War Changes Men in Film, Gran Torino: Surviving War

987 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Mental and physical effects of war

War changes men. When it comes to sacrificing for a country, it is presumed that surviving combat could make a man appreciate life, aspire to important things, and value effort and determination. In short, it could make a man take advantage of the great second chance he had been given and work to find both large and small ways to contribute to the public good. Yet despite this assumption, the horror of death had scarred the lives of many war veterans, obviating them from the joy of living. Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino (2008) explores this idea of returned war vets and presents it through the persona of Walt Kowalski, a racist retired autoworker, Korean war veteran, and the film’s eventual hero of his multiracial Detroit neighbourhood.

Riding on the same wave of patriotism, it is unquestionable that men in combat strive for the love of their country. War veterans, in particular, tend to hold close to their patriotic values even after the end of their battle. As a returned war vet, Walt Kowalski is constructed to be patriotic and have a strong love for America throughout the film. This is established through the film’s incorporation of the American flag in its setting of Walt’s house. Hanging solidly over his square patch of lawn, the flag symbolises Walt’s display of patriotism and his loyalty to his country as well as his imperishable traditional American beliefs. Viewers are constantly reminded of his patriotic sentiment through the consistent use of long panning shots of the American flag outside his house. This reinforces the idea that war veterans still have a compelling faithfulness for their country by expressing it through a simple display of their national flag. However, as much as strong patriotic views are worthy, war ...

... middle of paper ...

...ao, the film suggests in it inclusion, reveals that he regrets his actions and was unable to redeem himself from his past. Therefore, through the interactions with the Hmong’s shaman and the symbolic lighter, the film encourages the response that war veterans are still clinging to the memory of war.

Gran Torino, directed by, produced by and starring Clint Eastwood, has present ideas about the life of war veterans that had been scarred by the horrors of death. Through the exceptional performance by Clint Eastwood, representing Walt Kowalski as a war veteran, returned war vets are constructed to be patriotic, racist and haunted by their violent past. They are faced with the difficulty of balancing between the remnant memories of past wars and the ever-changing modern society. Therefore, surviving war simply underscored the cruelty and randomness of life and death.

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Sebastian Junger's Tribe: On Homecoming And Belonging

    977 Words  | 2 Pages

    Today’s veterans often come home to find that although they are willing to die for their country, they’re not sure how to live for it. It’s hard to know how to live for a country that regularity tears itself apart along every possible ethnic and demographic boundary… In combat, soldiers all but ignore differences of race, religion,and politics within their platoon. It’s no wonder they get so depressed when they come home. (Junger

    Read More

  • How War Changes a Man in The Red Convertible by Louise Erdrich

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is said that when a man returns from war he is forever changed. In the short story, “The Red Convertible,” Louise Erdrich demonstrates these transformations through the use of symbolism. Erdrich employs the convertible to characterize the emotional afflictions that war creates for the soldier and his family around him by discussing the the pre-deployment relationship between two brothers Henry and Lyman, Lyman's perception of Henry upon Henry's return, and Henry’s assumed view on life in the end of the story.

    Read More

  • Battleship Potemkin, From Here to Eternity, Saving Private Ryan

    802 Words  | 2 Pages

    Even though the films “Battleship Potemkin”, “From Here to Eternity” and “Saving Private Ryan” are all movies based on military life during war time the variation in time periods and culture made each film very different. These differences did not take away from the impact the films had on their audiences at the time or the messages they were each trying to covey. The Horrific images and hear wrenching scenarios helped to evoke strong emotions and patriotic feeling from audiences allowing film makers to pass along their truths. Thru these films we are magically transported to several dark periods in the world history and left to experience the pain, fear, isolation and ultimately the triumph of these soldiers’ lives.

    Read More

  • Power in Soldier’s Home by Ernest Hemingway

    673 Words  | 2 Pages

    When people think of the military, they often think about the time they spend over in another country, hoping they make it back alive. No one has ever considered the possibility that they may have died inside. Soldiers are reborn through war, often seeing through the eyes of someone else. In “Soldier’s home” by Ernest Hemingway, the author illustrates how a person who has been through war can change dramatically if enough time has passed. This story tells of a man named Harold (nick name: Krebs) who joined the marines and has finally come back after two years. Krebs is a lost man who feels it’s too complicated to adjust to the normal way of living and is pressured by his parents.

    Read More

  • Film Analysis: Johnny Got His Gun

    1903 Words  | 4 Pages

    Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, once accurately summed up the notion of war by stating: “Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.” In these words he conveyed what many Americans, particularly soldiers, feel during wartime. The novel Johnny Got His Gun, by Dalton Trumbo, shares the life and experiences of a gravely wounded WW1 soldier that is only able to think. In this stream of conscience narrative, Joe Bonham is in a constant battle with his mind as he discovers the extent of his injuries sustained from war, his inability to communicate with the outside world, and his struggles as he copes with loss. In the film Shenandoah, directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, Charlie Anderson experiences non

