American History X

Summaries Assignment American History X (1998) American History X is a story about two brothers, Derek Vineyard (Edward Norton) and Danny Vineyard (Edward Furlong), who struggle to overcome racial barriers when they are faced with the tragic death of their father. Derek, becomes a Neo- Nazi enthusiast after his fire fighter father parishes in a fire set by black gang members. In a vulnerable place in his life, Derek falls into the hands of Cameron Alexander. Alexander is the leader of a Baptist church looking to brainwash the out into white supremacy ways of life.

Derek quickly gets incarcerated after, killing two black men trying to steal his truck. They story then progresses with Danny whose now a high school student following in his brothers footsteps. While Derek is incarcerated, he makes friends with his African American cellmate named Lament. This newly formed friendship causes him to question his views. When Derek is released from prison he becomes instantly worried about Danny following in his path. He reaches out to an old teacher of his, Mr.. Sweeney, who is currently Danny teacher.

Sweeney tells Derek he is worried about Danny becoming close with Cameron Alexander. Derek quickly tryst to intervene, warning Danny of Alexander real intentions and the repercussions of living that lifestyle. By this point it’s too late and although Trek’s current intentions are whole hearted, his past ones haunt him. Danny ends up being gunned down by a black gang member in the school bathroom. American history X is a dark drama, which passes along the strong message of equality. Agile McGregor, “Grounding the Counterpart: David Greenberg and the Demystification of Horror. Agile McGregor uses theories of her own as well as famous psychologist’s to prove that we shouldn’t be critical of certain genres or artists because of cultural background. Here she uses Fraud’s Dictum “that no dream, no matter how conventional its symbolism or transparent its strategies, can be explicated with out taking into account the life history of the dreamer. ” (47) This essentially means we shouldn’t be critical of someone’s work cause of where the come from because we haven’t walked in their shoes. Before we can reach an adequate understanding of Greenberg, then, what we need to do is to read him against their, And within his, cultural context”(47).