Bee Vang, Clint Eastwood, Ahney Her, Gran Torino Premiere  Photo: A Rodriguez, Getty

The Rantings of Jon Hu: Gran Torino (the Movie)

The Gran Torino… a priceless car from the age of Clint Eastwood. I’m not saying he’s old or anything… on a brighter note he can sure still throw out one hell of a movie.

There is a false premise this movie revolves around a vintage car for those old of you to actually remember what a Gran Torino is. It actually revolves around a racist old grumpy white man named Walt Kowalski played by of course Clint Eastwood. You know the typical guy who came back from a major war fighting and ends up hating gooks and yellow people in general. Ironically, his community also got ravaged by Asians; Oh yes, the revered Asian Invasion.

Actually, who are we kidding, he hates everybody but who could really blame him with kids and grandkids that are just little pricks with no respect. That is why the old white man adopts his neighbor’s families which ironically enough are Hmongs, Asians from the mountainous regions of the Southeast. Everyone knows that Asians and Asian Americans are way more respectful.

I was wondering why I didn’t recognize the dialect when they were speaking. Thao Vang Lor (Bee Vang) and his strangely attractive sister, Sue Lor, played by Ahney Her, both can’t act for their lives. (We actually friended her on Facebook so be sure to stay tuned with AA E-Zine for a possible interview).

Anyway, the family gets into trouble with their Asian gangst-er cousin Fong, aka Spider, and it’s the cowboy from the old west to clean the streets. Throughout the movie Spider rolls up with his crew in a Honda Civy and ghetto carbon fiber hood and spoiler while blasting rap music -.-
 
Clint Eastwood practically uses every Asian insult known to man while multiplicatively saying gook about twenty times over; it truly does portray what is wrong with the Asian interpretation in this society. There is a scene in the movie where Sue is walking with her stereotypical white boyfriend when they run into a bunch of black thugs. Naturally the white boy has to pretend he’s black and we all know this ends terribly wrong. The black thugs approach Sue saying “Bring that little tight ass over here” and “This Oriental yummy for me?” while the quick wit of little Sue responds with "Great, another asshole with a fetish for Asian girls. God, it gets so old."

But the fact remains that Asian stereotypes exist and I can pretty much say with confidence that each stereotype in this movie was spot on with stereotypes that ranged from the overly gratuitous Asians to the massive family gatherings every weekend.     

But if there is one thing that Clint Eastwood has shown the American people who watch this movie is the priceless bond that goes beyond the lines of race and heritage and in this case, even blood, literally. If you watch the movie, you'll know what I mean.