Preview

Food And Water In The Film, Gran Torino

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
701 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Food And Water In The Film, Gran Torino
There is a belief that our needs as human beings are arranged in a hierarchy, with our most basic needs such as food and water at the bottom, and our desire for self fulfillment at the top. This theory raises the age-old question: Food and water can keep us breathing, but is that all we need in our lives? In the film, Gran Torino, directed by Clint Eastwood, Walt Kowalski is a veteran and retired auto worker who has only needed his shotgun, beer cans and his dog, Daisy. Haunted by his past, Walt had never been able to live life to the fullest, but when 17-year-old Thao shows up at his door, he gets a chance to redeem himself from past mistakes and move on from his death ridden history. This film exposes the human nature to resolve the doubts …show more content…
He growls and sneers at his grandson’s behaviour and granddaughter’s attire. Furthermore, both of his sons claim that he’s “living in the 50’s” and needs to upgrade to this decade. This relationship never gets fixed, in other words, Walt Kowalski is a lonely man. Returning home, Walt is annoyed by the increased amount of Asian immigrants, specifically Hmong refugees, moving into his neighbourhood, a change which surges his distinct prejudices. His neighbours, whom he calls “gooks” or “zipperheads”, reminds him of his time in Korea. Likewise, Walt, without hesitation, pulls out his gun when their son, Thao Lor, tries to steal his car after being pressured by his cousin’s gang. Both Father Janovich and the Shaman, Kor Khue, have come to the conclusion that Walt is unable to move on from his past, therefore, is not free. During a drink with Walt, Father Janovich suggests that this way of life was an aftermath of the Korean War. Confirming this observation in his explicit way, Walt replies with “the thing that haunts a guy is the stuff he wasn't ordered to do.” Above all else, Walt is surrounded by people who, during the war, was told to be his enemy, which triggers tormenting memories of brutal murders he had to commit. The audience’s first impression of Walt is he’s just another loud-mouth, …show more content…
For example, when Thao and his family were being harassed by the gang, Walt swoops in and saves the day, disguising his heroic act as a selfish deed. This incident earns him the respect of the community,and he becomes a reluctant hero to Thao’s mother and sister. As a way to make amends for his actions, Thao’s mother makes her son do work for Walt. Despite his best efforts, Walt becomes acquainted with Thao’s family and develops a different perspective on Hmong culture. Walt comes towards a crossroad, and has to “choose between two life paths” when he discovers Sue being harassed by a group of wannabe gangsters. Even though, this is not part of his lawn or neighbourhood and can go on with his day, he stops and helps Sue out of this dangerous

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    meet their role expectations. The son and daughter-in-law expected Walt to act old case in…

    • 2307 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Walter White is an underachieving high school chemistry teacher from New Mexico who is diagnosed with lung cancer. After the brutal diagnosis, he begins manufacturing crystal methamphetamine to provide for chemo and his family upon his death. In the ‘Pilot’, it is Walter’s 50th birthday, Skyler, Walter’s wife, makes him a plate of eggs topped by veggie bacon spelling out "50”. Shortly afterwards, Walter drops off Walter White Junior, Walter’s teenage son who was born with cerebral palsy, at the same local high school where he works as a chemistry teacher. Later that day, one of Walt's more disrespectful students, Chad, witnesses him working a second job at a car wash for additional income. Chad quickly takes a picture of Walter cleaning his car on his cell phone and states “Makes those tires shine, huh?”. Chad’s girlfriend who is on the phone with someone comments “Oh my God! You will not believe who’s cleaning Chad’s car”. Walter, who is clearly humiliated, continues to clean the wheel. In this situation Chad and his girlfriend were putting Walter under the stereotype that he was just a lame chemistry teacher who taught them about unnecessary science. As a result, when they saw him working another job that was more embarrassing, they were shocked. This caused Chad to take the picture of Walter and make those comments to him. If Chad and his girlfriend did not think he was just a boring chemistry teacher, they would not have been shocked to see him at the car wash. Subsequently, Walter comes home to a surprise birthday party and during the party Hank, Walter’s brother-in-law who is a DEA agent, invites Walter to accompany him at a drug…

    • 1273 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Instead of being the shy, quiet boy that he was, he started talking more and even started asking the uncles countless times to tell him the story if their adventures. Walter really came out of his shell and eventually started standing up for himself. At the end of the movie, Walter stood up to his mom’s boyfriend and even his mom. He finally got the courage to believe what he wanted to believe in and started living the life that was right for him. Towards the end of the story I could truly see how much love was be portrayed between Walter and his uncles. From his famous quote, “true love never dies” I believe that they showed every connection they had grown towards each other. They started acting like a true…

    • 496 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Living in the Southside of Chicago, the play follows the Younger family’s daily struggles. The main struggle they go through is the passing of Mama’s husband Walter Senior. Due to his death, they get a $10,000 insurance check, and they decide to buy a house and start Beneatha's dream of becoming a doctor. While also helping out Walter’s dream of owning a successful liquor store. The purpose of the character Walter, is to prove that no matter how old you are, people always struggle with becoming an adult and you are never really fully an adult.…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    the minds of viewers. Although at the current time Walt was on good terms with Jesse , their…

