Power and Social Constructivism in Grand Torino Film

1813 Words4 Pages

Within modern day Western society, we find ourselves more and more at the grasps of surveillance. Everywhere we go, everything we do, it seems progressively that these day to day activities of the general population are recorded, monitored and analyzed. It seems that the “consistent” surveillance instills fear into our culture, and the media has used it to its advantage by creating ways of life or certain attitudes and attributes that only certain groups can use. When another group uses it then they are either punished or isolated. With panopticism, the victims are always being careful always behaving the “correct” way in fear of being abnormal, ensuring that we all behave accordingly. Its purpose and effectiveness has become as quickly accepted as a cultural norm, and not even given a second thought. The idea of panopticism and the fear of the authority or power that comes along with it form social constructions of subjects in culture. Social constructions subject people to respect certain boundaries. Especially when panopticism comes to play then those who are being watched are even more careful. They know they do not have the power so they just adhere to the set rules even though they are not written or tangible people just know that they exist. This causes people to be paranoid and act the desired role that the watcher is expecting to see, even when they’re not looking. Perhaps one of the most significant and obvious examples of this in Grand Torino is how Walt's family doesn't communicate with him on a regular bases, but they do the things that they feel obligated to doing. Such as attending his wife's funeral, buying him gifts on his birthday and reluctantly answering his phone calls. There aren't any rules or laws that say... ... middle of paper ... ...o believe they are being watched their actions become disciplined. Since they never know when they are under surveillance or not they will constantly behave in the “correct” way leaving them subjected to the person or people in power. Gran Torino incorporates this idea of panopticism and subjectivity by having an old man and young boy along with his family break down social constructions and form bonds that create a positive outlook for Tao and Walt. Even though Walt dies, he dies with dignity and a mentally more free man than he was before. In effect of panopticism we become subjected to create certain social constructions that we construct on our own and view as normal. Not only that but we also subject ourselves to these social constructions. It is unfortunate that with panopticism and subjectivity some foul social constructions become a part of American culture.

Show More
Related

  • Surveillance in Foucault's Panopticism and Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron

    1798 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ever feel as though someone is watching you? You know that you are the only one in a room, but for some reason you get an eerie feeling that you are not alone? You might not see anyone, but the eyes of a stranger could be gazing down on you. In Foucault's "Panopticism," a new paradigm of discipline is introduced, surveillance. No one dares to break the law, or do anything erroneous for that matter, in fear that they are being watched. This idea of someone watching your every move compels you to obey. This is why the idea of Panopticism is such an efficient form of discipline. The Panopticon is the ideal example of Panopticism, which is a tool for surveillance that we are introduced to in “Panopticism.” Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron," has taken the idea of surveillance one step further. The government not only observes everyone, but has complete control over society. The citizens of the United States cannot even think for themselves without being interrupted by the government. They are prisoners in their own minds and bodies. The ideals of “Panopticism” have been implemented to the fullest on society in Vonnegut’s "Harrison Bergeron," through physical and mental handicaps.

    Read More

  • Slavery In George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

    1600 Words  | 4 Pages

    This method of surveillance effectively curtails negative social behaviour by keeping the population under constant fear of being watched. The objective of this intense surveillance is to create a modern Panopticon, a prison designed by British architect Jeremy Bentham in the late 1700s. This prison featured a centralized guard tower surrounded by brightly lit cells. Due to the difference in the quality of light, the prisoners were not able to see the guard tower so, “not knowing if they are being watched, but having to assume that they are, the prisoners [adjusted] their behavior” (Jan Kietzmann 135). This method was adapted by many societies including soviet Russia where the people were so afraid of being spied upon that they would only meet their friends in public to avoid being suspected of private conspiracy (Enteen 209). As in communist Russia, the governing body’s manipulation of surveillance is in an effort to ensure that no citizens are doing, or thinking of doing anything contrary to the goals of the party. This omnipresent surveillance has been shown to cut down on crime, however this comes at the cost of the citizens’ freedom and spontaneity, turning vibrant humans into fearful

    Read More

  • The Increase of State Surveillance in the United States and United Kingdom

    521 Words  | 2 Pages

    With today’s technological surveillance capabilities, our actions are observable, recordable and traceable. Surveillance is more intrusive than it has been in the past. For numerous years countries such as the United State and the United Kingdom have been actively monitoring their citizens through the use of surveillance technology. This state surveillance has been increasing with each passing year, consequently invading the citizen’s fundamental constitutional right to privacy,. This has lead to the ethical issues from the use or misuse of technology, one such ethical issue is should a government have the right to use technology to monitor its citizens without their knowledge or approval? For this reason this paper will examine what the terms ethics, ethical issue and state surveillance refer to. Next, an exploration into the ethics of governmental monitoring from the perspective of a variety of ethical systems such as: ethical formalism, act utilitarian, rule utilitarian and subjective relativism model. From this examination of state surveillance through ethical syste...

