Gran Torino free essay sample

Gran Torino (2008) is a drama that revolves around an old, recently widowed Korean War veteran that appears disillusioned from the modern world and is alienated from his family and seemingly bitter towards everyone. By an at-first shaky relationship with his Hmong neighbors, Walt develops a connection with them and goes through a revelation of sorts about his life and eventually makes the ultimate sacrifice for a young Hmong boy. Sixteen Candles, on the other hand, is a coming of age story of a young teenage girl, Sam, and her journey through high school. Sam is seen as very insecure and unsatisfied with her love life but eventually is able to attract the boy of her dreams, as we see them embrace, in the now romantic comedy cliche. Although seemingly polar opposites, these two movies both offer interesting depictions of Asian Americans and in particular Asian American males. Gran Torino has a flux of Asian American characters, while Sixteen Candles only has one Asian American character, Long Duk Dong. We will write a custom essay sample on Gran Torino or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Both movies demonstrate a sense of white masculinity and in effect deems the Asian ethnicity as a weaker/less suitable counterpart. Despite both of the movie’s motivations, the Hmong people and Long Duk Dong are both portrayed in the stereotypical representation of Asian Americans. Gran Torino, as mentioned above, focuses on an old war veteran who displays his misanthropy to the world and his family shortly after his wife’s death. His own family is shown as jaded and superficial and Walt seems to have no desire to have a healthy relationship with them. Walt is displayed as the archetype of white masculinity compared to the weaker representations displayed by Walt’s two sons and the young, naive priest. We see Walt, drinking beers on his porch, annoyed by the changing racial landscape of his own neighborhood. There are hints of the town being a previous auto industry hotbed, but now seems to have lost its former glory. The change of the town seems to mirror Walt’s change as well, former glorified war veteran into a bitter old man. With the changing racial landscape of the neighborhood, Walt seems like the minority, but in the lone white patriarchal type of way. His â€Å"superiority† is displayed in a number of ways, such as how his house and lawn are meticulous in comparison to his Hmong neighbors. The Hmong houses are shown as neglected and, in general, a mess compared to the neat, well-kept house of Walt. As we move into the crux of the story, the Hmong neighbors come to the forefront, particularly Thao and his sister Sue. Although at first it may seem like a move in a positive direction to have Asian characters as main characters, their depictions quickly make you think otherwise. Both Thao and Sue are seen as weak and unable to take care of themselves without Walt. Walt, in two particular instances, comes in and â€Å"saves† Thao and Sue from groups of threatening thugs. This is a common theme in the movie, as Walt is depicted as the savior until the very end. Thao, initially chastised by Walt, falls under his wing after attempting to steal his car for initiation into a Hmong gang. Thao seems to be a common Asian American male stereotype: quiet, weak and the complete opposite of the alpha-male type that Clint Eastwood portrays. This is evident in how Walt seemingly has so much to teach him, from things like work ethic to simply how to talk to other men. Thao is the effeminate â€Å"model minority† Asian American that we see is so common in U. S. media. He is presented as â€Å"The Yellow Peril†, â€Å"in the United States, Asia and America-East and West-are viewed as mutually exclusive binaries. Within this exclusive binary system, Asian Americans, even as citizens, are designated Asians, not Americans. Characterizing Asian American as â€Å"permanent house-guests in the house of America, Asian Americans are put in the niche of the unassimilable alien. † (Espiritu Y. , pg 100, 1997) Even though Thao and his family seems to have been in America for some time, the movie and Walt presents them as foreigners that have yet to assimilate to culture here and in turn are in desperate need of Walt’s guidance to survive. Despite the large Hmong cast, there is a peculiar absence of any Hmong characters who are not shown as weak or an evil criminal. Walt is the only visible male character that seems to have Gran Torino free essay sample This film demonstrates that even though people can start off with a bitter view of life due to adverse past events, they can overcome their bitterness by finding others that they can relate to and sacrificing themselves to save others. Eastwood’s characterization of Walt Kowalski at the beginning of the story highlights that a death of a loved one, ungrateful descendants and adverse past events causes a negative view of the world. Initially, Walt already appears to be in misery. He seems to be uneasy at the opening scene, which is rational because he is at his wife’s funeral. However, he mostly seems uneasy and resentful towards his family. At first, the movie suggests he is unhappy because his family is anything but genuine and caring towards Walt. His son and daughter try to convince him into looking for nursing homes on his birthday, and his granddaughter is only interested in Walt’s car, the Gran Torino. We will write a custom essay sample on Gran Torino or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Walt a Korean War Veteran is living a changing neighbourhood. He is guilty of killing thirteen Koreans, one of them was a young man trying to surrender. Because of the events that took place during the Korean War, Walt has a lot of guilt and regret. This is shown during the scene when Tao is wondering, what it is like to kill someone and Walt replies, â€Å"You don’t want to know†. Walt is not proud his actions, which is why he keeps a medal in the basement where it is not seen by others. During the end of the film, Walt finally says, â€Å"You want to know what it’s like to kill a man? Well its god damn awful that’s what it is†¦yeah some scared little guy like you. This seen proves that throughout his life, he was haunted by this one particular action. Walt does not know how to interact with others because they have not been through the same circumstances that he has been through so shuts everyone out of his life to isolate himself. Walt’s door to his house symbolizes his heart; he does not allow anyone to come into his heart because he might do something that could scare him again like killing a young man trying to surrender. If Walt cares for someone, it may become difficult for him to cope with the pain of losing someone. So he pushes everyone away by being a racist, cranky old man. Walt’s view of the world is very negative because of adversity and the guilt of his irreversible actions. However Walt Kowalski experiences the companionship of his neighbours which starts to alter