Movie/Television

Essay: Movie/television
By: Chloé Reiss

Race and Ethnic Relations
Gran Torino, by Clint Eastwood

Directed by Clint Eastwood, the drama movie entitled Gran Torino was produced in 2008 and rapidly became a worldwide success. Gran Torino is a crude movie based on the theme of opposition in between vengeance and justice.
The main character, Walter Kowalski is a Korean War Veteran living on his own since his wife just passed away. His son tried to convince him to move out of his house but Walter refused all offers to enter a retirement community. The experience of his past has had a strong impact on his view of people and the world in general, which makes him constantly angry. Remorse and traumatism of his time and actions during the War in Korea keep tormenting him. Walter, like many other veterans has this feeling he would never rest in peace. Since the loss of his wife, Kowalski has become introverted and he does not do any efforts to socialize with people surrounding him. Not only limiting contacts with his family, he also does not get along with the community of his neighborhood. He owns a house in Highland Park in Michigan where most inhabitants used to be working-class white families. Ravaged by the industrial crisis, Walter’s neighborhood is more and more populated by Asian immigrants. During the movie, various clashes in between people from different ethnic groups gives reflection to the inevitable phenomenon of mutation in America. More than immigration, economy, religion, war, and the value of work play a central role in the story.
A Hmong family is living next door and Kowalski is rejecting all approach of sympathy from them. Constantly insulting, Kowalski does not interact with non-white people without using offensive racist words. As a result of such behavior, not everyone gets along in the neighborhood and violence is continuous. The cold personality of Kowalski and his constant mumbling emphasize the distance he creates with his Hmong neighbors at the beginning of the movie. As in many other suburbs of the United States, the atmosphere in Walter’s neighborhood is not serene and gangs keep spreading fear and violence. Such issues bring up the cause of social identity that is not always easy to be found for immigrants in the host country. “Because their language, appearance, and cultural background often made them conspicuous, the newcomers were categorically identified and judged as a group rather than as individuals” (Parillo, 149).

Two other characters who play an important role in the movie are Sue and Thao, two siblings of the family next door. They both live in between their traditional customs at home and the American educational environment they grew up in.
Exposing the contrast in between two different cultures in a same country, the movie interestingly exposes the variability in the U.S social structure. “The social structure of an immigrant group’s country of origin, then, may help explain both nationalistic sentiment and social interaction with others in the adopted country” (Parillo, 152).

One day a cousin of the family who is a gang member tries to recruit Thao as one of them. Under fear and pressure, Thao is forced to do what he is asked to. Few nights later, Kowalski catches him while he was trying to steal his Gran Torino car. He kicked him out of his garage, pointing at him with a gun. Few days later, the whole Hmong family knew what happened and Thao had to go over to Walt’s house to apologize.
Through such drama, the movie tells us a lot about the Hmong culture. In fact, in the Hmong culture, when someone apologizes he/she needs to be punished. A good way to be forgiven is to work couple days at the disposal of the person concerned. Therefore, Thao spent couple days rebuilding a roof in favor to Walter. Every morning, all members of the Hmong family would leave all kind of goods on the stairs of his porch to thank him for his understanding. At first, Walter kept complaining about it and expressing his annoyance by mumbling, “it is enough, it is enough”. However little by little he started to accept the gifts and understand the cultural significance of their gesture.
At that point of the movie, Walter is starting to feel affection for Thao and Sue and accept them for who they are. Unwilling to do so, Walt plays the role of a second father for Thao. In fact, while trying to get him a job, Walt teaches Thao how to act ‘like a real man’. Learning the ‘male way of speaking’, Thao is being taught what masculinity according to a White man is, which is an example of stereotype.
On a Sunday, Sue invited him to come over for lunch and Walt who was the only White person in the house, finally expressed some interest and respect for the Hmong culture despite the language barrier. During this scene, the movie presents a big Hmong family, from grandparents to grandsons living all together in one same house for economic purpose. Most of the family members do not speak English and the main reason why Sue and Thao are perfectly bilinguals is because of their school education.
Even if at the beginning of the movie, it seems obvious that Walt does not assimilate himself to the Hmong people, the comic irony of the movie shows similitude from both sides.
At the end of the movie, Walter plans his own murder in order to save Thao and his family from the gangs. In fact at the end of the movie, the gang’s members shoot him and finally get arrested.
I thought really interesting how each character in the movie incarnates stereotyped views of people according to their origin and the environment they live in.

Source:
Parrillo, V. (2008). Understanding Race and Ethnic Relations (3ed). Pearsons Education, Inc.