Feast

     Today, we watched and analyzed the Academy Award Winning Short Film, Feast. We started the class with a before, during, and after chart before watching the short film. We were required to look up what the short film and find information on expecting what to watch or see. After researching what that was, we viewed the short film and just 'Let the movie happen'. So the film started off with a stray Boston Terrier who seemed to be on the streets looking for food. A french fry was dropped on the ground and the puppy came to eat the food, in sequence was dropped another one and then adopted by his owner. From then on, the film was conducted with the shot framing focusing on Winston, our main character. We experienced the life and adventures of the dog through the foods he ate from his owner. The story was intricately being told through the dogs side of the story keeping the owner's story basically a sub plot we began to understand as the story finally crossed with each other creating a really nice, light hearted ending that all audiences can enjoy. After watching the film, we deconstructed what the film was trying to tell us and what the film did exceptionally for it's story telling. Using minimal dialogue, as well as the impeccable animation, and lighting to show mood for us without even hearing the dialogue, as well as showing the contrast between the happy dog who doesn't really understand as long as he's getting food and the owner who's in a sad place really shows why the short film won it's award.
     Using these techniques, we learned that we can really analyze film a lot better than from the beginning of the year. With only watching the film once, we as a class were able to deduct and analyze the film much better, while telling and writing down much more concise thoughts; sounding more sophisticated. This will really help us as it comes to writing our MP2 BRBs because we can now, use the chart that the class has learned about and really 'let the movie happen' and then write thoughts down in order to actually efficiently and knowledgeably write better and iterate our thought better on paper and to others before, during, and after watching a film piece.

Critical watching and critical writing

Today in class we started off by talking about applying critical evaluation to short fiction based on deliberate watching of text.

Reminder-  RPO level 3 due 2/10

We then got with our groups and talked about the biggest change that we would make to our reviews,
some examples that students said were
- ¨no more defined structure to the writing.¨
- ¨the omission of the subjective evaluation.¨
- ¨Make a greater focus on quality.¨

- Critical writing requires critical re watching
process- Each viewing has a purpose review excerpt.
1. Title
2. Evaluation content
3. Evaluation theme
4. necessary context
5. transition to unify paragraphs.

Viewing #1
BEFORE
- Preliminary research to establish context
- artists
- production
- Expectations
- Trailer

DURING
- let the movie happen

AFTER
- Initial reactions
- what does your gut tell you
- is that gut reaction objective or subjective.

-We then watched a short film called ¨feast¨ about a dog.

OBSERVATIONS OF ¨FEAST¨
- sweetness
- tone
- dog has to give up junk food for owners love.
- music (happy ending)
- covered lots of time in 6 minutes
- very little dialogue

Viewing #2

BEFORE
- based on reactions
- what parts of the object choices will you evaluate.

DURING
- Analyze the development of those parts of the film

-->CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST VERSION OF REVIEWING<--

This whole week has been dedicated to changing the way we review film/television for the new marking period. In the previous marking period, we were given a formula on how to write a review, which gave us a foundation on how we wrote our review. This also made some of the writing very mechanical, with little of our own voice in our writing.

Now we've been given a new structure so our voice and style can be seen more in our reviews, with less subjective thoughts and more objective views. There are seven pieces to include in this new way of writing:

1. Deliberately title article
2. Credit relevant artists
3. Provide necessary content
4. Summarize plot
5. Evaluate content
6. Evaluate meaning/theme
7. Conclude

Notice how all these pieces are very objective, and very basic. This provides us with the tools needed to write the review, while giving us enough lee-way to make it a review full of our own voice and style.

Our homework for this week consists of reading a professional review and then analyzing how/where the author used the seven pieces while remaining in touch with their own style. My partner and I chose a review on Hereditary (great film) which appraised the film for its ability to connect the art to horror. Every line has a purpose, and every line remains in touch with the author's own sense of writing.

This type of structure helps young writers remain in touch with their own voice, while still writing about the topic at hand. It doesn't get too specific that we lose our own writing, but it isn't too broad that we don't even know what to write. It's a "just-right" type of formula.

