American History X: Influences On Youth Today Essay, Research Paper

It is important to be proud of who you are and where you have come from. After watching the

film American History X, whites are far from proud. We are ashamed to admit that people just

like us can act in such a horrible and disillusioned way toward those that are different. As you

watch, you see scenes of brutal violence, hear songs of hate and feel the pain of all involved.

These acts show the viewers how easily young minds can be influenced to believe anything.

Teachers, parents, siblings or any person of authority in a child’s life can have this deep of an

impact on them. American History X is the story of how powerful an influence people of

importance can have upon youth.

Adults can be the enemy of many teenagers. Yet when a kid is vulnerable and looking

for adoration and love, they can latch onto any adult that makes them feel important or special.

Cameron is the first example of the adult filling an empty space. Both Derek and Danny

Vinyard, the neo-Nazi brothers of the film, fall for every word Cameron says to them. At one

point in the film, Cam makes a comment to Danny about his black school principal Dr.

Sweeney. To him, Sweeny is a “manipulative, self-righteous Uncle Tom” for making Dan re-

write a civil rights paper because it was about Mein Kampf. Sweeney has his own opinions

about Cameron stating that he preys on “insecure, frustrated, and impressionable kids. This

assumption is dead on. As the organizer and unofficial leader of the Venice Beach white gang,

what the middle-aged Cameron has to say about being a patriot and a proud “white Protestant”

fills a void for the kids. Many, as seen most apparently in Seth, the overweight, clumsy, and

dim-witted teen, have low self esteem and lacking home lives. Cameron fills the youth with the

words of Adolph Hitler, giving them something to believe in; the power and superiority of the

white race. The hate he has for people who are different grows inside the teens of the gang. The

ultimate manifestation of his brainwashing is the murder of two black men by Derek. Yet

Derek’s downfall and racist notions were not all caused by Cameron’s propaganda, but the

influences of his father.

It isn’t until the near end of American History X that the viewer finds the root causes of

Derek’s white supremacist attitudes. A black and white scene shows his whole family happily

eating dinner together. His father asks him about his studies in school and at the mention of

black literature, Derek’s father begins his rant about “trading good books for black books.” He

tells Derek not to believe everything his teacher, Dr. Sweeney, has to say. As the conversation

plays on, it snowballs into supposed “Affirmative Blacktion” and white firemen being beat for a

job just because the others were black. In the end, Derek’s father tells him, “It’s all nigger

bullshit.” The viewer sees how Derek soaks in whatever his father says and accepts it as truth,

claiming to “see what he’s saying.” When the father is shot and killed at the scene of a fire in a

crackhouse, Derek lashes out at the black community, blaming them for the tragic death. The

thoughts instilled by his father, plus his ironic death fuels Derek’s Nazi beliefs. The motives of

Derek’s murders stem from this situation.

The beginning of the film shows Danny telling his brother that a black man is attempting

to steal his truck. In a rage, Derek grabs his handgun and goes outside to find two men. He

screams to one, “My father gave me that truck” as he kicks him and kills him. The effect that his

father’s death and, in the end, racist remarks causes Derek to go to the extreme. To make

matters worse, the killings were seen as heroic by his peers in the gang. His girlfriend Stacey

puts it best in saying, “You’re like a god to them.” This is a perfect example of how peers can

influence the thoughts and choices of youth. It is the next step in the cyclical process of

brainwashing kids into believing the extreme and hating others. One scene shows Seth probing

Danny with a camcorder, asking questions about what he believes. Seth pushes him to say all

the “right” skinhead answers, to document how much he hates the black influence on urban

society. This along with Cameron making Derek the role model Nazi and his father planting the

seeds of racism, the viewer can see how Danny, the younger brother, is going to follow in the

same footsteps.

Without a father figure in the house anymore, it is natural for the Vinyard children to

look to an older brother for that same guidance and love. This is partially why Danny was drawn

into the white supremacist beliefs. In a jail scene with Derek and his mother, Doris, she tells

him how Danny holds him up so high, worships him, and brags about him to Cameron. As

Danny sits at his computer writing Sweeney’s new essay he says “People look at me and see my

brother.” To everyone important in Danny’s life, Derek is the person to look up to, the ultimate

in perfection. After Derek is in jail, it puts Danny in the position to fill his brother’s shoes.

Cameron begins to prey on him, just as he had Derek. Much to his surprise, when Derek gets

back from prison, he has gotten away from the things he so strongly believed in. Danny now

doesn’t know what to think about the gang and being a Nazi. In the end, he keeps his loyalty to

his brother, a bond stronger than any personal conviction, and agrees that it is not worth it to be a

racist. After all is said and done, Danny finally concludes, for the record of his paper, that “Hate

is baggage. Life’s too short to be pissed off all the time.” He never could have realized this on

his own. Sadly, it is a little too late as he is killed by a black kid in the school bathroom. The

viewer sees how it took Derek’s struggles and heavy influence for Danny to come around and

change his ways. This mirrors how Dr. Sweeney and his positive influences helped Derek get

back on track.

Positive influence by authority figures can be seen in the film just as well as the negative.

Throughout the film Dr. Sweeney is the force pushing both brothers to make their lives better.

Sweeney makes Danny rewrite the civil rights paper to be about how his brother has influenced

his life and those around him. The paper is “written” throughout the movie, showing us his inner

thoughts. This paper, along with the aforementioned talks with Derek, helps Danny to see the

error of his ways. Derek too is able to see what is wrong with the situation he is in. In prison, he

defies the white Nazi group, finding out the sad truth that they did not strongly uphold their

beliefs. Fighting them led to his rape and torture, but also a realization that he would need help

to fix his problems. Sweeney come in and saves him pushing him to question why he believed

any of the propaganda in the first place. He asks, “Has anything you’ve done made your life

better?” He then makes Derek deal with his family and keep Danny from falling into the same

trap. The cycle now is back onto the adult figure Derek has become. This is why the ending is

so bittersweet, Danny is convinced that the Nazi life was useless but ends up being killed. As

Derek runs in and holds his dying brother he says, “What have I done?” He thinks of all the

reasons why he caused his brother’s death. But because he mourns, he can not fathom what he

has really done. The viewer sees that Derek followed Sweeney’s advice and guidance and

changed his brother for the better.

Whether it be positive or negative, anyone important in a child’s eyes can dramatically

impact how they will act, think, or believe. The teens from American History X were all looking

for something to hold on to and to be a part of. It is hard to see Derek, Danny and all the others

fall for the lies and propaganda set forth by the adults. It’s hard to see peers pressure their

gangmates into believing something so strongly that they’d rather kill a traitor than forgive a

friend. It’s hard to see all the hate, anguish, and pain in the film. Surprisingly, there is a silver

lining, giving us hope that one positive influence in the lives of children can be enough to turn

them from racism and to a better life.