Gran Torino and The Right Stuff

951 Words2 Pages

Getting old and aging are things that have become difficult points for many and despite the negative representation of the elderly in film, they do serve a purpose. On the big screen we continue to see many underpinnings of ageist assumptions when in fact many of the characters are strong figures that ‘Still have the Right Stuff”. Clint Eastwood dispels that myth and several significant scenes epitomize this concept in the movie hit Gran Torino (2008).
Gran Torino (2008) exposes and defends against ageist assumptions although many believe the underlying theme is that of racism and bigotry. We see an older man, Walt Kowalski
(Eastwood) who has lost his wife and grows throughout the movie because of his relationship with a boy.When the neighbour Thao comes into his life, Walt learns to appreciate life again.
Throughout the film we see signs of Walt’s need for reverence and recognition of the
American dream he fought for during the Vietnam war. With age comes many expectations also from the younger generation, including respect and proper behaviour. The opening scene at his wife’s funeral, Walt displays his disgust with the disrespectful behaviour of his grandchildren and the lack of concern of his adult sons and daughters-in-laws. Many are quick to judge older people as miserable and difficult to deal with but if we looked at it from his perspective we might see this as a time for respect and Walt’s character captures this perfectly. Walt’s distaste for his son driving a Toyota and his pride in his ownership of a 1972 Ford Gran Torino continues to strengthen his patriotic pride as well as showing his aging side that cannot accept anything un-American. In the beginning we also see signs of physical aging but by...

... middle of paper ...

...ood’s portrayal of Walt was one of an old man who hiked his pants up to his nipples, was angry and volatile yet caring underneath. We not only see an aged man but one who had the right stuff needed “: to stand in the face of multiple firearms, knowing that he will be executed.

Works Cited

Chivers, S. (2014). The Silvering Screen, Yes, We Still Can. Course Kit, 109-120.
Cox, D. (2012, 02 28). TheGuardian.Com. Retrieved January 26, 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/feb/28/films-bad-job-portraying-old-people.
Gleberson, W. (2014, January 13th). Still the Right Stuff (In Later Years) Lecture and Powerpoint. Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Eastwood, C. (Director). (2008). Gran Torino [Motion Picture].
Redding, A. (2014). A Finish Worthy of the Start: The Poetics of Age and Masculinity in Clint Eastwood's Gran Turino. Course Kit, 117-124.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis of "The Thematic Paradigm"

    1403 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the article “The Thematic Paradigm” exerted from his book, A Certain Tendency of the Hollywood Cinema, Robert Ray provides a description of the two types of heroes depicted in American film: the outlaw hero and the official hero. Although the outlaw hero is more risky and lonely, he cherishes liberty and sovereignty. The official hero on the other hand, generally poses the role of an average ordinary person, claiming an image of a “civilized person.” While the outlaw hero creates an image of a rough-cut person likely to commit a crime, the official hero has a legend perception. In this essay, I will reflect on Ray’s work, along with demonstrating where I observe ideologies and themes.

    Read More

  • Respect in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

    485 Words  | 1 Pages

    Respect is something you earn by being a good person or doing something admirable. All of the citizens of Maycomb look up to Atticus and see him as a respectable person. Atticus is the character in the novel that has the most respect. He is a caring, loving father, the only member of Maycomb who will actually defend a negro, and he always displays respect for other people.

    Read More

  • Maus and the Holocaust

    839 Words  | 2 Pages

    bitter old man who is unwilling to talk about the things that made him the way he is.

    Read More

  • African American Life In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    At first, Walter starts as a man who does not have many traits and characteristics that a leader in the family should has. He feels frustrated of the fact that his mother can potentially support his sister, Beneatha, in her education career. Walter complains and feels depressed about his current life when he has many aspects that not many African men had during his time. Walter has a happy family, a loving wife, and an acceptable occupation. Unfortunately, Walter wants more in his life, and he feels hopeless and depressed when something does not go in his ways. Walter starts to change when he experiences and learns Willis’s betrayal, his father’s hard work, his son’s dream of becoming a bus driver, and his mother’s explanation about the Africans’ pride. Through many difficulties, Walter becomes the man of the family, and he learns the importance of accepting and living a happy life with his family. Like Walter, many African men had to overcome the challenges and obstacles. They had to face and endure through racism. These two ideas often led to many tragic and depressed incidents such as unequal opportunities, inequality treatments, segregation, and

    Read More

  • Free Raisin in the Sun Essays: Pride and Dignity

    861 Words  | 2 Pages

    This episode illustrates a major conflict throughout the story. As Walter dreams bigger and bigger he seems to leave the 'smaller' things such as his family behind. This movement away from the family is against the furtherance of the values and morals of the family. While his father would have been happy simply working and caring for his family, Walter is more concerned with becoming a 'mover and shaker' without thinking about the resulting consequences for his family.

    Read More

  • One’s True Identity in Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

    853 Words  | 2 Pages

    Barker, Jennifer. "'A hero will rise': the myth of the fascist man in fight club and Gladiator." Literature-Film Quarterly 36.3 (2008): 171+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis of A Raisin in the Sun

    682 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... the realization that he does not need a liquor store to make him happy. He needs his family to be happy in order for him to be happy. Walter matures throughout the story, and his American Dream disappears, and new dreams appear.