Also, Ready Player One Level Three is due on December 10. While reading, make sure to gather evidence that would help you evaluate the film objectively (like we writing a review???).

11/27

Today we continued to discuss how to properly write a movie review. We looked over a few movie reviews from credible authors, actual reviewers who do it for a living. We talked about how removing fluff and filler makes the review better, and that being short is not a problem as long as you're concise and straight to the point. We talked about A. O. Scott’s review of Get Out, and how he was able to expertly convey his opinion and an objective review, all while using all the points of good writing for reviews, and did it all within three sentences. We then went along and picked our own movie review to analyze, and were assigned a project that is currently on classroom. We have until Thursday to complete the two part assignment. The assignment is to choose a movie, and find a credible printed review of it. Mr. Rivers recommended the New York Times and/or other credible news sources. After we read and analyze the review with the different types of journalistic review writing that we previously learned in class, we are to write an analysis on the review. According to the provided sheet, we are supposed to use the takeaway to "Reflect on how these reviews are a progression from the MP1 Be Reel Blogs. Identify and explain one key difference and one key similarity between your MP1 and MP2 Be Reel Blogs". Using this we are supposed to learn how to improve our Be Reel Blogs in marking period two by using the aforementioned journalistic writing styles. We began working on the project either by ourselves or with one partner, but groups of 3 or more were not allowed. Since today was mostly working on the document, we only have tomorrow to work on it in class as well, but the due date is November 29, which is this Thursday.
This analysis and application of journalistic writing styles used in the film reviews can be used not only to further our Be Reel Blogs and movie reviews, but in our general writing by being able to properly summarize, cite, and analyze different texts outside of film. By being able to properly write reviews, we can convey thoughts that would be hard to express objectively to an audience that either recognizes some of the topic, or introduce a new topic or idea to new audiences who are not familiar with the subject or topic which is being discussed in the analysis or review. This allows you to connect to new audiences that can be interested in your topic of discussion, and possibly interest them in reading, watching, or listening to the subject of your review. Connecting with new audiences can cause a wider base of understanding and knowledge about a certain topic, which can in turn be reviewed and understood in the future. The ability to convey opinion in a clear, concise, and objective manner can extend as well to argumentative writing, making an argument more sound.

Analyzing a Movie Review

Today we started on looking a journalistic movie review from the New York Time about Get Out. The review was surprisingly short but had a good amount of points and evidence to tell the reader their points of evidence that the movie is good. 
Some of the examples include

“An exhilaratingly smart and scary freakout about a black man in a white nightmare”

• Premise plot summary

“Jordan Peele of the comedy sketch show “Key & Peele.”

• Relevant artist

“Shadowy streets into menacing ones and turn silence into warnings from the abyss.”

• Tone
• Theme
• Setting

Then for the last 15 minutes of class, we started one our movie review close reading which is you select a movie review and copy/paste to the box that says "Paste Review Here". Then we use the highlight tool to identify where the review applies the journalistic expectations.

These journalistic expectations include.

1. Deliberately title article
2. Credit relevant artists
3. Provide necessary context
4. Summarize plot
5. Evaluate content
6. Evaluate meaning/theme
7. Conclude

You also have to use the underline tool to identify any transitions. This can occur most of the beginning or the end of a paragraph.

Takeaways are to reflect on how the reviews are a progression of our marking period 1 Be Reel Blogs

Grading
Highlights are for 30 points
Underlining is for 10 points
and the Takeaways are for 10 points

Movie Review practice (11/26)

