Fictional Minority Neighborhood In The Film 'Gran Torino'

221 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Introduction to race in film paper

The film Gran Torino is set in a fictional minority neighborhood where an Asian family moves into the house next door to Walt Kowalski. During the film, it is lead to believe the neighborhood was once a thriving, well taken care of, white middle-class neighborhood. In the current age, Walt’s house sticks out in this neighborhood. His house has a manicured lawn with gnomes and other ornaments, has a fresh coat of paint, and in general looks neat and tidy.
In contrast, the other houses in the neighborhood show signs of economic downturn and poverty. The houses show signs of wear and tear and are beginning to deteriorate. The lawns are filled with weeds and the sod is patchy. The gutters to the house in front of Walt’s are falling down. Quality

Show More
Related

  • Ted Steinberg’s American Green

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...n the neighborhood than the aesthetic appearance of the lawn itself. The fact that a well-maintained lawn increases the value of a home suggests that it reflects a well-maintained home overall. In other words, the care lavished on the lawn reflects the homeowner’s care of everything else about the home. The lawn itself may not be the object of desire.

    Read More

  • James Baldwin's Fifth Avenue, Uptown

    492 Words  | 1 Pages

    Baldwin gives a vivid sketch of the depressing conditions he grew up on in Fifth Avenue, Uptown by using strong descriptive words. He makes use of such word choices in his beginning sentences when he reflects back to his house which is now replaced by housing projects and “one of those stunted city trees is snarling where our [his] doorway used to be” (Baldwin...

    Read More

  • Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle and the Pure Food and Drug Act

    1672 Words  | 4 Pages

    is a hard, dangerous, and filthy place where it is difficult to find a job. Some relatives of the couple and themselves get a house, but find out it is a swindle.

    Read More

  • Racism In The Movie Pleasantville

    2331 Words  | 5 Pages

    According to Newman in Sociology: The Architecture of Everyday Life, a social class “consists of people who occupy similar positions of power, privilege, and prestige” (Newman, 2012). Someone’s position in a social class can affect “virtually every aspect of their lives, including political preferences, sexual behavior, religious affiliation, diet, and life expectancy” (Newman, 2012). The social class that was represented in the film was the middle-class. The show, Pleasantville, portrays the 1950s in which the wife would stay at home cooking and cleaning while the father works. This show holds similar views to the show, Leave it to Beaver. The movie begins

    Read More

  • The Washington Height Communcity

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conducting this assignment we visited the neighborhood of Washington Heights. During our visits we interviewed several of the residences; so that we could get a first hand prospective of what it is like living in the community, why they settled in the community and the many changes that they have witness durning their time in the neighborhood.

    Read More

  • Housing Segregation and Minority Groups in the United States

    846 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...er, it is declining. Since the 1960’s, there have been progress towards racial housing segregation. However, the problem of racial discrimination remains an important factor in determining current examples of social and economic inequality. Despite everything, it is suggests that unfairness does continue to affect the portion of current opportunities. Even though there are laws and agencies that supposed to prohibit this type of matter, it still exist and hidden away from federal and state minds. The article supports the reality that minorities are unfairly treated based on

    Read More

  • St. Louis Communities

    559 Words  | 2 Pages

    A new phenomenon happening in our city is the rebirth of many of our older and rundown areas. One of the best examples of this is the "Soulard" area of town, which now has an established nightlife as well as exquisite historical antique homes. Lafayette Square has also enjoyed the same type of success as Soulard. It is still in the middle of a high crime area, but is populated by upper-class people with beautiful homes with elaborate wrought iron fences and intricate security systems. This trend of fixing up old flats is spreading out from the areas of Soulard and Lafayette Square to neighboring communities at a rapid pace. The Compton Heights area is coming back with rebuilt old Victorian styled houses and private gated streets that contrast the French styled flats of Soulard. The Shaw and Tower Grove area are also following the lead of revitalization similar to these charming old neighborhoods.

    Read More

  • Row Houses in Boston's South End

    1411 Words  | 3 Pages

    To appreciate a row house neighborhood, one must first look at the plan as a whole before looking at the individual blocks and houses. The city’s goal to build a neighborhood that can be seen as a singular unit is made clear in plan, at both a larger scale (the entire urban plan) and a smaller scale (the scheme of the individual houses). Around 1850, the city began to carve out blocks and streets, with the idea of orienting them around squares and small residential parks. This Victorian style plan organized rectangular blocks around rounded gardens and squares that separated the row houses from major streets. The emphasis on public spaces and gardens to provide relief from the ene...