    Read More

  • Whitman Essay

    1650 Words  | 4 Pages

    Walt puts perspective on reality and fantasy when it comes to relationship. The deeper the love is for one another will allow the couple to grow not only physically, but most importantly the couple becomes closer spiritually. Spirituality is the final step in the journey of love. Spirituality takes precedence over every aspect of human nature. That euphoria that is also understood to be the blessings of our Father in Heaven.

    Read More

  • Essay On Ageism

    1504 Words  | 4 Pages

    The term “ageism” is not easily understood by most of the population because of its acceptance as normal behavior due to the ingrained attitudes that most people develop in their youth, but health care workers must fully embrace the term within their profession in order to avoid becoming a contributor to the historical prevalence of prejudices and discrimination. The term ageism is defined by Klein and Liu (2010) as “the discrimination of individuals based solely on age” (p. 334). “Ageism is a social construct that is internalized in the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of individuals” (Klein & Liu, 2010, p. 334). Robert Butler, a well-known gerontologist, coined the term “ageism” citing that the discrimination and prejudice associated with this term is often based on the lack of a person’s experience with older people (Ferrini & Ferrini, 2013, p. 6). Ferrini and Ferrini (2013) refer to the strong influence that cultural beliefs and attitudes as well as a person’s current age influence the perception of aging (p. 6). Everywhere within society there are influences that encourage ageist attitudes such as media conveyances through movies, books, television, greeting cards, magazines and the Internet (Ferrini and Ferrini, 2013, p. 6). These negative connotations related to growing older begin to influence all people at a very young age and therefore impact their attitudes as they make career decisions. This has directly impacted the number of health care providers who specialize in geriatrics as well as the attitudes of those who do provide services for older adults. These false perceptions and negative attitudes are currently impacting the q...

    Read More

  • Gran Torino Cultural Analysis

    1570 Words  | 4 Pages

    Clint Eastwood’s film, Gran Torino, shows numerous distinctive concepts posed in the field of multicultural psychology that occurs in our world everyday. The film features a broad range of aspects found in an individualistic culture versus a collectivist culture. The main characters of the movie that represent these different cultures are Walt Kowalski, who comes from a background of American culture, and Thao Lor and Sue Lor, who are immigrants from Vietnam apart of the Hmong community. The characters and the themes in the film include the concepts of guilt versus shame, different types of communication, the view of women in different cultures, and family roles

    Read More

  • Benefits Of Ageing

    1730 Words  | 4 Pages

    In today’s society, what was once said to be true and taken as fact regarding older people is no longer the whole story. As Laslett states, “At all times before the middle of the twentieth century and all over the globe the greater part of human life potential has been wasted, by people dying before their allotted time was up.” (1989a), and to a great extent a lot

    Read More

  • Differences Between Aging And Aging

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    Aging has changed throughout history. The aging population has changed drastically over the course of past generations. Many people are living to a much older age. At this time in history, according to the film, anyone dying before the age of 80 is a premature death. 17% of the total population of the United States is elderly. This film shows how all the dramatic changes have happened in society involving the elderly not only effects the aging population, but they also affect everyone especially family life.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Family Relationships In Gran Torino

    1119 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gran Torino is a suspense film directed by Clint Eastwood, which portrays the relationship between a 78-year-old Koran war veteran and his neighbors who are from Laos. The main character, Walt is a racist who still has memories from the horrors of war and has a dislike for anyone, including his own family. After his young neighbor Thao is coerced by his cousin’s gang into stealing Walt’s prized Gran Torino, a unusual relationship forms between the pair. Walt starts to respect Thao and his culture while fulfilling a fatherly role that Thao is lacking. Eventually, Walt has to confront the gang knowing that the confrontation will end in his death. Apart from the stereotypical, get off my lawn quote, this film depicts the relationship of family concerning the care for older adults, the struggle with despair and meaning later in life, and the morality of a good death. This paper will address each of these themes.

    Read More

  • Interview With an Elderly Person

    2512 Words  | 6 Pages

    Aging and being old was dominated by negative characteristics and conditions such as illness, depression, and isolation for a long time (Eibach, Mock, & Courtney, 2010). At first glance the terms “success” and “aging” seem to be in conflict to each other. When asking people about aging, their answers have many facets that are also found in psychological definitions: successful aging is seen as health, maturity and personal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generativity, coping, and acceptance of age-related limitations. In the psychological sense successful aging is also often seen as the absence of age-associated characteristics (Strawbridge, Wallhagen, & Cohen, 2002). It seems that successful aging means is not aging.

    Read More

  • Stereotypes In Older Adults

    1879 Words  | 4 Pages

    In fact, there was a lecture where (Joshi, 2017b) provided an example of a negative stereotype of an older adult that was illustrated with toddler like features in a comic book. This example itself demonstrates how society makes fun of older adults, which relates to the cultural differences between the western society and their values compared to the teachings and values of the east. I could relate to stereotyping older adults stemming from differences in society because eastern society for example, places more emphasis on respecting elders while being more conservative because of their knowledge and experience in life, whereas some parts of the west may be more open to each other while communicating and allowing older adults to be the comedians of society for entertainment purposes which may not be the most considerate idea. Another good example that would debunk the fact that stereotypes should not be generalized across a group of people would be in the lecture where (Joshi, 2016c) explained that many older adults return to their hobbies or activities that they used to enjoy doing when they were younger which is an example of what the continuity theory would suggest. In short, I have changed my perspective on how I use my judgment when it comes to evaluating what the media or other sources put out for their audience such as

    Read More

More about Gran Torino and The Right Stuff

Open Document