Today we started class by talking about our seating chart. Mr. Rivers has decided that seating charts are pointless, and we can sit wherever we want that makes us comfortable, and where we can talk with our peers. He then reminded us that this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, the school is putting on the play You Can’t Take It With You, which was directed by Mr. Rivers. We then talked about our blogs for the second marking period, and how we should analyze the third level of Ready Player One, using evidence to objectively evaluate the ending. We bridged that into talking about writing our Be Reel Blogs, and how we can effectively create movie reviews, focusing on journalistic movie reviews, and prepared to write a movie review for a short film. We went over the journalistic structure of a review, which was
Deliberately title article
Credit relevant artists
Provide necessary context
Summarize plot
Evaluate content
Evaluate meaning and theme
Conclude
We used this to learn how to write an effective review for our peers, which we can use to further our ability to write a Be Reel Blog.
Title- the first introduction to the tone/argument/purpose of the review, and it should be the last thing you write. We discussed how three different titles show the tone and connects to the argument and audience.
Credit Relevant artists- find who is important and give them credit, such as directors, actors, screenwriters, the original author, the composer. The ways you credit are either explicitly mentioning them to give them credit in your sentence or paragraph, or by crediting them parenthetically, where you mention them on the side, in a parenthetical citation kind of mention.
Provide Necessary Context- what do we need to know about the film/it’s production. Could include details of if it is part of a series, is it a parallel to world events, what’s happening as part of the films production
Summarize the plot- tell the story of the film without spoiling it.
Evaluate Content- the bulk of your review, making specific paragraphs. Paragraphs can be short, but have to be concise.
Evaluate Meaning and Theme- consider the text as a whole: what does it assert? Coming back to the text at the end to analyze how it portrays itself.
Conclusion- brief and specific, in 1-3 sentences you should be answer “So what”

This can be applied to the real world by using this info to write effective reviews. This allows us to process not only the reviews that we write, but also analyze the reviews that we read about other things. By being able to analyze based on criteria, you can determine whether or not a review or source is credible, making it better for choosing who and what to listen to.If we read movie reviews in a more effective way, we can learn to write them effectively as well. By being able to write effectively, we can convey our thoughts and opinions to others in ways that can be easily understood.

How to Make a Movie Review (11/26/18)

11/26/18

IWBAT understand the expectations of a journalistic movie review

IWBAT create an objective review of a short film

REMINDERS:

BRB 1 - 12/31

BRB 2 - 1/25

RPO(Ready Player One) Level 3 due 12/10

RPO Level 3: Evaluating the Text

As you read Level 3, gather evidence to help you objectively evaluate the ending. You may want to consider…

Originality

Predictability

Tone (Cringey & fake v. earned & sincere)

Character development

Resolution of conflict(s)

JOURNALISTIC Structure of a Review

ALWAYS CONSIDER AUDIENCE!

1. Deliberately title article

• The title is the first introduction to the tone/ argument/ purpose of your review
• Probably the LAST thing that you write. What do we learn from these exemplars?

     - 1. ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Unleashes J.K Rowlings’s Magic on Old New York *

• 2. Interstellar- science trumps story in latest Christopher Nolan epic

• 3. Tangled: The roots of animated tradition, with 3-D highlights

2. Credit relevant artists

• Who is important

• Director? Actor(s)? Screenwriter(S)? The original author(S)

• 2A. Credit EXPLICITLY - naming artists within your sentences/ paragraph
• 2B. Credit PARENTHETICALLY - did you mention a character, but don’t want to spend the whole review on him?

3. Provide necessary context

• What do we NEED to know about this film/ its production?

• Series?
• Does it reflect a certain current event/ trend?
• What’s happening OUTSIDE the film (or as part of the film’s PRODUCTION)?

4. Summarize plot

• AVOID SPOILERS!

Premise - the main basis/ conflict for the film

• One sentence premise: you should be able to explain the main focus of the narrative in a single sentence

5. Evaluate content

• BULK of your review: specific paragraphs REMEMBER that this is not an academic essay

• Paragraphs may be SHORT!

SPECIFIC paragraphs about SPECIFIC content

6. Evaluate meaning/ theme

Consider the text as a whole: what does it ASSERT?

Zooming BACK out at the end (gearing up for conclusion) OR as a way to zoom IN at the beginning

• BEYOND the text:

7. Conclude

• BRIED and SPECIFIC:

In 1-3 Sentences, you should be able to answer “So what?”

