American History X; A Sociological Outcry
Racism is still a problem in the world today, whether it is out in the open and often or not so much, it is something that may very well be one thing that as long as there are differences between people, it will always be around. The movie “American History X” is a movie about racism and the effects that it can have on people; not just the victims of it but also the people who partake in doing unto others. It also has many other sociological perspectives that I will discuss later on.
Racism is defined as the belief that one race is supreme and all others are innately inferior, prejudice often follows in the footsteps of racism. What it means to be prejudice is basically having a negative attitude toward an entire category of people, often an ethnic or racial minority. When it comes down to it, it is been proven that most people if not all have some sort of stereotype or racism. The difference between the blatant racism and the undercover racism is if the person acts on these thoughts or not.
At the beginning of the movie it starts with a couple of African American kids driving around a neighborhood. This looks like some kind of gang initiation for the African Americans. The youths eventually find what they are looking for at a house. You soon realize this is an upper-class community from the way the houses look. When they find the house they were looking for they get out their car and begin to mess with the car and break into it. Meanwhile inside the house a little Caucasian boy looks out the window and sees them breaking into the car. The boy goes and wakes up his brother to tell him about them getting into his car. The brother gets his gun and proceeds to confront the guys. He shoots two of the guys and breaks the teeth of the third guy. After all this is said and done the police are called and he is arrested. He spends three years in jail for his crime; it was considered too violent.
While he is in...