Gran Torino Film Analysis

Gran Torino Film Analysis
Introduction
From the beginning of time, man has had to deal with conflict. “One thing we can be sure of is that conflict is unavoidable. Conflicts are happening all around the world, as they always have, and at many different levels” (Martin and Nakayama, 2011, pg. 224). Conflicts are not exclusive to one part of the world or one race, but rather they are inherent to all mankind. This week’s writing assignment required that we view the film, Gran Torino starring and directed by Clint Eastwood. We are to observe and report our observations of the conflicts in the film as well as the pop culture elements presented by the piece.

Cultural Conflicts
In the film, Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) is a bigot. He has the underlying problem of dealing with his bigotry. Walt, like so many racist people, is multifaceted. Meaning all racist people are not necessarily “bad” people, just as not all non racist people are “good” people. For instance, in the film Walt observes the character Sue (Bee Vang) being harassed by a group of African Americans on the street. Walt sees this injustice and stops to pick up Sue to make sure she comes to no harm. Through this chance encounter, Walt begins to slowly see Sue as not just an oriental girl, but as a girl. I would describe this conflict as interpersonal in nature, mainly because it deals with Walt’s own battles and personal demons.
Also presented in the film are the warring gangs of the city. Each gang has the notion that they are better than the other, strictly due to their race. They bully and violently threaten the lives of each other, including their own family, in order to command respect and show their dominance of their area. Seemingly, the only justification for these conflicts is due to the gangs misunderstanding of each others ethnicity due to stereotyping (Martin and Nakayama, 2011, pg. 234).
Finally, in the film Thao and Walt develop a friendship through a set of unfortunate events. Over the course of the development of this friendship, Walt and Thao attempt to “rub off on each other.” Walt and Thao have trouble identifying with the each other because of the age barrier, rather than the race barrier. Walt tries to show Thao how, for lack of a better term, the “good ole’ boys” speak to each other. Walt takes Thao to the barber shop where insults and racist remarks are the norm. They don’t mean any ill will toward each other; this is simply how they talk. Personally, I feel this is due to a difference in values rather than culture in general. In my personal experience, a friend of mine when I was in high school used to greet every buddy of his with, “Hey you son of a bitch” just before he gave you a high five or shook your hand. It was simply the way he talked. He didn’t hold the same value on the meaning of what he was saying as those that may have been around him.

Popular Culture
In Gran Torino, I feel there are several examples of pop culture. The first example is the use of the church. The church in the film represents redemption and hope for Walt. I would define the church as pop culture because it is made popular by the people through the appeal of the church. (Martin and Nakayama, 2011, pg. 202)
The second example would be the use of racial slurs. The terms “gook”, “spook”, and many others litter the films dialogue. The slurs are used both with negative connotations and as terms of endearment. The main offender of the piece, Walt, slowly grows to stop using the terms, almost to the point that he stops completely. I defined this as pop culture because of the wide spread use of these terms. The use of the terms rarely is generated by the group of people they are used to describe. Many people who were alive during segregation and in the immediate years after don’t think twice about referring to someone of another ethnicity as “colored” or some other equally archaic term.

Ending: Gran Torino
I found the ending of the film to be quite noble in nature. Walt gives his life so that the Hmong gang will be seen for what it is. Walt has completed his character arc of growing from a racist to a citizen of the world. The ending brought an end to all the aforementioned cultural conflicts. Was it the best way the situation could have been handled? I can’t honestly answer that question completely. I personally feel that what Walt did was brave and noble, but would I have been able to do the same thing, would I have had the gall to take all the steps he did? I don’t know. For example, being an amateur Titanic historian, I’ve often hoped that I could have been brave enough to step back and allow the women and children into the boats, but until one is faced with that very problem, it is purely conjecture. Character is what comes out when no one is looking and there is no time to react. I would hope that I would measure up. Personally I would think that there would be enough evidence to get the police in on the act, without having to sacrifice Walt. Sue’s rape would have left DNA evidence. The bullets from the guns could have been traced in theory. I would probably have let the situation cool as much as possible, then seen what action needed to be taken. According to Conan (1998):
The key to effective cross-cultural communication is knowledge. First, it is essential that
people understand the potential problems of cross-cultural communication, and make a
conscious effort to overcome these problems. Second, it is important to assume that one’s
efforts will not always be successful, and adjust one’s behavior appropriately. (Pg,1)

Overall Feelings/Conclusion
I personally loved the film. I found it to be a jewel of the cinema. My father-in-law actually purchased this film for me a couple of years ago. We haven’t had the time to sit down and watch it together, so in doing this assignment we made the time. I don’t know that there was much of anything that I disliked about the film. I found the actions of the characters and the language used necessary to make the point that the filmmakers were trying to make. The character I found myself identifying with the most was actually Thao. All my life I’ve actually been pretty passive. I’ve been pressured into doing things I’m not proud of, but mostly I would consider myself a good person. Thao just wants to be happy. He’s not looking for trouble, in fact, trouble finds him. Overall, I cannot express my gratitude for this assignment. It allowed me to, not only take a break from normal weekly class protocol, but also make the time to finally sit down and enjoy this film.











References
Conan, C. (1998) Cross-Cultural Communication Strategies Conflict Research Consortium.
Eastwood, C., Gerber, B., Lorenz, R. (Producers), & Eastwood, C. (Director). (2008). Gran Torino [ Motion picture]. United States: Warner Bros. Pictures.
Martin, Judith N. and Thomas K. Nakayama. Experiencing Intercultural
Communication. 4th. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011.