11/7/18 - Get Out and Lenses

We started out our half day class on Wednesday by going over a few upcoming things and a short review about the lenses we are applying to Get Out. First off, it was recommended that if you are uneasy about what to look for regarding social and political lenses, look over previous blogs (or my review of them below) for assistance. Another key point of note was a reminder that Ready Player One's Level Two and the 2-3 passages that answer the question "What does the text critique about contemporary American society or politics?" are due on Tuesday, so happy reading over the weekend! Remember, time management is important for these kinds of assignments, or else you may end up cramping 100 pages into one night.
With that, here are my quick notes on the different lenses:

Social Lens

• Helps to see social values in a text
• Sees community values
• Country
• Race
• Social Class
• Gender
• Focus on groups of people

Political Lens 

• Creating a view based on POWER
• Power dynamics, controlling groups or values, etc.

These were my notes from our quick review in class, but even these give a decent view of what we are looking for. For applying social lenses, we are looking for specific examples within Get Out that deal with topics like race, social class, and others that focus solely on the SOCIAL aspects of that. This could include how certain groups interact with others, or how sterotypes affect views of certain groups of people. Political lenses, however, focus on aspects that deal with what kinds of power these groups have. Does one group oppress another? Are the sterotypes from our social lense used against or for that group? These questions and others like it can help you pull good evidence from the film for each of these lenses. My tip is to apply each lense to a certain topic and start from there. For example, I have collected a lot of great evidence so far by looking at what the movie says socially and politically about race in this movie, as it is a prominent topic. While that's not the only way I've been looking at the movie, I've found that focusing on one topic can create a jumping off point for how to look at a text with these lenses. Also, rewatching scenes that we cover in class at home can help you look deeper into the text, allowing you to pick up on some details that you can add to your evidence for these lenses.

Regarding the movie itself, we started by rewatching the scene where Chris meets with the groundskeeper the morning after their run in during the night to about the 1:05:00 timestamp, so about 20-25 minutes of the film.

So how do these lenses apply to our everyday lives? We can use these lenses to look at both historical and current events, maybe even to tie them together. For instance, we can look at a current event, say the midterm election on Tuesday, in both a social and political standpoint. We can use a social lense to look at issues such as Florida voting to allow convicted felons to regain voting rights to see how that specific group is now being given another piece of normal life after serving their time, or use a political lense to see that this group is now being given back a say in our government. While this is just one example, most events have many sides to them, allowing for deep analysis and synthesis by looking at them through specific lenses.

The Conjuring- Good Good

Since our class is focusing on horror movies, I decided to review the film The Conjuring, directed by James Wan, a horror movie based on a real life supernatural case called the Warren Case. It is about a 1970 farmhouse in Rhode island where Roger and Carolyn Perron and their five daughters were allegedly terrified and and possessed by evil spirits. The movie has 2 story lines, the lives of the Perron family and the lives of the Warren family. The Warrens are Ed and Lorraine Warren, with their daughter Judy. They are American paranormal investigators and authors associated with prominent cases of hauntings and Lorraine has special abilities to help connect with the spirits. In the film, they are convinced by Carolyn to look at her house after a lecture on what they do by stating "I have five daughters who are scared to death and I'm afraid this thing is going to hurt us" so they agreed and drove to Rhode island to investigate the Perron's house, even though Lorraine's last investigation scarred her for life because the exorcism did not go as planned and after she went in her room and didn't come out for 8 days without eating or drinking. When they arrived at the house, they automatically felt an evil presence and all the occurrences were traced to demonic entities. Lorraine first saw the dark entity when she walked inside the house, behind the family, and also saw many other spirits. Because of this, they needed to preform an exorcism on the house, meaning they had to collect paranormal activities on camera to show to the church and get them to approve and execute the exorcism. Ed hires two men to help set up and record the different rooms and they put bells on each door and connected thermostats to the camera so when the temperature dropped, the camera would take a picture. Each day of the investigation, they got more and more evidence of the haunting, until the last day, one of the daughters began to trigger the camera while walking up the stairs because the ghost was with her, she then walked into a room and the door slammed shut. Ed and Roger were trying to break in but the door was locked and when it finally opened, she was not in there. They then used a heat lamp to check for foot and hand prints which he found going into the wardrobe in the room and then on the wall in the back. He slid the wall open to find her passed out in the crevice of the wall. Lorraine then went in to check for spirits when she suddenly falls through the floor. She survives the fall to find herself in the cellar, where she sees an evil mother killing her child and she up the stairs and then comes to the realization that the witch is trying to possess the mother to kill her children for the devil. Before they could get the exorcism authorized, the mother took two of her daughters from the hotel they were staying in back to their house, so they raced back to the house in the nick of time to stop Carolyn from stabbing her daughter and tried to bring her to the church but the witch would kill her if they left the house. They brought her back in the cellar and  tied her down to a chair with cloth over her. Ed realized he had to do the exorcism himself so he grabbed the bible and holy water but the witch was too powerful and levitated to the ceiling and fell and broke the chair. She then ran away to find her daughter and when she did, right before she killed her, Lorraine grabbed her head and reminded her of a nice day on the beach that she told her about before. The mother then threw up blood and was released by the witch and it was sent to hell.
 
