OPPapers.com

Race

"Identity" X
"There is only one ‘race' - the human race - and that we are all members of it" (Atwood). Race has become essential in society today as a way to rank and sort humanity into specific divisions that leads to discrimination. There is no possible way to classify individuals into a race based on physical traits. Early scientists tried to justify race based on visible physical difference. "Race … evolved as a world view, a body of prejudgments that distorts our ideas about human differences and group behavior" (AAA). Humans vary greatly biologically, but the term race has become a cultural category for sorting individuals and is not a biological reality, which has become the accepted concept throughout the world. In the following paper, I will also discuss the topics of the films American History X, Crash, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. All three films deal with topics centering around the injustices of race.
In the film, American History X, one family's story is told in the time span of about two hours. There are two main characters in the film: two brothers, Danny and Derek Vinyard. The story is told in two different aspects: past and present. The past is ironically filmed in black and white, while the present is filmed in color. The films pits Derek Vinyard into a world of white supremacy, while his younger brother Danny can do nothing except for pay his utmost respect and worship for him. "In the world of the skinhead neo-Nazi, slogans replace thought, fueling a mindless hatred that is startling in its intensity. Derek Vinyard (Edward Norton) is one of the most fervent members of the Venice Beach White Supremacist movement. An avowed hater of everyone who is not a white Protestant, he has risen to the top of a ragged group of hate-mongers. Derek is the disciple of Cameron (Stacy Keach), who stays behind the scenes to keep his record clean. Derek's followers include his younger brother, Danny (Edward Furlong), who worships him; his girlfriend,...