Exploring the American Dream: An Analysis of Gran Torino Movie

This assignment consists of two essays and an annotated bibliography centered around Clint Eastwood's film 'Gran Torino' and its connection to the American Dream. The first essay analyzes the film's portrayal of the American Dream, examining scenes that reflect its achievement or disillusionment, and connecting these to assigned readings on the topic. It highlights the social issues presented in the movie and the hope it offers through the character of Walt Kowalski. The annotated bibliography provides summaries and evaluations of articles related to the film's themes. The second essay further explores the American Dream from the perspective of marginalized classes, focusing on cultural acceptance and equality. It uses 'Gran Torino' as a case study, showing how characters adapt to different cultures and the significance of cultural transference. The assignment concludes with a summary of Saadi Youssef's poem 'America, America,' which expresses views on the Iraq war.

Running head: GRAN TORINO AND THE AMERICAN DREAM
GRAN TORINO AND THE AMERICAN DREAM
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1GRAN TORINO AND THE AMERICAN DREAM
Table of Contents
Essay..........................................................................................................................................2
References..............................................................................................................................3
Annotated Bibliography.............................................................................................................4
Essay 2.......................................................................................................................................6
References..............................................................................................................................7
America, America Summary......................................................................................................8

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Essay
The American Dream, is the cultural belief in the American society that the society
will develop and prosper if the fundamental rights of the citizen of the country is secure. The
movie Gran Torino by Clint Eastwood shows the other side of the dream that the people
know. The society with the darker side and the bias towards the acceptance due to the cultural
diversification of the society is presented in the movie (Franz). The citizens from various
ethnicities live in the country and most of the people keep themselves close to their own
ethnic groups making the class divide wider.
Amongst the divide and the social issues that the movie portrays it never fails to give
hope in the form of Walt Kowalski who is not only ready to forgive but give a chance to
Thao to change. The American dream is not just a disillusionment it the movie it is something
that the American society strives to achieve and cannot be done by just enforcement of law
(Putnam). The stance taken by Walt in the movie to protect the neighborhood and allow its
Lao Hmong citizens to be accepted in the society.
The social issues presented in the movie is mainly the criminalization of the youth of
the marginalized class. As Eva Michel’s says “To make ‘The American Dream’ come true all
Americans have to work together. ‘The American Dream’ is supposed to be for each
American, despite all social groups.” The Lao Hmong community in the movie Gran Torino
works towards achieving this dream, and they work toward this. It is shown that they are
generally a peaceful hardworking community who just want to live in peace. Walt is the
volunteer of the American community helping them to achieve this in all possible way as he
is seen training Thao and getting him a job.

3GRAN TORINO AND THE AMERICAN DREAM
References
Putnam, Robert D. Our kids: The American dream in crisis. Simon and Schuster, 2016.
Franz, Kathleen. "John A. Heitmann and Rebecca H. Morales. Stealing Cars: Technology and
Society from the Model T to the Gran Torino." (2015): 642-643.

4GRAN TORINO AND THE AMERICAN DREAM
Annotated Bibliography
Kinney, Rebecca J. "The auto-mobility of Gran Torino’s American immigrant dream:
cars, class and whiteness in Detroit’s post-industrial cityscape." Race & Class 57.1
(2015): 51-66.
The article argues about the relevance of the American dream and its regeneration
through the acceptance of the auto-mobility culture. Contrary to the Asian family cultural
norms Walt is a the American independent man who teaches Thao the American way of life
and how this dream can be achieved by the acceptance of the cultural norms. The Gran
Torino is the classic American muscle car and the image of the American way of life and the
dependence of the American life on automobiles.
Roche, Mark W. "Cultural and religious reversals in Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino."
Religion and the Arts 15.5 (2011): 648-679.
The research evaluates the religious changes in the country over time. The change in
the religious affliction of the person with time due to the multicultural influence is the
mainstay of the film. The character of Walt drives knowledge of the cultural family values of
the family from the Lao Hmong people and it brings in him the sense of religious affiliation.
His last confession shows the lack of the family love and remorse. The film also shows the
American culture accepting the oriental ideas of peace, which will help it achieve the
American dream.
Wyatt-Nichol, Heather. "The Enduring Myth of the American Dream: Mobility,
Marginalization, and Hope." (2016).
In this essay, the American Dream of the society is portrayed on how it is affected by
mobility marginalization and hope in the society. The mobilization stands for the equal