The Conjuring is the 5th highest-grossing rated R horror movie of all time, making $137.4 million in the Box Office and over $319 million worldwide with a $20 million budget. This made critics love it and another reason why it's a great movie. James Wan is a great horror director who understands how to build tension and suspense to make the movie scarier. The movie also looks great with lots of low-key lighting and the shot angles only show what the director wants us to see, which also adds tension. He also uses minimal CGI and great makeup to make the movie even scarier. As the movie progressed, you experience more and more scares that get more powerful and creates more suspense. The atmosphere was extremely creepy because of the scary makeup and different sounds. All actors gave very good performance and made the story much more believable and scary and when the characters look scared, we believe them. The use of cameras and bells to catch the ghosts were also very helpful to build suspense and tension because it lets the audience know that something is there which helps the story line. Most of the scares in the movie are created by the fear of the unknown and in some of the shots, it first shows us the characters reactions to what they are seeing, and then show the audience after. The film does has quite a slow buildup, but it helps build the tension while still scaring you and giving you evidence of the haunting. For example, one of the scariest scenes is when Carolyn and one of her daughters were playing "clap and seek" where one person has to find the other while blindfolded and they only have 3 claps to find them. When she is looking, she walks into a bedroom and asks for her last clap. The doors to the antique wardrobe slowly open and two hands come out of the clothes and clap. She walks towards the wardrobe and puts her hands in to check if she was in there, but there was no one there. She then gets spooked out herself and takes the blindfold off, looking into the empty wardrobe and her daughter runs into the room and tells her "you lose! You took your blindfold off". This scene is so scary because the audience knows that her daughter is not in the wardrobe but Carolyn does not. This movie has very few flaws, making it a Good Good movie. 

Good Will Hunting (good/good)

Good Will Hunting, directed by Gus Van Sant is about a janitor that not only has the gift of mathematics, but has a gift of getting on peoples nerves. Throughout the movie, the main character, Will, played by Matt Damon, constantly pushes other characters away, including his significant other. When Robin Williams’ character is trying to help Will through therapy, it mostly ends with an argument. The root issue of the main character is explored as the main problem of the movie. Will has the inability to realize and to let others see he is incredibly smart. During a scene with Will and Skylar, he confesses some of the troubles of his childhood while angry. Will says he’s an orphan, he doesn’t really have 12 brothers, and he had cigarettes put out on him as a little kid. Being the first time any of this is mentioned, it’s shocking to both the viewer and Skylar, but explains why the character has a difficult time becoming close to people in his life. Skylar responds to him with “I want to hear about it because I want to help you” demonstrating that people in Will’s life care about him although he has trouble understanding that. Chuckie also cares about Will confessing “it would be an insult to see you still hanging around here in 20 years” meaning Will has the ability to do anything he wants, but because of his flaw (he cannot get close to people) he stays where he is most comfortable out of fear.

