Issues from Gran Torino

Gran Torino is such an interesting film partly because it brings up so many interesting questions and issues. Of course, movies are not merely a reflection of reality, but this one certainly does brings up a lot of hot-button issues in American culture today. I wrote down a lot of notes and questions and issues and invite everyone to speak to them:

• I'm very interested in the discussion of what it means to be a man and communicate like a man in this film. Walt tells Thao he needs to "man you up" and wants Thao to talk to the barber "like a real man." Now, I'm not a man. How do American men talk with one another? Is it all complaining about girlfriends, work, and cars? How do men from other cultures talk with one another? How is this communication different from when women are present? Since the Kettering class is on communicating across difference/cultures, I'd love to hear more about this!

• Walt's relationship with his family (oh those grandkids!) contrasts a great deal with his neighbor's family, where there are more than two generations in the household and they pretty much stick together. (Of course, this togetherness is incredibly complicated by the younger generation's relationships with their cousins.) Are these differences cultural? Do you think that the Hmong family difficulties (the relationship between the cousins) would've happened if they were not in the U.S., where gangs are prevalent in some areas? After all, the conflict between the cousins is that Thao will not join the gang/that he is going his own way rather than sticking with his cousin's sense of family. I wonder how often family and social pressure is part of gang life.

• This movie really touches me and makes me think about minority issues in the U.S. The outlook for the Hmong in that neighborhood is not good: at one point, Walt notes that Thao doesn't have a chance. Sue says Thao's situation is not unusual for Hmong in the U.S.: "the girls go to college; the boys go to jail." There are other minority populations in the U.S. where the outlook, especially for males, is not good. How much of this -- and the tendency to gang life -- is because of lack of opportunities for young men to find a sense of manhood outside of gang life? Imagine what Thao's life would look like if he didn't have Walt next door -- I can't help imagining all the young men like Thao who end up in gangs because they don't have someone who will help them and show them a different model of what it means to be a man.

• Finally, of course I'm interested in the issues of racism and cross cultural mixing in this film. Walt says very racist and offensive things about most groups -- and early on he tells Sue that she should "stay with her own kind" (which is ironic because it's her "own kind" -- the Hmong -- who end up hurting her the most). We come to find out that Walt speaks in this very racist way even to his friends (the barber, his construction friend). But he also comes around to saying that he feels closer to his Hmong neighbors than he does to his family. Of course, by the end, Walt gives his life for Thao and his family, clearly demonstrating that no matter what he thinks of Hmong, Asians in general, or whatever, he clearly does not hate his neighbors. So does Walt's attitude toward Hmong, Asians, etc. change? Racism is usually defined as hatred toward a specific racial or ethnic group, saying that Walt is racist or not racist seems too easy. Certainly, Walt sounds like a racist. What is racism to you -- and how do you know someone is racist?