American History X, Cinematic Manipulation, And Moral Conversion

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MIDWEST STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY
Midwest Studies in Philosophy, XXXIV (2010)

American History X, Cinematic Manipulation, and Moral Conversion
CHRISTOPHER GRAU

1. INTRODUCTION
American History X (hereafter AHX) has been accused by numerous critics of a morally dangerous cinematic seduction: using stylish cinematography, editing, and sound, the film manipulates the viewer through glamorizing an immoral and hatefilled neo-Nazi protagonist. In addition, there’s the disturbing fact that the film seems to accomplish this manipulation through methods commonly grouped under the category of “fascist aesthetics.” More specifically, AHX promotes its neo-Nazi hero through the use of several filmic techniques made famous by
War was said to be futile and experienced as glorious, victory was said to be empty and felt to be magnificent . . .10
While granting the possibility for such hypocrisy in a work of art, I reject the charge as directed at AHX. The target of the film is racist neo-Nazi extremism, and while early on the film clearly offers a romantic and heroic depiction of its racist protagonist, what is being romanticized is primarily the character Derek Vinyard, not the racist ideology he embraces but eventually rejects. One reason the film is so effective is that it does not shy away from showing the protagonist as someone who embraces a Nazi ideology but is, at the same time, charismatic, brave, intelligent,
9. “American Historu X: Hate with a Pasion,” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/ style/longterm/movies/videos/americanhistoryxhunter.htm (accessed June 25, 2010).
10. Perkins (1993, 149). Consider also a more recent example: Fight Club offers up a slick and seemingly edgy denunciation of consumerism while cynically exhibiting product placement throughout the film.

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eloquent, and attractive. What the film ultimately endorses is the idea that
INTELLECTUAL ASYMMETRY
I want to return now to worries about the way in which AHX depicts its protagonist’s development. A quite striking feature of AHX is that it is a film about the maliciousness of racism that presents us with an uncommonly smart and eloquent racist (significantly more eloquent, in fact, than Hando in Romper Stomper).
Beyond this, to the extent we get arguments about race in this film they are almost always arguments offered by the racists. Non-racists do not get “equal time” and are certainly not presented as offering better reasons for their view.We also do not hear
Derek, upon abandoning his racist position, offer anything significant by way of argument to counter the superficially powerful rhetoric we saw him spout earlier.
23. Amruta Slee, “An Australian Actor Tries Life as a Neo-Nazi Punk,” The New York Times,
June 6, 1993.
24. It is not an accident that on the film-based threads on neo-Nazi Internet discussion boards
(like http://stormfront.org), Romper Stomper is quite popular among actual racist skinheads, while
American History X tends to be dismissed as anti-racist propaganda created by the