I would rate Good Will Hunting GOOD/GOOD. I had never seen this movie before, but it was surprisingly interesting to me. Personally, I don’t really enjoy the jolly ‘coming of age’ movies, but this film actually caught my attention because of it’s realistic interpretation of a person struggling mentally. Robin Williams’ character is a symbol of hope for the character. He represents Will ending up happy in his life. Sean sees Will for who he truly is by the end of the movie and not for who Will pretends to be as a defense mechanism. Sean asking Professor Lambeau “Why?” then answering “It’s because he was abandoned by the people that love him most”. Finally finding the answer to their problem and being able to provide a solution. This movie actually spoke to me being a person in therapy and I would highly recommend it.

Intertextually blog #2

She's out of my league was produced in 2010 by Jim field Smith. The movie is about a ugly guy named Kirk who starts talking to this girl named Molly who is absolutely beautiful. She ends up liking him because he is different from the other guys she has dated in the past. They met at the airport where Kirk works and then soon see each other again.  She forgot her phone at the airport and he returned it to her at a party she set up. Kirk at the party spills something on a man and gets kicked out where Molly follows his out and asks to hangout another day. They go to a hockey game where Kirk and Molly both bring friends and they have an interesting time. Kirk doesn't know that Molly is interested in him but Kirk friend has an idea.  Kirk later realizes that she likes him and soon talks to Molly about his feelings. They go on a date and one of Molly's exes comes in and sits down and thinks Kirk is a worker at the restaurant. When her ex finds out Kirk is dating Molly he is shocked. He is the one who tells Kirk a flaw that Molly has which is webbed feet. That is a big factor later on when Kirk and Molly were in a bedroom alone and they were getting undressed. He said something about her being too perfect and then she said "do you think im too perfect". He then said the thing about her webbed feet and she flipped out, which led to a break up. They both soon realized they need each other and then get back together and continue a happy.
 The choices Jim field smith uses help create a funny but romantic tone. I personally enjoyed the movie but it was poorly produced. The film just lacks the details to make a decent movie a great movie. The movie wasn't that sad and had cheesy romance in it. The whole plot of the movie is cliche. Its so overused but it works some of the time. In this case it does. The plot is simple but gets the job done. The characters are very unique and make a memorable movie. All of Kirk's family and friends are so dumb its actually hilarious. It reminds me of my family and friends and its a great thing to watch. So im giving this movie a bad good. It wasn't a really well made movie but it is very enjoyable at points.

Horror in Anime - Shiki

Shiki (alternatively translated to “ Corpse Demon" or "Death Spirit") aired in 2010 and is based off of the manga by Fuyumi Ono, which was first published in 1998. The story takes place in a quiet Japanese town that’s surrounded by trees and is very isolated from the rest of the world. It’s the kind of place where everyone knows everyone, so when new strange neighbors move in the large house everyone takes notice. Since their arrival in the middle of the night, people start passing away seemingly due to some strange epidemic, or so the town doctor suspected at first. However later it is revealed that these people are being killed by vampires, and some are coming back to life as lower level vampires. The series ends with gore filled final episodes where the towns people band together to fight off the family of vampires, and their loved ones that came back to life as these beings. It makes one question who is really the monsters in the end with how horribly the townspeople killed the people they loved and mourned, even through they were still the same person and felt the same feelings a human would. They refused to see them as people any longer since they were deemed a threat as vampires or “shiki”. The youngest girl of the vampire family is saved by the head monk who saw it as wrong to kill these beings and brought her away from the village, leaving the audience knowing this is not over.

Looking at Shiki objectively as a horror anime, it is mostly good. Some scares in this anime were a bit lazy. For example, just showing red glowing eyes in the background and jump scares felt a bit cheesy at times. Another downside was the characters acted unrealistically sometimes, mostly by being melodramatic. However the feeling of dread and fear is built up well through the anime as the audience wonders who will be killed next, and how soon the doctor will be able to discover the truth behind the deaths. Also, the art style is quite unusual/unsettling which especially shows in certain character designs, which I cannot describe that well without showing the illustrations. For example, the proportions of some characters were strangely elongated and the eyes of the shiki had no whites yet it went unacknowledged by the other characters. As for the soundtrack, or non-diegetic audio, it is absolutely outstanding. The creepy, melancholy, yet beautiful music sets the tone so well, even if nothing particularly scary is going on.