    • 1285 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Walt Kowalski’s family directly experience the negative ways of war. When Walk the main character comes back from was he’s a changed person who doesn’t really like other people and finds it really hard to communicate with others even his children, he finds it hard to shows that he cares. Throughout the movie he indicates that he doesn’t understand his children or grandchildren. I have more common with these gooks than my own spoilt, rotten family. In terms, it can be seen that his children don’t know how to show respect to him an example of this is they talking throughout at Walt’s wife Funeral. He grandchildren are disrespectful and give the impression that the only thing they see Walt is good for his Gran Torino and his money. It is sad to see that Walt has not been able to have a good relationship with his family and he prefer to spend time with his dog. Rather than a loving relationship it seems that Walt’s children sees him as a Burden and they try to make him to the nursing home because they do not want to being worrying about him. The end result is that after Walk’s death he loses much of his prized possession including his Gran Torino to the Hmong people. It is clear that despite having never been near a war that Walt’s family continues to feel like the casualties of war.…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Walter’s life takes a traumatic turn when he learns that he has lung cancer and is only expected to live another few years with treatment. His only concern upon learning this is the financial burden this will place upon his family. They were already tight on money with Walter Jr.’s medical bills and the upcoming birth of a second child. Because of this, Walter initially refuses chemotherapy, claiming he wants to live out his days in the comfort of his own home with his family. However, when he is convinced by his…

    • 5967 Words
    • 24 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Scout's father teaches Scout and her brother to stand up for what they believe in. When Aunt Alexandra comes, she tries to teach Scout how to be a proper lady according to the age they lived in. Scout likes her father's outlook on life better than Aunt Alexandra's, but Scout needs to incorporate both of their views in her own development of ideas. Wayne's situation is similar to Scout's. The neighbour wants to raise Wayne like she would have raised her little girl. Wayne needs to learn what he really wants for himself as he grows up and to stand up for himself in the…

    • 577 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Surprisingly, Scout starts to converse with Mr. Cunningham about his son, Walter. She makes him realize that she and her father are good people like Mr. Cunningham. As an effect of this change in thought, Mr. Cunningham leads the mob to leave, leaving Tom Robinson unharmed. Scout causes a change in the perspective of Walter Cunningham, who leads the mob to leave without causing violence. Her innocence and open heart made Cunningham realize what he was going to do, harm another innocent, Tom Robinson.…

    • 1106 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Recognizing Walter’s transition from protagonist to “antagonist” becomes difficult to understand through the content and storyline due to a flood of information and the lack of common knowledge about the process of cooking and selling methamphetamine. Furthermore, Vince Gilligan’s portrayal of the protagonist, Walter White, takes on the role of being an “antagonist” being perceived as a character that gets lost in greed, but Gilligan throws in phrases in episode 6 like “I am doing this for my family” or in episode seven when Walter states how “he only needed enough for his family.” But while nothing seems to go on plan, an antagonist rises out of Walter White as his initial goals derail from his initial moral values. Typically, films and television shows in the 20th and 21st century give a clear depiction of good and evil that provides the audience with a side to choose from. However, in Breaking Bad, the story’s sympathetic portrayal of Walter White uses the audience’s knowledge of his tragic situation in the beginning of the series to influence the pardoning of his crimes. This shows that our moral compass can become secondary towards our initial moral and social benchmark, and going on our own path to accomplish a goal, whether we have to become the antagonist…

    • 1412 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Big Walter Masculinity

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages

    When Walter gets his money taken by Willy he feels depressed and upset. Walter realizes his mistake and then his family gets on his back about it. “ .... Working and working and working like somebody’s old horse...killing himself...and you give it all away in a day”…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Secondly, Lorraine Hansberry tries to give people the inspiration to be proud of who they are. In the book, Walter Younger constantly states how unfair the Blacks are from the Whites. Also, in “Scene Three”, the Youngers put an offer on a new home, but a man, named Karl Lindner, tries to prevent that. Karl is from the town they plan to move to, and is a part of management. He goes on to tell the family that because they are Black, the Whites in the town will not be happy and cause a riot. Walter Younger proceeds to tell him, “This is my son, and he makes the sixth generation our family in this country. And we have all thought about your offer… And we have decided to move into our house because my father—my father—he earned it for us brick by brick.” This was Walter sticking up for his race and his family. Another situation the Youngers have pride in is money. When Lindner offers the family money to not move into town, Mama does not want to take it, unlike Walter. Mama tells Walter, “Son—I come from five generations of people who was slaves and sharecroppers—but ain’t nobody in my family never let nobody pay ‘em no money that was a way of telling us we wasn’t fit to walk the earth. We ain’t never been that poor…We ain’t never been that—dead inside.” Mama shares her pride for keeping her and her family stable, and there being a boundary to asking others. Although Beneatha and Walter are adults, Mama continues to try to teach them life…

    • 1483 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Walter was so desperate he often fights and argues with Ruth, Mama, and Beneatha. Also a thing that makes him like that is the racism at that time he often see who the White people from high social status had everything they want, kids attended different schools, neighborhoods were separate from the other, that also made him be like that. He was so desperate he inks to a new low and calls Mr. Lindner back, saying that he'll accept the Money, a think his family was not agree with. This is…

    • 786 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Raisin in the Sun

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages

    you just name it, son.. and I hand you the world!" This shows Walter to be a caring father. He then realizes the importance of his family.…

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Grand Torino

    • 1088 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Gran Torino, focuses on the relationship between Walt Kowalski, a retired Korean War veteran who has just lost his wife, and his neighbors, who are of the Hmong culture. The story revolves around Walt, the teenage son, Thao, and daughter, Sue. The Hmong people are from Asia. This creates tension between Walt and the family because of Walts stereotypes and racism. He refers to them as “gooks” which is a derogatory slang term for Asian people, most commonly Koreans, this is something he took away from the Korean war. Walt does not see his culturally diverse neighbors as anything but “gooks” because he believes that Koreans and other Asians are all the same. There are many cultural differences between Walt and the Hmong family. They are a family rich with tradition and cultural values. Yet, they also struggle to adapt to the American…

    • 1088 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics