gran torino is an excellent film. and, it really does seem to be the role that clint eastwood was made to play. however, i could have done without hearing him sing the closing song.
i don't want to go into a lot of details or really retell you the movie. you need to go and see it. enjoy the story. enjoy the characters.
what's got me thinking is the role that race, stereotype and language play in the film. eastwood plays a crotchety old guy. he frequently uses racial slurs. now, i'm an adult, and hear all sorts of language. i'm not offended by the language. it's just odd to hear people chuckle and seem to enjoy the slurs. i don't expect them to gasp or storm out (in fact i would make fun of them for doing that). just don't seem to enjoy them so much please.
3 comments:
i agree it was sad to hear people laugh at certain slurs during the movie, but it's to be expected when you're pulling in such a large audience. i bet most of those people left the theater more open-minded than when they entered.
gran torino is a great movie that will get comparisons to crash for it's honest look at race relations. and props to the writers and eastwood for an insightful portrayal of the hmong experience, and that of many other new immigrants, in urban america.
I must admit that I laughed at the racial slurs, but mostly it was when Walt was talking to his friends. I immediately connected it to my own grandfather, who besides being a poor Irish farm boy, moved from Oklahoma during the dust bowl and was made fun of by his friends for this until the day he died. Throwing back Pollack jokes to his Polish friends was accepted in his generation.
Not that I'm saying I wish it was still acceptable, because that's absolutely not it. But back then it was, just different I guess.
sure, i think it's that uneasy tension of understanding, knowing your own experiences, and handling it in different ways. i understand where walt was coming from, and the racism of others in the movie. i get it. and i think maybe it makes me a little uncomfortable when we start seeing the racism in our own lives/hearts/language.
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