    Read More

  • Unseen Scars: The Psychological Cost of War

    1114 Words  | 3 Pages

    There you stand over the body of a fallen friend, a brother or sister in arms. You are asking yourself why them, why not you? What could have I done to save them? That is when you wake up, sweating, panting. It was just a night terror, yet it feels the same as the day they died, even though it has been ten years. This is just one of the many emotional scars soldiers of war face. Though why do we go to war when this is the cost? For many it is because they are unaware of the psychological cost of war, they are only aware of the monetary cost. Tim O 'Brien addresses the true cost of war in The Things They Carried. O 'Brien suggests that psychological trauma caused by war impedes daily life in young Americans drafted into the Vietnam war. He does

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Vietnam Bloods By Wallace Terry

    662 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wallace Terry has collected a wide range of stories told by twenty black Vietnam veterans. The stories are varied based on each experience; from the horrific to the heart breaking and to the glorified image of Vietnam depicted by Hollywood. Wallace Terry does not insinuate his opinion into any of the stories so that the audience can feel as if they are having a conversation with the Vietnam Veteran himself. Terry introduces the purpose of the book by stating, “ Among the 20 men who portray their war and postwar experiences in this book. I sought a representative cross section of the black combat force.”(p. XV) Although the stories in this book were not told in any specific order, many themes became prominent throughout the novel such as religion, social, and health.

    Read More

  • Memento as a War Movie

    1392 Words  | 3 Pages

    “What's too painful to remember, we simply choose to forget.” They are lyrics from the song “The Way We Were.” It is a simplistic thought that has been made many times throughout the course of time. It is a philosophy that many people have lived by for ages. The blocking out of traumatic events is done by the best of us and it utilized prominently in war movies. A one-sided view point is the only way to create a plot. As the erasure of memories is used in war movies, it can also be seen by Leonard Shelby in Memento. Through this idea, I will prove that Memento is a type of war movie.

    Read More

  • The Need for Continued Resilience of the American People

    2031 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Need for The Continued Resilience of the American People during the Later Days of The War as Exemplified in MGM’s “They Were Expendable”.

    Read More

  • Patriotism and The American Flag

    1007 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ed to the Red Cross, the stars of film, theater and music who are using their influences to raise money for recovery, and the small hands of schoolchildren collecting anything they think might help the kids who’ve lost their moms or dads (Pg. 2). Although some of these suggestions are not tangible items, they definitely give me a sense of patriotism, and make me feel good about what is going on in our country today. These people and objects truly, in my opinion, represent patriotism. If we were somehow able to take these objects and ideas and put them into an icon of patriotism I know I would solute it, but until then, I will keep these peoples actions in my mind as what I believe to be true patriotism.

    Read More

  • The Trauma of War Conveyed in Ninh's Short Story, A Marker on the Side of the Boat and the Film, Barbed Wire and Mandolins

    1810 Words  | 4 Pages

    War is cruel. The Vietnam War, which lasted for 21 years from 1954 to 1975, was a horrific and tragic event in human history. The Second World War was as frightening and tragic even though it lasted for only 6 years from 1939 to 1945 comparing with the longer-lasting war in Vietnam. During both wars, thousands of millions of soldiers and civilians had been killed. Especially during the Second World War, numerous innocent people were sent into concentration camps, or some places as internment camps for no specific reasons told. Some of these people came out sound after the war, but others were never heard of again. After both wars, people that were alive experienced not only the physical damages, but also the psychic trauma by seeing the deaths and injuries of family members, friends or even just strangers. In the short story “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” by Bao Ninh about the Vietnam War, and the documentary film Barbed Wire and Mandolins directed by Nicola Zavaglia with a background of the Second World War, they both explore and convey the trauma of war. However, the short story “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” is more effective in conveying the trauma of war than the film Barbed Wire and Mandolins because of its well-developed plot with well-illustrated details, and its ability to raise emotional responses from its readers.

    Read More

  • The First World War: A Brief History with Documents

    860 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...though people believe that, those on the home front have it just as a bad as the soldiers, because they have to deal with the responsibilities of their husbands, there is nothing that can compare to what these men have gone through. The war itself consumed them of their ideology of a happy life, and while some might have entered the war with the hope that they would soon return home, most men came to grips with the fact that they might never make it out alive. The biggest tragedy that follows the war is not the number of deaths and the damages done, it is the broken mindset derives from being at war. These men are all prime examples of the hardships of being out at war and the consequences, ideologies, and lifestyles that develop from it.

    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

  • 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

  • The False Romanticism of War

    1674 Words  | 4 Pages

    War is a machine that extracts young men and women from reality. It twists their morals until they do not know what is right or wrong. This level of dehumanization and objectification is clearly argued in Ron Kovic’s Born on the Fourth of July: “He had never been anything but a thing to them, a thing to put a uniform on and train to kill, a young thing to run through the meat-grinder, a cheap small nothing thing to make mincemeat out of” (165). War is the “meat-grinder.” Soldiers only matter because they can kill. War tears apart the people fighting it. Coming out of the war Kovic does not know what to do. He is lost. This aimless feeling is similar to the experiences of Jake and the Gang in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. The protagonist, Jake Barnes, and his entourage wander the streets of Paris and Madrid with no purpose. After war, the real w...

    Read More

More about War Changes Men in Film, Gran Torino: Surviving War

Open Document