Gran Torino

Gran Torino is perhaps one of the most controversial films of our time in relation to stereotypes. Its representation of Asian-Americans is very condescending and extremely stereotypical. Walt Kowalski, a Korean war veteran, is unhappy with the changes around his neighborhood and is quite unhesitant to express his views about it. The neighborhood Walt once knew begins to change as large numbers of Hmong people begin to move in. These Hmong people are stereotyped as the typical Asian-Americans in today’s society. They are either depicted as passive, weak cowards or hardened criminals. However, the best thing Gran Torino does is reflect the stereotypical Asian neighborhood. There are those Asians who are weak and those that are criminals, but there is absolutely no one to step in and bring order to the situation.

Through out the movie, Walt uses a number of terms to degrade the Asian family moving in next door. Zipperhead, gook, fish head, slope, and swamp rats are all terms Walt uses to insult them. His anger escalates towards them after Tao attempts to steal his Gran Torino out of his garage in the night. Tao ends up working off his crime by helping Walt do neighborhood chores and such, even though Walt originally wanted nothing to do with his repayment. Walt calls Tao a pussy numerous times because of his inability to talk to girls and his passiveness to the neighborhood gang’s bullying. Tao and his family are depicted as helpless and weak while the gang carries on as being criminals. Complete madness has overcome this neighborhood and there is no one there to restore any order. The criminals continue to destroy the lives of the weak and no one is there to stop it. Walt is ultimately able to overcome his prejudice views in an attempt to bring peace to Tao and his family.

The movie ultimately stereotypes a neighborhood being influenced by the large number of Asian immigrants. We often see many Asian families to be passive and soft spoken, just as we stereotype them to be good at math and to be bad drivers. The whole family, and especially Tao in specific are depicted as weak and vulnerable. Tao is forced to do feminine chores like gardening and cleaning the dishes, which shows us his passive attitude. To see the real stereotypes of this movie, you have to dig deeper than the face value. The racial slurs are an obvious point of prejudice, but to understand the real meaning behind the story you have to look at how Clint Eastwood portrays the characters, especially Tao.