    Read More

  • Panopticon: Surveillance, Freedom and Fear

    966 Words  | 2 Pages

    You are alone in a dark cell. You are fearful because you know that you are being watched, but you do not know who is watching you or when you are being watched. You are suddenly conscious of every move you make because you are aware that someone is monitoring every inhale, every exhale, and every little aspect of your life. This is the concept of Jeremy Bentham’s “Panopticon.”

    Read More

  • Panopticism

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today I view panopticism as a way of living. If there isn’t constant surveillance there would be chaos. It is important that some things are watched. Schools, laboratories, jails, banks and many other institutions gain great benefit from panopticism. Even though I think that surveillance is important for safety, it has gotten out of control because the government can watch, hear and see anything if they really wanted to. Whether I like it or not, panopticism will only expand in today’s world.

    Read More

  • Gran Torino Cultural Analysis

    1570 Words  | 4 Pages

    Clint Eastwood’s film, Gran Torino, shows numerous distinctive concepts posed in the field of multicultural psychology that occurs in our world everyday. The film features a broad range of aspects found in an individualistic culture versus a collectivist culture. The main characters of the movie that represent these different cultures are Walt Kowalski, who comes from a background of American culture, and Thao Lor and Sue Lor, who are immigrants from Vietnam apart of the Hmong community. The characters and the themes in the film include the concepts of guilt versus shame, different types of communication, the view of women in different cultures, and family roles

    Read More

  • George Orwell’s 1984 and the National Security Agency (NSA)

    679 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mass surveillance is a word that has been thrown around every so often in the last few decades, especially ever since George Orwell’s book Nineteen Eighty-Four. Although this book was released over 60 years ago, some aspects of the book are seeming to become true in the United States, and other parts of the world today. The idea of mass surveillance isn’t so taboo anymore, as there are several programs ran by sovereign countries around the world which monitor their domestic citizens, as well as citizens and leaders of other foreign countries. With all of our technological communication advances since 1949, this age of information is only going to get more severe, and more tracking and monitoring will be done. The biggest offender of doing this is the NSA, shortened for National Security Agency. The NSA is an organization that was made by the US Government to monitor intelligence, and collect, translate and decode information. What’s important about the NSA, is that this most recent summer, a program named PRISM was revealed by a whistleblower, and in summary, PRISM monitors everything it can, including our own citizens in the United States. This “scandal” had a lot of air time for many months, and is still in the news today. The revelation of what the NSA is doing behind our backs is what made the basis of this essay, and made me think of how similar this entire situation is to Nineteen Eighty-Four.

    Read More

  • Symbolic Interactionism In The Blind Side By Michael Oher

    1353 Words  | 3 Pages

    In sociology symbolic interactionism explains the individual in a society and their interactions with others and through that it can explain social order and change. This theory was compiled from the teachings of George Herbert Mead in the early 20th century. Mead believed that the development of the individual was a social process. People are subjected to change based on their interactions with other people, objects or events and they assign meaning to things in order to decide how to act. This perspective depends on the symbolic meaning that people depend on in the process of social interaction. This paper will examine the movie “The Blind Side” through the symbolic interaction perspective.

    Read More

  • Privacy vs. Security

    1260 Words  | 3 Pages

    Most people concerned about the privacy implications of government surveillance aren’t arguing for no[sic] surveillance and absolute privacy. They’d be fine giving up some privacy as long as appropriate controls, limitations, oversight and accountability mechanisms were in place. ”(“5 Myths about Privacy”). The fight for privacy rights is by no means a recent conflict.

