Central and South American and Asian immigrants are mostly engaged in low-skilled jobs, which also occupy part of the work opportunities of the lower classes in American society. There are many reasons why a person falls to the bottom of society, and these reasons often stem from defects in their own personality and abilities. People always find a logically reasonable scapegoat for themselves to replace their incompetent self-knowledge. What I am interested in is the psychological selection process of using other races as scapegoats. First, the chosen scapegoat must be logically reasonable. Different races have differences in physical fitness, culture, living habits, and many other aspects. Among them, cultural differences cause the most intense conflicts. This kind of conflict provides part of the rationale for scapegoats. Most of the illegal immigrants are not well-educated. They are engaged in low-income jobs or joined gangs, which have become a major destabilizing factor in American society, which also provides a rationale for them to become scapegoats. Secondly, rationality is only a necessary condition for the scapegoat, and it is not sufficient. For example, the bias of national policies, the mainstream society’s ignorance and indifference to the bottom society are all in line with the rationality of the scapegoat, but they have chosen non-white races as the scapegoat. Derek’s choice had the stimulus that his father was shot by a black man, and the other racist choices he instigated may have originated from the collective unconsciousness of the white man. The rise of the white world in modern times has given whites unconscious superiority. This superiority can easily be transformed into racial discrimination, and poverty is the best catalyst. For example, for one-third of the black people are being admonished, the average person’s understanding may be due to poverty, while the bottom, even middle-to-high class whites may attribute this matter to the flaws of the black race. Therefore, the hidden racism in the unconscious is the key to the low-level whites choosing non-white races as the scapegoat.
The film explores the real causes of Dray's racism through linear retrospectives, from the death of his father to the battle for the stadium, giving people a certain illusion at first, thinking that it is caused by various special events that happened to Dray. At the end of the film, his father's remarks about blacks reveal that racism has always been hidden in the white unconscious and deeply rooted. From the influence of his father on Derry to the influence of Derry on his younger brother, the film shows the process of this unconscious being passed on and inspired. The ending Danny’s death is expected. It conveys the irreconcilability of racial contradictions in the United States today, and the road to complete elimination of racism is still a long, long way away.
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