I personally enjoyed this series and the messages it presented about human mortality, fear of the unknown, and especially mob mentality in the last episodes. Half of the fun for me was interpreting the meaning of certain lines and events. I would recommend this series, especially to a fan of horror. Even if you choose not to watch it, the soundtrack is still worth listening to since it’s so beautiful. In fact, in my opinion, it would not be half as good as it is without the soundtrack. This combined with the subtle unsettling elements made for an excellent series. Modern series seem to be heavy on just gore and shock value, but I would describe Shiki as horror done right in anime.

Rating: Good Good

American History X: The Realization After the Deed

The film follows Derek Vinyard, a former neo-nazi skinhead, who from experience, manages to come back to his feet and tries to rescue his little brother from the toxic environment he was once a part of. The film jumps back and forth into two timelines; the black and white timeline represents the racist and blind perspective that Derek and his people have towards the non-white community, whilst the timeline with color is a way of showing Derek's growth and change of mind as he looks at the world differently.  

One could say the racism mentality began when Derek's father was murdered while trying to do a black man's job but the seed was planted way earlier, when Derek's father expressed his views on black people and how he thinks they are creating "nigger bullshit". Accordingly, Derek listened to his father and believed his words, starting a whole new Derek Vinyard. A scene from later in the film shows the development of the seed as Derek acts like his father and officially shows his true colors. 

Derek Vinyard becomes a big figure for the neo-nazi community and together, they perform various acts of discrimination towards any non-white person in town, resulting in Derek becoming a target for the non-white community. This leads to a very gruesome night, as a group of black men try to steal Derek's car but fail and instead, end up getting shot and taken down. The police arrive and Derek has no option other than to surrender.

In prison, Derek is raped by the men he once thought were his brothers and he unwillingly befriends a black inmate. With these two very important experiences, Derek becomes disgusted of the person he once was and realizes his wrongdoings, making him a want a change for himself and his family. 

When Derek is released from prison, he is a changed man but his job is far from over as he has to save his little brother, Danny, from the lifestyle Derek introduced him to. Derek arrives home and starts establishing order around the house and as expected, his brother already has the clean-shave like every other neo-nazi. Derek takes full responsibility of this and goes to talk to the head leader of the skinheads and takes matter into his own hands, "I came here for one reason, to tell you that I'm out. Out! And Danny's out, too. And if you come near my family again, I'm gonna fucking kill you". With that said the former neo-nazi legend erases all ties he had had with the skinhead community. Derek takes Danny away from the party, as things started to get out of hand, and gets the chance to explain to Danny why exactly he's no longer the person he used to be.  With that said Derek and Danny Vinyard were out of the game.

Thinking everything was over, things take a turn for the worse. Danny is killed in the school's bathroom by another student. The killer's eyes immediately widen after doing this deed, showing instant regret. This black boy appears in previous scenes from the film, showing a relationship between Danny and this individual, inferring that this act of murder is some sort of initiation for this young man and suggesting that Danny may have done similar deeds as they both belonged to gangs and were following a similar path, thus concluding "American History X". 

"American History X" is a movie I recommend to anyone. Such a high caliber production that captures the raw human nature in such a way of turning it into art, deserves to be watched. The film has no bearings and is not afraid to show the reality of white skinheads. The story teaches us about the hate and love that people can cause in our own worlds. 

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite", this is a quote from Nelson Mandela and I believe it fits perfectly into what this movie is all about. I don't just think this film is just about racism and neo-nazism, in my opinion, this film is about hate and love. Derek belonged a group that instigated hatred towards others and ironically enough, the people he thought he loved were the ones to turn their backs on him, resulting in him becoming associated with a black inmate, proving him that he can love and respect the ones he once hated. Derek did not always hate black people, until he learnt from his father that they were a parasite to the white community. Derek did not always respect black people, he learnt to love them by associating himself with one, making him realize that his previous persona was a total farce. As harsh as this movie was to watch, I believe "American History X" opened doors for the cinema world.

Good/Good