his view about life. Walt is initially a deeply racist man who calls Tao â€Å"zipperhead† and assumes that Hmongs â€Å"eat dogs†. His attitude towards Hmong’s starts to change after he saves Sue from the three gangbangers. While they are in Walt’s truck. Sue discusses the reason why the Hmongs moved to America. She also says that Hmong’s fought with the United States. Walt is starting to realize that Hmongs are not that bad. A little bit later on the film, the Hmong gangbangers try to take Tao away and covert him into one of them but Walt saves Tao`s life by scaring away the gangbangers. Walt does not care for Tao yet, he only saved Tao because the gangbangers were on Walt`s lawn and he wanted them off it. Due to Walt`s actions Tao`s family shows gratitude and showers Walt with food and gifts. Sue considers Walt as a friend because he saved her and her brother Tao. Walt is still very bitter towards Sue and the rest of the Hmong people. Sue invites Walt to the barbecue but Walt is not looking forward to it. When walt arrives and starts to interact with others, he realizes that he has â€Å"more in common with the Hmongs then his own family†. Walt’s perspective begins to change as Sue introduces him to her family. As the film progress Walt starts to feel more comfortable around Sure and the others. Tao’s family forcefully volunteer Tao to work for Walt because Tao had tried to steal Walt’s Gran Torino. Even though Walt initially has a negative view of the world, it alters as he socializes and becomes more personal with the people he once despised. Ultimately Walt realizes he has been viewing his neighbours in the wrong light. He chooses to turn to them in his time of need to begin a personal relationship. Walt Kowalski is seen coughing out blood, and he discovers that he is dying. At this point he tries to connect with his family but fails to tell them about his condition. Because of his disrespectful family, he turns to his neighbour in the time of need. This is shown during the scene when Walt heads over to Tao and asks for his help to move his refrigerator out of the basement. Walt sells the refrigerator for less than half of what he was going to sell it to a stranger. Walt also mans Tao up and gets him a job in construction. They have a father and son relationship. One day the Hmong gangbangers catch Tao and physically assault him. This causes Walt to react with violence, such as threatening one of the gangbangers to leave Tao alone. Because of Walt’s actions, the gangbangers react with violence towards Tao and the rest of Hmong family members. Walt recognizes that as long as the gangbangers are around, Tao and his family cannot be brought to peace until the gangbangers leave. Because of the soldier inside of Walt, he has to save Tao because Tao has a future. Walt sacrifices himself in front of the gangbangers’ house with witnesses. This results to the gangbangers getting arrested and leaving the neighbourhood for good. Walt also does this because he feels guilty for killing a young helpless man during the Korean War. Walt sacrifices himself to bring peace to himself and the rest of the neighbourhood. Through Walt Kowalski’s journey, Clint Eastwood has shown that adversity causes a negative point of view of others, but when they find companionship, it can be altered. Eventually their past may cause them to sacrifice themselves to save others and bring peace to themselves. Gran Torino free essay sample The film Gran Torino is a very inspiring and serious film about a widower Walt Kowalski, a Vietnam veteran who after his wife dies becomes isolated from his family and community. Left as the only remaining white male in his neighborhood he becomes prejudice and bias towards the Hmong family that has moved in next door. The community becomes flushed with violence and gangs and he is forced to deal with the changes. The film touches on so many different aspects of Interpersonal Communications. Not only does it focus on the differences between micro cultures in Walt’s community but also on aspects such as stereotyping, standpoint theory and the halo effect. Stereotyping is one of the obvious themes provided in the film. A stereotype is a set of inaccurate, generalizations about a group. Often time’s stereotypes are an overly bias and oversimplified opinion or image. When the Hmong family moves in next door, Walt stereotypes them as unfit for his neighborhood. We will write a custom essay sample on Gran Torino or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He looks at their untidy yard and grimaces, as his yard is spotless and well kept. Being a Vietnam veteran Walt views the white race as superior and dominant. The Hmong family is viewed as barbaric culture in his eyes. Another theory provided in the Film â€Å"Gran Torino† is the stand-point theory. This theory concerns the authority made by peoples knowledge and the power such authority has to shape peoples opinions in daily life. This theorys most important concept is that a person’s own perspectives are shaped by their experiences in social locations and social groups. Walt has spent years in the Vietnam war and was conditioned to respond quickly and violently to certain situations. When Sue and Tao, Walt’s neighbors were being harassed by the Hmong gang outside of his property his first reaction was to reach for his gun and threaten the gang to get off his lawn or he will shoot. In his perspective his reaction and actions were correct because he was conditioned in the war to react that way. While the priest who was assigned to what over Walt by his wife before she passed did not agree on his actions and told him he was wrong. Walt’s stand point will always remain the same. The halo effect is another theme in the film â€Å"Gran Torino†. The halo effect is a mental bias in which ones judgments of a person’s character can be influenced by ones overall impression of him or her. The best example of this would be Walt’s neighbor Tao. In the beginning of the film Walt does not like Tao for many reasons. One of the obvious reasons is Walt caught Tao trying to steal his gran torino as part of a gang initiation. Walt’s impression of Tao is viewed as a weak and uneducated boy. Walt gets this impression from watching Tao in many situations. When the Hmong gang comes to Taos house trying to get him to join the gang he doesn’t stand up for himself. Tao has little self-esteem and doesn’t think very highly of himself. Walt watches as Tao gets harassed by the Hmong gang day by day. In another reason why he views Tao this way is because he refuses to ask a girl who likes him out on a date. This causes Walt’s impression of Tao to be negative. The film carried many themes about cultural differences and interpersonal communications. The film has a positive effect on its viewers. In the end of the film Walt ends up becoming friends to Sue and Tao and more or less like a father figure to both of them. He becomes wrapped up in the Hmong family’s life and ultimately sacrifices himself to keep them safe.