Gran Torino

Today in English class we watched a movie called Gran Torino. It is a drama film from 2008 directed by Clint Eastwood, and was named one of the ten best movies of 2008. Eastwood also plays the main character in the movie, a grumpy old man called Walt Kowalski, who just lost his wife and is dealing with his own problems from his past. As a young man he was in the Korean war, and memories of his killings and this time seems to haunt him deeply. Living in a neighborhood with Hmong people (a people from parts of Thailand, China and Laos), he is constantly annoyed with these people.

A gang in the Hmong society one day tries to get Walt's neighbor Thao Lor (a young and mannered boy) to join their gang, and though he refuses at first, they make him steel Walt's car, a perfect Gran Torino from the 1970's and the most possessed thing in Walt's life. Walt almost caught him in the action, and Thao is more afraid of his angry neighbor than ever. But one day the gang comes back to get Thao, and they start a fight with the Lor family. The leader of the gang is also Thao's cousin. When someone in the fight accidently steps on the lawn that belongs to Walt, he threatens to kill everyone of them if they ever set a foot on his property again. This scares the gang and they run. The next day, the Hmong people of the neighborhood treats Walt like a hero, because he saves the life of Thao. He also rescues the daughter in the Lor family, Sue, from some other gang bangers, and after a while he starts hanging out with both Sue and Thao - and he starts feeling joyful again. But the trouble with the gang continues and the struggle for the Lor family is almost to much to handle - so Walt decides to end the fight one in for all.

I got a task to answer this question: How do Hollywood films portray people of different races and ethnicities?

And I will try answering this as best as I can.

I think Hollywood movies portray people of different races and ethnicities very stereotypically. The image of the people are almost exactly how you expected it to be. But movies like this, challenges the stereotypes, as we can see for instance the character in Thao. They say in the movie that it is normal for the Hmong girls to og to college, while the Hmong boys end up in jail. But Thao is a good kid, who isn't looking for any trouble, and wants to stay away from the gangs and the crimes they commit. He'd rather do a woman's job, as they say in the movie, and do gardening and clean dishes. He is a hard working boy, who wants to do good in life.

Gran Torino is a great movie, and I recommend it strongly. Absolutely a movie you should see before you die. It's interesting, moving, funny and a movie you really learn something about. It brings up different problems, like gang violence, communication between different races and ethnicities, family issues and the fight for justice.

Anna

The Other Hand

We got a new assignment in English class a few weeks ago, and this was to choose a novel and read it. I choose the book "The Other Hand" (2008) by the British author Chris Cleave. This was the book of my choice because I have heard great things about it from people I know who have read it, and it has also gotten great reviews. It was for instance shortlisted for the 2008 COSTA Novel Award and nominated for a Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 2009.

The novel is about a Nigerian girl who is an asylum-seeker in England and a British magazine editor. They both are the narratives. The girl is called Little Bee, and in the immigration detention centre she learns fluent English, or as she calls it: Queens English. The woman is Sarah, and she is married to Andrew, and they have a son together, known as Batman. When Little Bee is released from the centre she goes straight to find the couple, and calls Andrew up. He commits suicide right after the call, so Sarah is left alone with her child when Little Bee comes knocking on their door on the day of Andrews funeral.

I haven't read a lot in the book yet, but I like it so far, and it is actually quite funny sometimes! I even caught myself laughing out loud several times. So I'm looking forward to reading further in it, and I hope that it will be as good as I expect it to be!

I'll post another update when I have read more, or when I'm finished.

Anna