Gran Torino

[Orang Utan]

heh - mebbe

 

[butchersapron]

What sort of character do you think he is? That he would just abuse people racially? Would that be in chracter?

 

[Orang Utan]

What sort of character do you think he is? That he would just abuse people racially? Would that be in chracter?

that he thought he was mates with the barber when he really wasn't and the only way he could communicate with people was to insult them.

 

[butchersapron]

that he thought he was mates with the barber when he really wasn't and the only way he could communicate with people was to insult them.

I can see that reading yes, it's a reaaaal strech though and doesn't fit the rest. He didn't insult people, the very opposite. To go out and suddenly abuse someone not encroaching on his would be odd.

 

[isitme]

that he thought he was mates with the barber when he really wasn't and the only way he could communicate with people was to insult them.

wow, i think you totally misread the film

i think you are meant to like walt, he's like an old fashioned straight talkin' american who treats everyone the same and doesn't mind giving and getting a bit of banter...

i think he was saying that a bit of racist banter wasn't really the worst thing in the world. his middle class kids who wouldn't dream of giving any racist banter are appalled that he won't follow the 'white flight' and it's walt who is always calling his neighbours 'gooks' etc who befriends his neighbours across the racial divisions, not his supposedly more progressive kids who all left their neighbourhood because of the influx of chinese

 

[Orang Utan]

wow, i think you totally misread the film

i think you are meant to like walt, he's like an old fashioned straight talkin' american who treats everyone the same and doesn't mind giving and getting a bit of banter...

i think he was saying that a bit of racist banter wasn't really the worst thing in the world. his middle class kids who wouldn't dream of giving any racist banter are appalled that he won't follow the 'white flight' and it's walt who is always calling his neighbours 'gooks' etc who befriends his neighbours across the racial divisions, not his supposedly more progressive kids who all left their neighbourhood because of the influx of chinese

i see your point, but if he saying that there's nothing wrong with a bit of racist banter, then i strongly disagree with him, but i suppose that's neither here nor there.

 

[isitme]

i see your point, but if he saying that there's nothing wrong with a bit of racist banter, then i strongly disagree with him, but i suppose that's neither her nor there.

for people of clint's age it was pretty standard i think

i think he was trying to point out that it isn't always 'hate speech' etc

 

[Orang Utan]

anyway, coincidentally, i was reading about the hmong people today as a friend was over and she told me her sister had written an article about them:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/70a30b1c-6764-11de-925f-00144feabdc0.html

 

[Orang Utan]

for people of clint's age it was pretty standard i think

i think he was trying to point out that it isn't always 'hate speech' etc

i guess so, but i'm not used to hearing it
i was also reading sadken's earlier posts on this thread and it looked like he was trying to justify racial abuse by using this film as an example of non-racist racial abuse, which i thought was rather absurd.
thinking on it though, i get ribbed at work for being a northerner and i can't say it bothers me. i give as good as i get as well. i just can't imagine doing the same with a colleague who was a different race than me.

 

[butchersapron]

i see your point, but if he saying that there's nothing wrong with a bit of racist banter, then i strongly disagree with him, but i suppose that's neither here nor there.

Fucking hell. It's not up to you what other peoples conversations mean to them. You are so wildly off on this film it's mad.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Fucking hell. It's not up to you what other peoples conversations mean to them. You are so wildly off on this film it's mad.

Is it really hot in your room tonight? You seem extra cranky for some reason.

 

[butchersapron]

I'm ok. I'm not in the slightest bit wound up - i've been here long enough not to need to put crappy smileys on surely? I'm sure OU knows i'm not having a pop at him. Maybe i sound angrier over there...?

 

[Orang Utan]

 

[Voley]

I enjoyed this. Don't think I'd go as far as to describe it as 'great' and 'amazing' and all the other things I've just read at the beginning of the thread but Clint's performance was good, it had some decent themes and the growl was ace. The ending was a bit obvious, I thought. Good film overall, though - a bit of a step up from the usual Hollywood product.

 

[girasol]

I just watched and thought it was a very touching film. Made me cry a lot. When they left all the gifts on his staircase!!! That was one of the sweetest, most heart-warming scenes I've ever seen.

And he and the barber were most definetely mates, hell, they were good friends!

I'm going to watch 'The Wrestler' now (Hurray for virgin movies on demand!)

 

[STFC]

I just saw this recently and really enjoyed it, although I thought some of the acting was pretty poor (Thao and the gang members especially).

I dont think Walt is particularly racist, he just doesn't like people in general. He's a rude, grumpy, bitter, chauvinistic old man, who doesn't know the meaning of 'political correctness', but he has principles. He won't allow people to be bullied, whoever they are. He's old fashioned like that.

Whether the barber is a good friend of Walt's, I'm not sure. I don't think they're particularly close, but they have a settled routine based on insulting each other's ethnicity, which was probably initiated by Walt. The barber just gives as good as he gets.

Sue understands Walt. She sees the man behind the racial epithets and gruff demeanour.

 

[beeboo]

I saw this recently too and really enjoyed it. It was tiptoeing an uneasy line, and could easily have toppled into being either a saccharine feel-good movie or a cliched revenge/vigilante drama, but avoided doing either.

My two-penneth on the barber scenes - I thought it was deliberately played to initially make it look as though Walt was just being offensive and cantankerous, until we realise that the verbal sparring is part of a friendly (but not necessarily close) relationship between the two of them.

Both the extent to which this banter was designed to initially shock the audience, and also their reaction when Thao tried the same approach indicated that this wasn't supposed be reflective of "typical blue collar banter", rather that the pair had a rather idiosyncratic relationship.

 

[gabi]

Pretty crap movie. Shame Clint signed off with such a pile of shit.

 

[butchersapron]

I think it was supposed to show they had a typical relationship.

 

[moonsi til]

Watched this last night and really enjoyed it. I loved watching my BFs reaction to it as hew doesn't watch many films/TV and it was all positive. My BF said he almost cried at the end and him saying that made me nearly cry.

....the barber shop scenes were necessary to show how Walt used his type of language to all and that he also received it. No offence was taken as he had being going to the barbers every 3 weeks for years. He also left a tip in the final barber shop scene.