American History X - the movie

[El Brujo]

Go out and rent this movie if you havent yet. I live in so cal and have a friend who has connections with (NON-RACIST) skinheads in Venice Beach and according to them, they say it how it is in the movie. Those stupid boneheads are still a problem but now there are more non-racist skinheads to counter them now.

[Rob]

Still, that movie perpetuates the bonehead myth. If you want a good movie about boneheads see Romper Stomper. And they used the anti-heros logo without permission. And I've heard that the Cali scene still has alot of boneheads and fencewalkers.

(Edited by Rob at 9:58 pm on June 24, 2002)

[peaccenicked]

Powerful Movie...great acting..."gets the message across to the Kids'' as Rik Mayall in the young ones would say.

[guerrillaradio]

Did anyone else notice that nowhere in the movie were the words "nazis", "fascists" or "racists", despite the fact that their walls are covered with Nazi posters and paraphenalia and there are references to Mein Kampf??

[psycho chicken]

didn't sweeny say 'racist propaghanda' at one point?

(Edited by psycho chicken at 2:57 pm on June 25, 2002)

[suffianr]

All that stuff abou the scene and all is sort of educational, but the essence of the movie lies in it's assumption that people can change, no matter how fucked up they are, or how stubborn they are, after all. You could substitute the Nazi-Skinhead-Racist-Fascist-White-Supremacy theme with, say, a Zionist-Jewish-Secular-Colonist-Oppressor-Legitimate-Terrorsit-Palestinian-Baby-Killer theme, and I guess it would still work.

Imho, it's not the subject matter, it's perspective, and realising that the slightest change in your perspective on any given issue can radically change the way you see even the most humdrum everyday stuff. My two cents, at least...:)

[Menshevik]

A great movie, but both Derek's and Danny's conversions seem too fake and contrived.

Personally, I think it was Edward Norton's finest moment, even more than Fight Club.

[uth1984]

it is an unbelivable film, like a nuclear explosion in side a videotape (I mean that in a good way) Yeah, the conversion of Ed Norton's character is surprising, but I dont think its fake. After all, racism IS stupid, peoplke can be educated out of that way of life.

[Dan Majerle]

Edward Norton rocks! However i tend to agree with Menshevik that Derek and Danny's conversions were too fake and implausible.

[pastradamus]

wtf is a non racist skinhead?

[antieverything]

It is a skinhead who isn't a racist...quite a simple concept.

Nazi skinheads are skinheads who are racist.

Skinheads are only sorta punk gangstas...

[Menshevik]

Pa, the skinhead phenomenon was really a punk music movement among the working class youths of England. They were anti-authority, but they weren't white supremists. It stayed that way until a bunch of racist wackos among the skinhead's cohorts began identifying punks with racists. This flourished in the states, particularly, and now, skinheads are widely associated with neo-nazis (who often shave their heads).

[El Brujo]

Tere are all kinds of skinheads actually. The original skinheads, by default were the Rude Boys who were Black Jamaican rebel youths who listened to Regae and Ska (making the nazi boneheads HYPOCRITES), many of them were immigrants in Britain and crossed with the Hard Mod subculture and formed the Tradskins. After the surge of Nazi boneheads, a group of skinheads formed the SHARP (skinheads against racial prejudice) as well as the RASH (red and anarchist skinheads). There is also a group called the "ranger skins" who just basically plan fun activities as well as gay skins (and yes, gay boneheads too, strangely enougph. There are also SHARP members who hate gays). There is also a skinhead group in Japan called the SSS (Japanese nationalists, some used to be ultra-nationalist boneheads but theres few of those left. Some of the SSS are even members of SHARP). The skinheads my friend has connection to are Tradskins.

[abstractmentality]

anybody seen Higher Learning? what do you guys think of that movie?

[Menshevik]

"The original skinheads, by default were the Rude Boys who were Black Jamaican rebel youths who listened to Regae and Ska. . ."

Yeh, I forgot to mention that, El Brujo. I met a Jamaican skinhead--nice guy.