What does D.O.C stand for? [D.O.C. stands for Department of Corrections.]
Answered by papajim
Great sites
Mistakes
Toward the end of the film, when Danny is approaching his girlfriend at their high school, his backpack is on his back. He then hugs her, and the bag is not there as there are no straps doing down the front of his shoulder. They are then shown walking together into the school and the backpack is on his back again. See more...
American History X (1998) - 5 questions
Directed by Tony Kaye, starring Avery Brooks, Beverly D'Angelo, Edward Furlong, Edward Norton, Elliott Gould, Ethan Suplee, Fairuza Balk, Jennifer Lien (add more)
The "questions" section is for any random questions that occurred to you while watching this film, or anything you didn't entirely understand, and which Google or the IMDb can't help with. Submit them as a question, and hopefully someone will answer (the bold comments in brackets) - check back regularly. If the answer is wrong, or missing information, please use the "clarify answer" option. Don't feel limited - want to know what music played in a certain scene? Whether this was the first film to use a certain effect? Here's the place to ask!
What does D.O.C stand for? [D.O.C. stands for Department of Corrections.]
Answered by papajim
How much time did Derek do? Also, Derek killed a couple guys, and his black friend stole a TV, so how could he have gotten out sooner than his friend?
[The difference in their punishment is one of the major points of the film. It's about racial injustice, and that black offenders get harsher punishments than white offenders. For the friend, it isn't stealing the TV that gets him the long sentence. It's that he dropped it on the cop's foot which the prosecutor twisted into in attempted murder charge. Derek did a few years for killing the one guy, but as he was white, the dead guy black, and Derek was, at least at the beginning of the events, defending his home, property, and arguably the lives of his family and himself, his sentence wasn't nearly as harsh.]
Answered by John W Rosa
We see something going on between the corrupt skinhead and the Hispanic criminal inside the prison, and it makes Vinyard leave that gang. What exactly was the arrangement by the skinheads to 'protect' Vinyard? [It's quite simple: He was one of them, a fellow skinhead. In prison different groups stick together for mutual protection and comradeship, and as neo-nazis/skinheads would be fairly unpopular with the colored inmates, all the more reason for them to protect each other.]
Answered by Twotall
When Derek's dad says at dinner something to the effect of, "And then after eating we'll go watch the big guy play." who is he talking about that they will watch later on? [He is talking about Derek. "(The) Big Guy" is just an affectionate term he uses for his son.]
Answered by Twotall
During the basketball game near the start of the film, what does Danny say to Seth after Seth gets into the bet with the black guy that makes him say, "Danny, when I want your opinion I'll ask for it"? [Danny says "It's 8-6, Seth" meaning that the black guys only need to score 2 more hoops, whilst Seth's team needs 4. Danny doesn't believe Seth can win, so he is reminding him what the score actually is.]
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