Among five movies I have seen during 12 weeks of learning American studies, it can be said that “Gran Torino”, directed by Clint Eastwood, is the most enchanting one taking an unbiased look at race issues. Personally, I believe that the film successfully illustrates racial stereotypes and discrimination against Asian American through Walt Kowalski’s attitude; the character of Thao - Sue and the depiction of Thao’s family, along with the Hmong community. Additionally, “Gran Torino” also unfolds a beautiful picture of friendship overcoming racism and true family values at its finest.
First, the main character Walt Kowalski, played by Eastwood, is a Korean war veteran and a former auto worker at Ford as well as the owner of a 1972 Ford Gran Torino.
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As a White stereotype, he is a racial bigot who views all Asian as the same and it is obvious that he cannot distinguish the Koreans he fought in the 1950s from the Hmong people. Continuing to live in a predominantly Asian neighbourhood after the loss of his wife, Walt’s attitude towards minorities seems very prejudice and closed-minded with daily racist vocabulary such as “swamp rats, zipper heads, chinks, gooks, fish heads and slopes, etc.”[1]. In my opinion, Walt does not personally know his neighbours like many of us who do not actually know people throughout our daily lives. In fact, our culture tends to judge others’ profile or stereotype just by a glance and our first impression often guides us to make the decision not to interact with that person. Like the Gran Torino of the by-gone age, Walt’s attitude seems never to change, in a world that alters every day. However, the film takes a twist when Walt’s life takes an unexpected turn after Thao, a shy teenage boy living next door and his sister – Sue, which gradually affects the bitter cold war veteran’s racist view.
In “Gran Torino”, Thao is portrayed as a timid Asian American boy who does not know how to talk to girls and has to stay at home instead of being at school like his sister. As the film unfolds, Thao is cajoled by a gang into trying to steal the Gran Torino but he is caught by Walt and his mother requires him to do chores for Walt to make amends for what he commits. This seemingly senseless action is actually the catalyst bringing these two diverse personalities together when the older white man teaches Thao various things in life and how to become a real man. Furthermore, the film even portrays that Asian American are model minorities with the appearance of Thao’s sister – Sue, “though enduring various levels of tragedy in the film, serves as the family anchor. Smarter, confident and more outgoing than Thao, she drives much of the film”.[2] Sue is grateful to Walt for rescuing her from a group of black gang members. Therefore, she begins to win over the heart of cold, reserved Walt who hates Asian people by inviting him to a family barbeque on his birthday and letting him know that he is still a good man. It is right from those moments that Walt slowly gets to know the Hmong family and they seem to become more of a family to him than his relatives. I believe that many …show more content…
people are racist because someone or something gives them the idea that an entire race has a negative light. Once they ignore the natural or purposeful prejudice and let their guard down they will realize there are still great people around them. Last but not least, the depiction of Thao’s family and the Hmong community are truly worth mentioning here.
The Hmongs are immigrants who are vulnerable in an unfamiliar, foreign world but at home, they have strength coming from their family unity and the traditional values that even the children respect. From outside, the Hmongs’ lawn may be dirty with weeds and the paint is peeling off their house; however; inside it is always packed with the multiple generations of their big family gatherings with huge casseroles of foods. It can be claimed that Walt protects them with his fists and guns, but it is the strength of the Hmong family unity that renews him. They show him that the family values he thought were gone for good are still alive, which is the reason why he says, “Christ, I have more in common with these gooks than my own family”[3]. However, in contrast to them, the Hmong gang in the movie portrays the dark side when aiming at main victims appears to be members of their own ethnic minority. After trying to coax Thao into joining the gang in vain and getting beaten as well as threatened by Walt, they brutally open fire on Thao's home in retaliation and kidnap and rape Sue. “Gran Torino” ends with Walt confronting the gangbang when he goes to settle the situation, the gang members assume he is reaching a gun and mow him down with their weapons. As the neighbours witness the shooting, the Hmong gang is arrested and even though Walt dies, he does it for the benefit of
Thao and Sue. In the end, Walt realizes the two of them would never live without being bothered so long as the gang was able to get to them. In brief, I believe what gives the film its formidable strength is the way Walt struggles with his prejudice, a White racist bigot, has his heart changed by his experience of mixing and interacting with the American Asian Hmong people. I think this is the central part of the film, well hidden behind a veneer of relentless racism and stereotyping. The film redeems itself from the inside out, providing its exterior is not allowed to obscure its humanist message. And the fact that racism and humanism can be delivered at the sometime within the same film, is the exact genius of the film.
Better race relations may be a tough task, but “Crash” shows how lives can cross paths at any time and the impact it can have. The consequences of incidents involving race in “Crash” may not be the same as the consequences of real life, but the eye-opening nature of the film may be beneficial to society in many ways. Works Cited Di Massa, C M. (2006, March 2). Different views of race in L.A. collide in crash'. Los Angeles Times, p. 2.
The first social issue portrayed through the film is racial inequality. The audience witnesses the inequality in the film when justice is not properly served to the police officer who executed Oscar Grant. As shown through the film, the ind...
In the movie “crash” people from different racial group crash in to each other and at least two of the characters come to recognize how their prejudice and stereotyping is based on their accidental encounter with members of other social groups.
