the reformed character, not the hate-monger.  Therefore a certain amount of audience pandering has come to be expected.  The film portrays the racist character as someone whose racial hatred lay outside the realm of what the audience can understand, but, by the end of the film, the character has transformed into one of the tolerant masses, someone with whom the audience can relate and accept as one of their own.

This is not the case with American History X.  The reason that X could be considered a dangerous film is not because of the controversial scenes but rather the ambiguous message that drives straight to the heart of the American racial dilemma. Derek Vinyard’s hatred did not burst forth from nothing, it was a reaction, a survival mechanism, to the environment in which he was raised.  His hatred is not foreign to the viewer- he is, in essence, justified.  Derek’s father, who had lightly planted the seeds for his hatred, was a firefighter, gunned down by gang members as he tried to put out a fire in a burning building.  Danny Vinyard, Derek’s younger brother, narrates the tale and tells how the family’s living environment changed; “Venice Beach didn’t always look like this, it used to be a great neighborhood… Over the years, though, it’s just gone to hell.  The gangs are like a plague- they moved west from Englewood and South Central and basically just took over.  That’s why Derek started the DOC, he said that white kids shouldn’t have to walk around scared in their own neighborhood and for a while there, he really made it like it was ours again.”   The audience is allowed to see the environment through Vinyard’s eyes, see the fear that the characters had felt, and, in essence confront their own racial fears.  It could be postulated that, as they sat in the theaters watching American History X, some audience members may have squirmed at the idea of gangs of racial minorities moving into their own neighborhoods and “taking over.”  X plays into American racial fears and forces the audience to confront their own prejudices.  The viewer is not allowed to look upon Derek and Danny as being anything other than a mirror reflection of his or herself.

The ultimate message of the film is captured in the last scenes.  While the audience comes to expect the usual happy ending, the reformation of Derek and the saving of Danny’s soul, Danny is suddenly gunned down by a young, black gang member with whom he had a dispute the day before.  The solace the audience attains at Derek’s reformation and possibility of a new future for Danny pales in stark comparison to the blood spattered bathroom wall or the image of Danny Vinyard lying in a urinal covered in his own blood.  The black youth billows hatred from his eyes, spattered with the blood of the character in whom the audience had greatest emotional investment; Danny was the innocent, the malleable, the one for whom there was hope and now he was gone.  While on the surface a morality tale, American History X not only digs into the audience’s personal prejudices, but also justifies them with an act of unmitigated violence on a youth who was merely trying to find his way.

American History X begins and ends with the ocean- a sandy California beach staring out at the eternal ocean that never changes and never stops crashing at the shoreline.  This is perhaps the most dangerous aspect of the film, the image of the eternal, the idea that racism, violence and hate is something born within mankind and destined to be there until the end of time.  Danny’s voice narrates over the scene of his brother holding Danny’s lifeless, bloody body in his arms; “So I guess this is when I tell you what I’ve learned, my conclusion… My conclusion is hate is baggage.  Life’s too short to be pissed off all the time, it’s just not worth it.”  The film then cuts to the view of the Pacific Ocean once again, the waves crashing at Venice Beach.  Danny’s childlike conclusion is one of superficial understanding- something echoed again and again in popular culture and media to argue away hatreds, but these words cast over Danny’s dead body and the eternal sea, are ironic at best.  The film leaves with a sense that perhaps society’s platitudes about hatred, about it being “baggage” and “not worth it,” fail to address the stark reality of the human condition, one that has lasted unchanged throughout history.  Perhaps those platitudes don’t address the real underlying issues of environment, poverty and fear.  Perhaps all the efforts at peaceful coexistence are pointless, merely words thrown at an ocean.  This is why American History X is a dangerous film, because it affirms these old hatreds, stirs deeply held prejudices and shows the futility of salvation.

How can Danny’s innocent words compare to a timeless ocean of hate?

Works Cited

American History X.  Screenplay By David McKenna.  Dir. Tony Kaye.  Perf. Edward   Norton, Edward Furlong. New Line Cinema, 1998, DVD.