Writing assignment on the movie American History X Essay

Writing assignment on the movie American History X - Essay Example One of the adolescents escapes while Derek smashes the cranium of one of the adolescents against the pavement. This is a movie about racism. It is also about the effects of racism on the psyches of Danny and Derek Vinyard. Derek gets convicted for assaulting the black adolescents and is sent to prison for three years. This movie is a perspective of the multiplying effect of racial animosity and how it can cause a person to overreact. While incarcerated, Derek adopts a nationalistic white supremacist posture. The element which adds interest to this cinematic work is that Derek is intelligent and articulate. Derek believes that Americans should be given opportunities to work. Derek articulates this point to such a degree that he motivates the adolescents in the neighborhood to attack and rampage through a Korean grocery establishment. Derek justifies this by stating that the Korean establishment should have hired at least one or two Americans rather than hire forty Mexican migrant workers. The quote from the book titled: Higher Learning in America 1980- 2000 which states: â€Å"It is a generation which defines itself more by its differences than its similarities† (Levine, 1993 p 336) applies again when Derek in confronted in the correctional facility and is rescued from white supremacists who sexually assault him. Derek is rescued by a black man who later becomes his friend and coworker in the correctional facility laundry. This black man who ironically saves Derek from members of his own race who sexual assault him is named Lamont (Guy Torry). In this part of the movie titled : American History X, it is demonstrated that there are two sides to every story. The quote from the book titled: Higher Learning in America 1980- 2000 by Arthur Levine which states: â€Å"It is a generation more defined by its differences than its similarities† (Levine 1993 p 336) becomes more and more