    Read More

  • Culture and Social Construction in Gran Torino

    1046 Words  | 3 Pages

    The film “Gran Torino” has many examples of “self” vs “subject” and the issues one faces when it comes to aspects of culture and social construction, the film highlights the modern conditions surrounding many aspects of these two examples. Walt Kowalski whose wife just recently died and who is a Korean War veteran has a difficult time getting along with people who do not hold the same views and values that he does. Some of these people are his children, relatives, and neighbors. He lives in an era that he does not understand and does not agree with. Since his wife died he stopped communicating with people. Walt lives next door to a Hmong family and slowly befriends them. He has a very difficult time with this at first but as the days go on you can see him progressively become more comfortable with them. One of the reasons he was a little uncomfortable communicating with his neighbors is the fact that he once fought and killed these people on the battlegrounds of Korea.

    Read More

  • The Angel Esmeralda Essay

    643 Words  | 2 Pages

    This movie shows how poor people are treated by rich people who are considered high-class, and how they try escape their already written path that being born chooses for you. When Vinz, Hubert and Said lost the last train that would have taken them back to their neighborhood thanks to the cops aggravation and physically provocation began walking around the city for something to do while they wait for the next train. This is where they saw a small museum showing which they approach. When they entered the museum people inside begun staring at them like they were part of the showing which they noticed and started screaming at the people to stop looking at them. That they are just like them and not so different. Another example is when Vinz, Hubert and Said try talking to a group of girls who were at the museum showing and they try flirting with them. When they show their actual intentions to the girls they begun to laugh and say that they only thought it was a joke and that their only intention was conversation. It can be seen from the above analysis that, individuals who believe they are higher class status than others don’t like to interact with people are considered poor or low class. This action leads to separation of status and judgement based on presence, attitude and monetary

    Read More

  • Gran Torino: The Story of an Old Man

    625 Words  | 2 Pages

    An American drama film directed and produced by Clint Eastwood which has gained recognition worldwide particularly because of Clintwood’s appealing directing style. It was recognized by the American Drama Institute as one of the “Ten Best Films of 2008”(Gran Torino, 2013) and debutedthe writer, Nick Schenk. Clint Eastwood demonstrates, through Mr. Walt, that if your past negatively affects your life and the way you see things, then its best to let go of it and start a new beginning. An intense film told with great humor, Gran Torino is a cinematic masterpiece. This film succeeds in its development in portraying the negative aspects involving multicultural communications and the bond formed by people from two extremely different generations.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis of Crash the movie

    1325 Words  | 3 Pages

    We crash constantly. We crash into the cultures and lives of those that surround us in our society. We judge because we do not know or unwilling to understand the differences that surround us. The director wants the audience to make an unfair judgment on Officer Ryan because of he inappropriately searches Christine, however, as the movie progresses our judgments crashes as we begin to identify with Officer Ryan. When Graham states ?We are always behind metal and glass,? it is not the metal and glass we are behind, but the fear of understanding and trusting someone that is different from us. This fear is where our preconceived notions and racist habits come from. It is the fear of trusting that in which can cause us to crash.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Family Relationships In Gran Torino

    1119 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gran Torino is a suspense film directed by Clint Eastwood, which portrays the relationship between a 78-year-old Koran war veteran and his neighbors who are from Laos. The main character, Walt is a racist who still has memories from the horrors of war and has a dislike for anyone, including his own family. After his young neighbor Thao is coerced by his cousin’s gang into stealing Walt’s prized Gran Torino, a unusual relationship forms between the pair. Walt starts to respect Thao and his culture while fulfilling a fatherly role that Thao is lacking. Eventually, Walt has to confront the gang knowing that the confrontation will end in his death. Apart from the stereotypical, get off my lawn quote, this film depicts the relationship of family concerning the care for older adults, the struggle with despair and meaning later in life, and the morality of a good death. This paper will address each of these themes.

    Read More

  • Michel Foucault’s Essay, Panopticism”,Panopticon and the Society

    945 Words  | 2 Pages

    The concept of panopticon in the penal system, which showed immediate success in reform and discipline, eventually leads to it being linked to every component of the modern society. Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon and Foucault concept of Panopticism is seen in many places today in our society. Wherever you look you will certainly find places like, schools, hospital, factories, asylums, and even universities, represent Panopticism because all of this places have some kind of surveillance s...

    Read More

More about Power and Social Constructivism in Grand Torino Film

Open Document