25 Years of Tony Kaye’s Hard-Hitting Yet Crucial American History X
Conversations about serious events in our socio-political climates are never easy. They’re not supposed to be. When these conversations are vesselled into visual representations in film- threaded together by the elements of performances, narrative structure, imagery and editing-the interpretations and subsequent development of these conversations become fragmented, leading to analytical dissections on how discussions on impactful subjects should be presented. American cinema tends to be occupied with narratives concerning racism, whether that be universally known monumental events in history or subjective personal anecdotes, taking the form of hard-hitting dramas or biopics aiming to attract The Academy’s praise and emotional reactions from viewers.
1998’s American History X is the feature directorial debut of director Tony Kaye, working from a screenplay penned by writer David McKenna, which showcases American film’s dramatic presentation of racial tensions and ideological divisions. It features the talented cast of Edward Norton and Edward Furlong as two brothers living in a lower class and vulnerable America and part of the Neo Nazi movement, delving in racism, violence and ignorance. The older brother Derek (played by Norton) is arrested for murdering a black young man who attempts to damage his car and finds himself rehabilitated from the far right ideology during his sentence. Meanwhile his younger brother Danny (Furlong) falls deeper into the extreme white supremacy movement, having been groomed and manipulated by older members. Once Derek is released he sets his heart on saving his younger brother from the racism that put him inside but his ex-white supremacy group refuses to let Danny go without a fight.
American History X is a film about racism, its origins and its consequences. To achieve that goal of reflecting one of society’s most challenging ills it has to present racism in the utmost graphic and disgusting manner, a form which startles many viewers. The script is plagued with horrific slurs and vocalisation of racial stereotypes that restrict minority groups and fuel bigotry of the white west. The visual composition presents imagery and props of symbols of hatred and genocide such as Nazi flags, facist statements and nazi skinheads moshing to racist music.The narrative documents the seeds to such extreme acts being planted through falling into the wrong crowds who poison the mind against community and tolerance. The characters are the mouthpieces of the ideologies that have stolen the safety and lives of millions of innocent people of many ethnicities and backgrounds. This makes for one of the most mentally menacing and difficult watches in contemporary American cinema, calling back to D.W Griffith’s 1912 hate crime of a film Rise of a Nation.
I first watched it in my college film studies class under the module title of Emotional Responses in Film which proved to be a fitting choice. As a Romnichal (Romani-descent), American History X sickened me at times. Seeing the Swatiska displayed unapologetically, despite the context of its heavy historical and ideological significance towards my ethnic-group and others, was just as disturbing as sitting through the average stomach churning contribution to Extreme Cinema. The vicious attack sequences which saw unsuspecting brown people having milk poured over their faces and their place of businesses destroyed were gut wrenching and having to explain and analyse these emotions in class discussions was also an emotional challenge.
Films about racism such as Kaye’s exist in a complicated grey area between crucial and sometimes unnecessary because of their subject matter and presentation. As mentioned, to achieve its goal of presenting the dangers of racism American History X has to present said racism through imagery, characterisation and dialogue in the utmost raw form, at least in Kaye’s view as a director. It demonstrates the artistic and thematic power and influence cinema can have on audiences’ interpretation, illustrating the film’s medium specificity in visual storytelling that can embody socio-political ideas. American History X’s form showcases realism. Everything is filmed and mostly edited to appear on screen as it would in real life, with the exception of the racial attack and Derek’s arrest edited in slow motion to emphasise the significance and highlight film’s power as art. The characters aren’t written or performed as cliches; the bad guys in stories who may scare you but vanish once you close the book or the runtime meets its end. Unlike ghouls and goblins who cease to exist once the story is over, these spiteful vindictive creatures can be found beyond the film text. These people are real. They work. They socialise. They talk to their families. They have hobbies. Everything the same people they hate and celebrate violence towards do, yet they are deluded and hellbent that they are the superior race and are the only ones who deserve safety and respect.
Films aiming to depict racism are sometimes misread as being racist themselves. Furthermore people argue they utilise and exploit another group’s pain to reach classifications of “powerful and emotional masterpieces”, which is what happens when films present extreme events which deeply upset audiences, highlighting identification and criticism of ‘trauma porn’. This is it’s so important that crucial works such as American History X are both structured by their creators and perceived by their audience with dignifying expressions and critical thinking. Both of these factors must promise to consistently recognise the intention of exposing far-right bigotry and how it operates as poison in our society.
However, American History X also utilises its cinematic and thematic qualities to express redemption and change from such bitter hatred. Our protagonist Derek sees the consequences of his past actions in prison, battling with other inmates and finding himself vulnerable to violence which leads to feeling terrified, just like the attacks he subjected innocent people to before due to their identity. Derek also befriends a fellow inmate called Lamont who is black, showcasing how his time inside is stripping him of his active philosophy of hatred. Once he has completed his service and is free to start his new life Derek bravely confronts the leader of his ex-white supremacy society, Cameron (Stacey Keach), exposing him for how he “preys on people…uses them”. This line conveys how Derek has realised the group he once found a home within manipulate naive and vulnerable youths into their doctrine, only to abandon them when needed; none of Derek’s friends visited him in prison. Derek also warns Cameron if he comes near his brother again he will kill him, demonstrating his anger towards the situation. Derek then tells his brother to stay away from the group, stressing their cancer of a viewpoint is an obstacle in societal progress and peace.
However, his attempts end up being all in vain as the film ends with the heartbreaking and shocking moment his younger brother is gunned down in school by a classmate Danny previously expressed racist views towards, alluding to a vicious cycle of violent philosophy. This shocking and crushing conclusion features on several ‘Saddest Movie Endings of All Time’ lists, demonstrating the way it has embedded itself into the American film audience’s psyche. Such an ending, despite stripping the film of the hope and prosperity it has spent the final half thriving on, is needed within context. It operates as the nail in the coffin to the film’s form as a PSA on how the damage racism causes knows no bounds. It threads a bitter and twisted sense of tragedy to the story, emphasising how, as the film script says, “hate is baggage”.
Such storytelling, made precise through performance, visual composition and writing as film prides itself on, aids American History X with something a little more dignified and compelling than exploitative trauma porn that doesn’t care for those personally affected by its graphic subject matter. Kaye’s feature is a dialogue of why change is important and how to achieve that, deciding to depict the inner workings of fascist hate groups to reveal what or who to look out for. It’s graphic and upsetting in its visual presentation and character writing but it focuses on its goal of advocating for hope in the fight against racism. According to CinemaReview, American History X’s script derived from writer McKenna’s experience with the hardcore music scene where he oversaw a clash between punks fighting for equality and respect for all groups clashing with the neo-nazis who infect the punk rock scene with their antithetical ignorance. “I saw a lot of bigotry growing up, and it made me think about writing something about the world of hate-mongers. The point I tried to make in the script is that a person is not born a racist,” the screenwriter explained. “It is learned through [the] environment and the people that surround you. The question that intrigued me is: why do people hate and how does one go about changing that? My premise was that hate starts in the family.”
Even 25 years on, Kaye’s American History X is more important than ever. Hate crimes and racist groups still operate and derail our society, especially in more contemporary settings such as online forums and social media, a factor that demonstrates how the subject matter portrayed in Kaye’s work has developed and altered since its release time. Its a testimony to how discriminatory ideology needs to be charted and tackled with warning conversations about its venomous branches into the human psyche and societal structures.