The moral of the movie is that asians are the model minority and are the rightful heirs of American prosperity and opportunity, while other minorities such as blacks and even whites themselves are continually demonized by society. It's most apparent at the end when Thao is driving off in the Gran Torino - his white granddaughter thought she was going to be the heir to detroit's legacy, but instead it is the model asian youth. That's certainly a message that's resonating in our time.

Walt's martyrdom in the end is probably significant, in that Americans feel as if they are swiftly fading into obscurity, and there needs to be some other ethnic group who can pick up the same ideals, morals, and traditions as Americans. In other words, carrying on the legacy of America, just without white people.

There are few positive portrayals of whites and blacks in the movie - actually, scratch that. There are NO positive depictions of blacks in this movie, and every white person under 40 is a total douche.

The turning point of the movie is when Sue and Walt become friends, after Walt "rescues" her. They bond because they've found a common enemy, the race that society truly feels deserves discrimination. There's no opportunity for those blacks and that douchebag white dude to give any sense of restitution for their actions, but the meek, humble, and conformist asian family is allowed to.

This movie's message was just another in a long line of hollywood movies that reinforce racial stereotypes, totally demonizing certain minorities while holding some up in the limelight as being deserving of respect.

I don't agree with your assessment at all. If anything, this movie helps break down the Asian model minority stereotype by portraying an Asian-American family that is not always prim and proper, and instead one that acts how any "American" family would in those circumstances.

Firstly, that the family is Hmong is a huge break-through in a society that often thinks of Asian exclusively as Chinese, Japanese, or Korean.

Secondly, the family is poor. The whole model minority stereotype is hinged around the idea that Asians are socially successful through hard work and conformity, and yet Gran Torino depicts an Asian family that is relegated to a lower middle class ethnic enclave.

The story would have worked just as well had Thao's family been any other minority - it might even work had the family been white. I mean, the only truly Asian thing about them were the family gatherings they have. That Asians were chosen instead of blacks or Latinos, I think, speaks more for the "freshness" of Asian families in mainstream American cinema than anything else.

Now to your points: Thao did not inherit the Gran Torino because he was a "model Asian youth." He received the car because 1) he was not a brat like the granddaughter was, and 2) he developed a close relationship with Walt - something Walt's family failed to do. Thao's race had nothing to do with it.

That there weren't positive depictions of whites, blacks, or Latinos in the film does not automatically mean that they were "demonized." There actually has to be a significant on-screen presence before anyone can be demonized in a movie. Yes, they were portrayed in a negative light, but the blacks and Latinos in the movie were thugs! What else do you expect?

It isn't as if the Asian gang members in the movie were given a free pass. If anything, it is the Asian gang that's demonized in the movie. Raping his own cousin? Now, that's demonic.

As for the white people, I would have to agree that Walt's family members are overly caricatured douches, but they are written as douches mostly because they are in Walt's family rather than their skin color.

Finally, Sue and Walt do not bond "because they've found a common enemy, the race that society truly feels deserves discrimination." Sue tried to get to know Walt before that incident took place. Being in the same truck cab forces them to interact because Walt can no longer scurry back inside his house. Sue and Walt's true common enemy is Thao's cousin and his gang.

I'm curious as to how you think that this is expressed in the movie

True, but they got some details wrong with the Hmong history.

They're new immigrants, so of course they're not going to be well off. But the whole point of the model minority stereotype is that when you have asian populations in the same social conditions as blacks, hispanics and poor whites, they're more likely to succeed.

Ah, I keep forgetting how much Latinos have oversaturated the mainstream media.

And what other factors despite the characters being asian, speaking asian languages, explaining (although this part is wrong in the movie) asian cultural traditions, eating asian food (although the wrong kind), driving a japanese car, etc etc that was in this movie would have you think confirm that they were asian. Because it seemed like they sure as hell went to great lengths to establish that these characters were asian.

That was entirely my point. You explain points of the movie, but you don't understand the significance. It's like saying the majority of movies aren't racist against blacks, because blacks just happen to be the ones who are always committing violent acts against whites and they just happen to pull the trigger. The white person isn't pulling the trigger, the black person is, so there's no racism there! You clearly missed the symbolic significance of his Gran Torino.

You're doing it again. They're thugs, so they're obviously demonized! but WHY did they choose to put blacks in the movie and portray them like this.

But there's the message that asians are capable of redemption and achieving success. This message is never explored with blacks.

I'm pretty sure they're not recent immigrants. The English proficiency gap between Thao/Sue and their parents/grandparents leads me to believe that Thao and Sue were born in the U.S. (or at the very least, they immigrated when they were extremely young), and that indicates the older generation Hmong have been here for one or two decades. Also, recent immigrants do not buy houses, no matter what neighborhood the houses are in.

The model minority stereotype (and that's exactly what it is: a stereotype) applies mostly to those of East Asian descent. Immigrants from Southeast Asia have a history of underperforming economically and socially in the U.S. which is why I find lumping all Asians together under one race to be ludicrous when talking about the stereotype.

That said, I see no evidence that the Hmong in the movie are more successful than the blacks, Hispanics, and poor whites living in their neighborhood, and that is why I find fault with your original statement that "the moral of the movie is that asians are the model minority and are the rightful heirs of American prosperity and opportunity..."

I never said Latinos have oversaturated the mainstream media - I think you're misunderstanding what I'm saying. I'm not questioning the "Asian-ness" of the Hmong family. I'm saying that their story traverses racial boundaries. Gang violence impacts families of all races; the Hmong family can just as easily be black of Hispanic. At the very core of the plot, race doesn't matter.

So, why then does Gran Torino center around a family of Hmong and not some other minority group? The most logical answer would be the screenwriter's connection with the Hmong of Minnesota. Nick Schenk, a first-time screenwriter, worked alongside Hmong immigrants at a local factory, and he has said that they helped shape his story.

I admit I'm not reading between the lines much, but that's because I prefer to analyze what's presented in front of me rather than make baseless insinuations. You keep on mentioning "symbolic significance" and how I'm missing it - that's a bit pretentious, no?

By this logic, all violence depicted in films between people of different races can be construed as racism on the part of the screenwriter. The truth is, we don't know the answer to your question, and it would be unfair to the screenwriter to make presumptions as you are doing.

I don't see that message anywhere. Thao's cousin and his gang were never close to redemption. And no one is achieving success in the movie for reasons mentioned above. The message - whatever that may be - is not explored in the blacks because the story is not about them.

they would even prey on their own family. At the end it wasn't white people that Eastwood missed, it was the neighborhood. The ending was great as well, even though I would have loved to see him go to town with the Garand against all those 9mm bullet hoses.