This demonstrates to us that no matter how much your legal or moral laws are violated, what matters is how you as an individual react to the situation, justly or unjustly. This movie is centered around the notion that if you are a person of ethnic background, that alone is reason for others to forsake your rights, although in the long run justice will prevail
The movie Crash was directed by Paul Haggis is a powerful film that displays how race is still a sociological problem that affects one 's life. It also focuses on how we should not stereotype people based on their color because one may come out wrong in the end. Stereotyping is a major issue that is still happening in today 's society and seems to only be getting worse. This movie is a great way to see the daily life and struggle of other races and see how racism can happen to anyone, not just African Americans which seems to only be seen in the news and such.
The main stereotype in this movie is that Asian men only care about their jobs and their careers and little else. That the Asian man will go through great sacrifice to get to the top of the business that they work for. From beginning to end, many white families are portrayed in the movie showing that the American people have family values. Yet absent through the whole course of the picture is any Asian man with his family. This signifies that the Asian group does not have time, nor wants to make time to have a family life because they are trying to succeed in business. The Asian boss in the film wanted the results to his li...
At its best, Crash as a microcosm of America’s racial climate. It emphasizes and upholds many of the country’s beliefs on race, and shows true stereotypes that plague the minds of some people today. Individually, each of the films characters, develop generalizations show some type of discrimination or racial aspect that we can learn from.
As a fan of cinema, I was excited to do this project on what I had remembered as a touching portrait of racism in our modern society. Writer/Director Paul Haggis deliberately depicts his characters in Crash within the context of many typical ethnic stereotypes that exist in our world today -- a "gangbanger" Latino with a shaved head and tattoos, an upper-class white woman who is discomforted by the sight of two young Black kids, and so on -- and causes them to rethink their own prejudices during their "crash moment" when they realize the racism that exists within themselves. This movie does provoke a dialogue on race that, according to author and journalist Jeff Chang, "has been anathema to Hollywood after 9/11. " During the first viewing of this movie, the emotionally charged themes of prejudice and racism are easy to get caught up in. (125) Privilege is inclined to white males through every facet of our everyday lives that inconspicuously creates racism through classism.
Not all African Americans are thugs and people that do not work. A lot of them have successful careers and have put in the time and effort to have good work ethic and be good people. African Americans have had a difficult history in the American film industry. During the early 20th century of filmmaking, blacks were stereotyped as not worthy of being in films, and they were only certain types of characters such as servants, mammies, and butlers. From several decades of filmmaking, African Americans have been sought out to be trouble makers, incapables, intellectually limited, and also lazy. Although blacks have won Academy Awards for acting, screenwriting, and music production they still find trouble in getting quality roles within the film industry. (Common Black Stereotypes)
...ilms such as Fast & Furious with a critical eye, it’s clear that the recurrent racialized stereotypes that are commonly portrayed in action films are directly contributing to and reflecting the materialization of stereotypes in our culture. Although films may be posed as superficial or mindless, they cannot be viewed passively without questioning what was seen. Even a film that is meant to be made for fun or entertainment can reject stereotypes and challenge the mainstream ideologies of what we think we know about people based on race. Media characterizations have real life repercussions, and the characters in Fast & Furious honestly could have been presented without resorting to stereotypes and racial hierarchies. Once you keep an open eye for these stereotypes, you simply can’t stop seeing them. Media is not apolitical, not neutral, and definitely not arbitrary.
The film Gran Torino directed by Client Eastwood challenges The issues of stereotypes through the attributes of contemporary assumptions of status, gender and ethnicity. Exploring the themes of absence of a male dominate figure, enabling protagonist Theo to be a feminine figure exploits the idea of gender portrays the Hmong men to be stereotyped.Ethnicity and status also express multiple meanings through the cinematography and the Hollywood narrative style illustrates many representation of the western and eastern cultures These key terms gender, ethnicity and status all intertwine with each other during the entire film. The Hmong culture have been stereotyped by the western culture concerning that the American way is the only way which evidently challenges the ideas and ideologies of the Hmong society. the film illustrates the idea of realism but underlines the factor that cultures outside of America should obtain the manners and ideas of an American to survive in society. there is clear indication that classical Hollywood narrative, mis en scene and cinematography style can support stereotypes about gender, ethnicity and status.
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.
Clint Eastwood’s film “Gran Torino” traces the end of the life of Walt Kowalski. He has recently gone through a lot – the death of his beloved wife, his distant relationship with his son, his emotional scars from the Korean War and his bad health. All these things stop him from living a proper life. He doesn’t care about himself much – he smokes even though he is sick, he doesn’t eat a lot, he refuses to confess even though that was his wife’s last wish. However, all this changes when he meets the Hmong Family that lives next door. At the beginning he detests them because of their similarity to the Koreans, but later, as he gets to know them, they become the family that he was never able to have. The story traces the psychological changes in Walt’s character due to his unusual bond with the Hmong family, which changes are one of the main strengths of the film.
(4) Conventional is easy. Whenever an idea is generally perceived by society as standard or traditional it becomes very easy to display to the public without the raise of an eyebrow. This is the basis on which stereotypes appear in films. You’d think in the 21st century where what once were radical notions like same sex marriage and recreational drug use are being legalized that something uncalled for like the constant portrayal of character stereotyping would come to an end. Alas, stereotypical characters continue to emerge in film and unfortunately have become a staple of Hollywood because they’re simple and straightforward, requiring little effort on the part of the writers or thinking from the audience.
Two Caucasian police officers come to odds as one uses his authority to unnecessarily pull over a couple who they believe is biracial and therefore wrong. Throughout the entire film race, this is one of the most prominent themes. The film shows that racism is not one sided as the characters themselves are Caucasian, black, Persian, Iranian, and Hispanic. The film shows that race assumptions are not something that is just in existence, but rather society builds up these prejudices and ideas.