    Read More

  • The Film Gran Torino: Walt Kowalski

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    The film Gran Torino is a moving drama that shows how an old, angry widower finds acceptance with his Hmong neighbors. With the recent election and racism being more prevalent today, many individuals are disappointed with the perceived shift in American values. Today, Gran Torino is still relevant because the values Walt portrays is the same values that many Americans still display. Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, as Walt Kowalski, depicts an old, grumpy Korean War veteran. The 2008 film reveals how a bitter man turns into a courageous, loving man who is willing to sacrifice himself by finding the good in his foreign neighbors. Roger Ebert’s review states: “Gran Torino stars Eastwood as an American icon once again—this time as a cantankerous,

    Read More

  • Movie Analysis: A Reflection Of Gran Torino

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gran Torino is an interesting portrayal of communication dilemmas, spread out across several characters and in particular that of main character Walt Kowalski. After the death of his wife, Walt is bombarded with unwanted attention from several angles and attempts to “deal” with the attention to the best of his ability. There are many examples of communication struggles in the film, but they all seem to follow a similar pattern, and that is distance in time and culture. I’d like to focus on some of these communication barriers between his family, neighbors and priest and see how some of these walls got broken down, or could have been removed more easily.

    Read More

  • A Comparison of The Harvest Gypsies and Of Mice and Men

    969 Words  | 2 Pages

    "The house is 10 feet by 10 feet, and it is built completely of corrugated paper. The roof is peaked, the walls are tacked to a wooden frame. The dirt floor is swept clean, and along the irrigation ditch or in the muddy river...." " ...and the family possesses three old quilts and soggy, lumpy mattress. With the first rain the carefully built house will slop down into a brown, pulpy mush." (27-28)

    Read More

  • Poverty in Everyday Use, Sonny's Blues, and The Cathedral

    874 Words  | 2 Pages

    In ?Everyday Use?, Alice Walker chooses to develop the idea of poverty by focusing exclusively on the environment in which her protagonists live. Setting attributes, such as the ones used to describe the house in which the protagonists reside, enables us to better understand the theme. In fact, the dwelling does not even have any real windows. Instead, it has holes cut in the sides, like the portholes of a ship, but not round and not square, with rawhide holding the shutters up on the outside. Then, Walker proceeds with inside description of the house as she points out that the protagonists use benches for their table instead of chairs because they cannot financially afford any. Further, the author supports the theme by providing us with some physical description of specific objects. The use of quilts that ?Grandma Dee? sewed from the scraps of her dress and the churn that Uncle Henry whittled from the wood is not derived from the protagonists? intention to preserve ?family values? but rather from a necessity to ?survive?.

    Read More

  • Gentrification

    1826 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many researchers have theorized why the wealthy desire to move back into the city. Schwirian believes that many wealthy people are drawn to the architectural design of some of these old houses in urban areas (Schwirian 96).      Harvey believes in a number of theories, and ...

    Read More

  • John Grisham's A Painted House

    1790 Words  | 4 Pages

    John Grisham’s book, ‘A Painted House’ places the reader within the walls of a simple home on the cotton fields of rural Arkansas. Within the first few pages, the author’s description of the setting quickly paints a picture of a hard working family and creates a shared concern with the reader about the family’s struggle to meet the basic needs of life. The description of the dusty roads, the unpainted board-sided house, the daily chore requirements and their lack of excess cause the reader a reaction of empathy for the family. Although the story takes place in a dusty setting very unfamiliar to most readers, the storyline is timeless and universal. Most everyone has a desire to meet the basic needs of life, embrace their family ties, and make others and ourselves proud. The crux of this book is that it does an excellent job in showing the reader through other’s examples and hardships to persevere and never give up.

    Read More

  • Psychological Concepts in the Film Gran Torino

    1203 Words  | 3 Pages

    Clint Eastwood’s film “Gran Torino” traces the end of the life of Walt Kowalski. He has recently gone through a lot – the death of his beloved wife, his distant relationship with his son, his emotional scars from the Korean War and his bad health. All these things stop him from living a proper life. He doesn’t care about himself much – he smokes even though he is sick, he doesn’t eat a lot, he refuses to confess even though that was his wife’s last wish. However, all this changes when he meets the Hmong Family that lives next door. At the beginning he detests them because of their similarity to the Koreans, but later, as he gets to know them, they become the family that he was never able to have. The story traces the psychological changes in Walt’s character due to his unusual bond with the Hmong family, which changes are one of the main strengths of the film.

    Read More

More about Fictional Minority Neighborhood In The Film 'Gran Torino'

Open Document