Gran Torino

Introduction


Racism and prejudice are something that will never go away unfortunately, and for Walt Kowalski, he lived it. He lived in a tough Michigan neighborhood. He was the only Caucasian left in his neighborhood and he did not like the people that were moving in. The Asian neighbors that moved in next door felt the same way about him. Throughout the movie you see the change in the way Walt Kowalski started to feel about his neighbors and how he wanted to help out and clean up his neighborhood.

Cultural Conflicts

In the beginning of the movie they are in a church at Walt’s wife’s funeral. According to Walt, his wife was a church-going person and he went strictly for her. Father Janovich told Walt that he made a promise to his wife to look out for him and that she told him she wanted Walt to go to confession. The conflict is where Walt’s wife was religious, Walt was not. Walt says to Father Janovich “I confess that I have no desire to confess to a boy who is just out of the seminary.” (Gran Torino, 2008) This is apparent throughout the movie as Father Janovich tries several times to reach out to Walt and get him to go to confession.

The other conflict is between Walt and the Hmongs. The neighbors have obvious dislike for one another. He uses racial slurs like “gook” or “zipper head” when he refers to his neighbors. Walt then finds himself fending people off of his lawn while at the same time helping the boy next door by protecting him from a gang. He is then looked upon as a hero in the neighborhood. The neighbors start bringing him gifts and Walt just wants to be left alone. This starts his journey in learning to understand the Hmong culture. According to Martin and Nakayama (2011) “Cultural differences between groups often cause conflicts and misunderstandings.”



Pop Culture

One example of pop culture is Walt’s like for American vehicles. Walt worked for years in the Ford factory and his son sells foreign models. As his son is leaving driving away to go home after the funeral Walt says, “Would it kill you to buy American?” (Gran Torino, 2008) I believe this is an example of pop culture because a lot of people feel it is better to buy American. It supports America where buying foreign does not.

Another example of pop culture is when Sue Lor was walking with her Caucasian friend. The two were walking along and talking when they ran into a gang. Suddenly he was talking like he was in a gang with phrases like, “It’s cool dawg” and “It’s all good bro”. These are popular phrases among young people and a part of pop culture today.



Conclusion of film

Of course there could have been different ways to end the film, but this made the most sense. In the film Walt kept spitting up blood and he went to the doctor. Though they never said in the film I assumed he was told he was dying, possibly of cancer. Walt knew the only way to get the gang away from Sue and Thao was to make sure they were locked up for a very long time. I watched how Walt finally went to confession, bought a new tailor made suit and got a straight edge shave at the barber. Walt knew he was going to die to help his neighbors have a better life. So after he locked Thao in his basement he drove down to where the gang lived. Walt made sure that was a lot of witnesses and after talking to the gang for a few minutes he went into his jacket for a light for his cigarette. The gang thought he was drawing for a weapon and shot him dead. Walt sacrificed his own life so Thao can have one.

Even though I would have not re-written the ending my conflict management strategy would have been that I would have done my best to try to talk to the gang directly to try to solve any issues, because unless somebody moved away that gang was not going away. In fact, that is what Walt was trying to do is discuss the problem with the gang only to be killed by gun fire. In a situation like the neighborhood was in sometimes maybe its best just to avoid the situation, but if you do that you will always be looking over your shoulder.

Feelings for film

Overall I thought Gran Torino was an excellent movie. Clint Eastwood showed Cultural conflict in many ways. I do think there are people that do live in that type of environment with the racism and the hatred and I do think that is really sad. What I liked about the film was how Walt changed throughout the movie and instead of feeling hatred for Thao and his family he was trying to help them. When the gang would try to start a fight Walt would be there to break it up. There was not much about the film I did not like. It bothered me every time Thao was bullied by that gang. Thao was trying to be a good person and trying to make a life for himself and the gang led by his cousin would not leave him alone and at one point put a lit cigarette to his cheek. I can best identify with Thao. Thao was a quiet person who just wanted to make a better life for himself. The character that best represented me was Father Janovich. I felt like Walt should have called the police for help. Though I am Jewish and Father Janovich is not, we both are religious people who believe in faith and God.













References



Martin & Nakayama, (2011) Experiencing Intercultural Communication. New York: McGraw-Hill



Schenk, N. & Eastwood, C. (2008). Gran Torino