American History X

RE: plus, him reverting back to racism would just be dumb, doesn't seen to realistic, after you have a huge revalation like that, you usually aren't too easy to change a second time

Not necessarily. It would have implied that racism gets more ingrained than you would believe, and that Stacy Keach's words hit home harder than you would expect.

 

where as I don't think that isn't a valid point, I just really don't see the character (Derek?) flipping back that fast, he owes his life to a black man, he sees that the racists are just haters, that Keach is just using them all for his own hatred
he isn't gonna turn his back on that
he will take his brother's death as his fault and it will enforce his new found beliefs

I can understand if he was still iffy on the issue or something, but he now sees racism as horrible

 

I agree with Irongoth, an ending where derek reverts to racism over the death of his brother would have been more realistic and powerful than just seeing him crying on the floor. This was a good movie but wasn't long enough to cover everything it promised.

 

I think you are both crazy, but your opinion

 

It says that the movie was directed by Tony Kaye. Is that the same Tony Kaye that played keyboards in Yes before Rick Wakeman or somebody else?

 

I think it's one hell of a movie either way. In my opinion, either ending would prove realistic, and I think that the ending they chose makes more of a statement. Every story is supposed to have some sort of moral message, right? Well the message is, don't be an idiot racist, look where it gets you. You lose your dignity, your family, and you wind up crying on the floor blaming yourself.

This movie always has some weird connection in my brain to the movie The Believer. Maybe it's the shaved head thing or the nazi thing, because the movies really are very different. But has anyone else seen it? This movie is Ryan Gosling at his cocky, unstable best.

 

RE: Well the message is, don't be an idiot racist, look where it gets you. You lose your dignity, your family, and you wind up crying on the floor blaming yourself.

Some people have interpreted the ending as "if you believe in a bunch of liberal bullsh*t about us all being equal, you'll end up robbed mugged and dead".

I would have preferred the former ending, which would have underlined WHAT CAUSES RACISM. People don't care what color you are until resources get scarce.

 

i guess it just comes down to disagreement then. maybe that's what causes racism in some people, but for many people it's very different. and speaking for myself, being mugged, robbed, raped, etc. wouldn't make me racist. the tint of your skin doesn't make you do those things. circumstance, upbringing, greed, disregard, and other things make you do those things. the writers simply decided on an ending that a different group of people would relate to. the ending you prefer would have appealed to people who think like you do, therefore leaving a different group of people unsatisfied, hence making both endings perfectly fine. no movie is ever going to fully satisfy everyone. the only thing that matters is that you make the statement you intended to make.

 

i have to agree with iron goth about the ending. alot of people enjoy good triumphing over evil, but that isn't always the truth of life. Reverting back to racism would be more realistic in the sense that people often revert to old habits in times of extreme terror and stress

 

Racism happens when resources get scarce.

When everyone has good jobs, etc. they don't care.

Look at England. When there were good dock jobs and places were affordable, you had two-tone music etc. in the skinhead world. Fast forward to the 70s - the economy TANKED just as Indians started to arrive.

BOTH the West Indian guys and whites started "Pak-bashing".

 

everyone needs a scape-goat

 

what you have to realize though is that there are many realities. no one reality is more realistic than the other. just because the ending you prefer would be more jaw-dropping and not as pleasant doesn't mean they avoided it because of that. screenwriters set out with an intentional message they want their film to get across. they write their movie around it. it's just like a novelist or a songwriter. it doesn't matter what would be more shocking or a more terrible reality. if their intention was to say a certain thing and they used your preferred ending, they would not be saying what they intended. that's the point i'm trying to make.

besides, isn't it more refreshing to see a movie about the few people who deal with things in a healthy way instead of showing you what most people would do in that situation? "most people would go down the wrong path so lets show that." boooooooorrrrrrringggggg

 

I just watched that movie for the 3rd or 4th time last nite and i LOVE the qoute at the end of it. i never really noticed it til now tho.


"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strain, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be by the better angels of out nature."


aha yes, i liked it enough to write it all down.

 

Isn't it nutts how an actor can go from american history x to keeping the faith and to fight club?

 

haha, i liked keeping the faith and fight club is one of my favorites. the book was amazing. i am a huge chuck palahniuk fan.

 

I thought keeping the faith was like a 5. Fight club (book and movie) is also one of my favorites. Chuck Palahnuik is amazing!

 

i agree. i said i liked it have you read much by Palahniuk? I'm not terribly fascinated by his non-fiction and ghost stories (in fact I find them difficult to read after one of his fictional novels), but I've read everything else and I absolutely adore it. Choke is my favorite.

 

Ive read -some- Choke is probably my favorite too. Awesome book. I'd recormend it to anyone. My mom thought it was the shit.

 

oh, it was

 

That would have been the perfect ending