5GRAN TORINO AND THE AMERICAN DREAM
opportunities to be given to the citizen of the country to move up and down the social ladder.
The marginalization is the non-acceptance of certain communities and them being
stereotyped in the society, which curbs their overall development. The hope is presented as
the hope of the future where the social issues will be cast aside in the achievement of the real
American Dream.
Chetty, Raj, et al. "The fading American dream: Trends in absolute income mobility
since 1940." Science 356.6336 (2017): 398-406.
The article discovers the change in the mobility of the economy among the
Americans, which has led to the income divide. The very tenet of children having a better life
is not being fulfilled in the present American society. The various changes in the socio
economic structure has made the earning tougher and the society tough to cope with it. The
economic mobility in the society underwent a downward spiral in the society.
Jalao, Ly Chong. "Looking Gran Torino in the eye: a review." Journal of Southeast
Asian American Education and Advancement 5.1 (2015): 15.
According to the article, the Hmong community was not portrayed perfectly in the
film Gran Torino though it was shown almost perfectly. The film is seen majorly as the
Hollywood drama of guilty conscience and the racial transition of the so called perfect
patriotic American. This article argues that the hmong communities are not shown in the
good light as they are shown as people with little knowledge of English and being a closed
community.

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Essay 2
The American dream of the marginal class in to be accepted in the society as an equal
and have all the rights and freedom that a US national has. In reality, the marginalized ethnic
groups and the immigrants from other underdeveloped countries do not get equal opportunity
and acceptance I the American soil. The American dream is the wants and desires of the
American citizens for a better life opportunity and the overall prosperity.
The marginalized class in the society has undergone a lot of change in the recent
times and the understanding of US national is very limited in the understanding of the other
cultures. As it is seen in the case of the portrayal of Lao Hmongs in the movie Gran Torino,
most people just understand the outward cultures of the ethnic groups not their deep
intricacies (Jalao). The American society seeks to achieve its dream land through bringing
equality and prosperity which can be done by acceptance of all the cultures and not by
Americanization of them.
The movie Gran Torino seeks to achieve this objective of the transference of culture
in the society (Chetty). Walt is an American who helps Thao learn the American way of life
by teaching him ways to fit in the American society. Walt himself learns to adapt to Lao
Hmong neighborhood by understanding and appreciating their culture and their ways of life.
The initiation of Thao is complete when Walt passes him his Gran Torino which is the sign of
the American Society. It also signifies the importance of this family by Walt than his own
family because they did not deserve it (Rank et al.). In a way this movie shows the American
Dream achievement which can be done by giving the deserving the opportunity in spite of
caste and creed.

7GRAN TORINO AND THE AMERICAN DREAM
References
Chetty, Raj, et al. "The fading American dream: Trends in absolute income mobility since
1940." Science 356.6336 (2017): 398-406.
Jalao, Ly Chong. "Looking Gran Torino in the eye: a review." Journal of Southeast Asian
American Education and Advancement 5.1 (2015): 15.
Rank, Mark R., Thomas A. Hirschl, and Kirk A. Foster. Chasing the American dream:
understanding what shapes our fortunes. Oxford University Press, 2014.

8GRAN TORINO AND THE AMERICAN DREAM
America, America Summary
Saadi Youssef, an Iraqi citizen who opposed both the Saddam Hussein regime and the
constant attacks on Iraq by the American soldiers expresses his views through this poem. In
this poem, he expresses his discomfort and the angst against the attacks by this poem
(Youssef, 2002). The referral of the God soldiers against soldiers is the term that shows that
both the countries were fighting as if they were divine angels off god against evil while the
common people died in their hands showing the atrocities the Iraqi society had to undergo in
the name of war. The poem shows that there is a desperate need of the end of the conflict to
protect the society from any more harm.
The words repeated like gods solders drowned are repeated to emphasize on the fact
the effect the war is taking on the society. he also invokes a number of gods in the Iraqi
culture to restore peace in the society and bring the war to end. The author refers to America
as ‘the lady to invoke it in it feminine emotion of love compassion peace and serenity which
was needed to stop the war. The word drowned is constantly used to indicate the
psychological state of the Iraqi people.
The poet asks America to let water come which is the sign of survival and the Iraqi
society needs it the most. The poet wants to emphasize that America should give liberty to all
not just Americans to ensure greatness.

9GRAN TORINO AND THE AMERICAN DREAM
References
Youssef, S. 2002. America, America. [online] Pwf.cz. Available at:
http://www.pwf.cz/export/clanek-pdf.php?clanek_id=8483&show [Accessed 5 Dec. 2017].