“American History X” is about Danny Vinyard (Edward Furlong) and his older brother Derek (Edward Norton). Danny has to write an essay about what led Derek to jail, after giving an essay on Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”. When Derek comes out of prison he no longer has the racist believes that led him into a three years incarceration, and tries to stop Danny from following the same path he followed, and also repair the damage he caused in his family.
In this film we can see the discourses that some of the characters make about the racism; mostly influenced by their social, economical and religious status.
Derek is the most complex character of all as he realizes that he was in an error when he had all that anti-Semitism ideas. Before going to jail his discourse was that every countries problem “is race related, not just crime, also aids, welfare and immigration. The problems are rooted in the black community, the Hispanic community, the A
Murray was the mother’s boyfriend he is a middle age Jew and he thinks that Danny, Derek and everyone that thinks in the same way as them are animal, and that they can’t change. He is conservative but defends the equality between races, religions, and social status.