{"id":164859,"date":"2021-02-23T15:11:54","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T20:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=164859"},"modified":"2021-02-23T15:44:08","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T20:44:08","slug":"gran-torino-co-star-tries-to-retroactively-cancel-film-calls-it-insensitive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gran-torino-co-star-tries-to-retroactively-cancel-film-calls-it-insensitive\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Gran Torino\u2019 Co-Star Tries To Retroactively Cancel Film, Calls It \u2018Insensitive\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fgran-torino-co-star-tries-to-retroactively-cancel-film-calls-it-insensitive%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=164859&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-83980067.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>Clint Eastwood flexed his box office muscle, again, with his 2008 smash \u201cGran Torino.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Eastwood directed and starred as Walt, a cranky veteran spending his golden years slinging racial slurs at his multi-ethnic neighbors, especially Hmong residents.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>When a local gang threatens both Walt and said neighbors, though, the old timer pushes past his racist feelings to put his life on the line for them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Literally.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The film gave Eastwood another hit, generating $148 million at the U.S. box office along with mostly glowing reviews. The film\u2019s Rotten Tomatoes score stands at a strong 81 percent \u201cfresh,\u201d while general audiences offered up a 90 percent approval rating.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The UK Independent marveled at how Eastwood, in his late 70s at the time, showcased an older character growing beyond his bigoted ways.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Now, an Asian actor who co-starred alongside Eastwood in the film, the kind of opportunity any actor would cherish, says \u201cGran Torino\u201d helped contribute to anti-Asian sentiment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Bee Vang admits the film gave Hmongs a very rare, nay \u201chistoric,\u201d cinematic close up. He still regrets the film, saying the slurs employed by Walt<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/think\/opinion\/covid-19-era-s-anti-asian-racism-isn-t-new-ncna1258184\"><span>made racism more acceptable stateside.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cAt the time, there was a lot of discussion about whether the movie\u2019s slurs were insensitive and gratuitous or simply \u2018harmless jokes,\u2019 \u201d Vang writes. \u201cI found it unnerving, the laughter that the slurs elicited in theaters with predominantly white audiences. And it was always white people who would say, \u2018Can\u2019t you take a joke?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201c\u2026Gran Torino\u201d may have elided the crisis in Asia that birthed our diaspora and many others across the Pacific. But more concerning was the way the film mainstreamed anti-Asian racism, even as it increased Asian American representation. The laughter weaponized against us has beaten us into silent submission.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Vang puts the film in context with an uptick in anti-Asian sentiment in the U.S. following the rise of COVID-19.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>People magazine says Eastwood\u2019s representative hadn\u2019t returned a request for comment as of this time. One can imagine Eastwood\u2019s true feelings on the subject, so it\u2019s best his media team is laying low for now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>What Vang is doing, of course, is nothing new.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Molly Ringwald became a superstar thanks to filmmaker John Hughes. Decades later, after his passing, Ringwald blasted those very films for being hopelessly unwoke.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Stars like<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodintoto.com\/woke-stars-apologize-the-help\/\"><span>Bryce Dallas Howard and Viola Davis denigrated their own film<\/span><\/a><span>, 2011\u2019s \u201cThe Help,\u201d last year because they deemed it unacceptable to tell that story from a white character\u2019s perspective.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Octavia Spencer, a black actress who earned an Oscar for her role in the film, hasn\u2019t been as vocal in her opposition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Now, Vang turns the movie role of a lifetime (his first official acting gig, to be precise) into a cudgel to attack Eastwood, his film, and the movie\u2019s racial healing. He\u2019s trying to defang Eastwood the storyteller in the process. How would one convey Walt\u2019s dramatic change of heart without showing his calloused comments early in the film? Should such characters never appear on screen?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>What about hit men? Anti-heroes like Tony Soprano and Walter White? Serial killers? Where would Vang like to draw the line? After all, millions secretly or not so secretly rooted on both Soprano and White in their respective shows. Was that wrong?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The best stories offer complex characters who are neither good nor evil. They\u2019re like us, struggling with flaws but open to the possibility of becoming a better human being.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>That\u2019s precisely what happened to Walt, who go to know his neighbors so well he fought to the death to protect them. That\u2019s not virtue signaling. That\u2019s having real skin in the game, and it made \u201cGran Torino\u201d all the more powerful because of it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Vang may have heard uncomfortable, or even full-throated laughter, from some audiences watching the film\u2019s coarse moments. Comedy can be cruel, ugly and unexpected, and laughter often spills from those emotions as well as a sense of surprise. Seeing a screen icon like Eastwood spitting out slurs is certainly surprising, no doubt, something the film\u2019s creative team deemed a necessary artistic choice to propel the narrative.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For decades audiences howled over people in pain, from someone stepping on a rake or unexpectedly plunging into a pool. They still do.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>That doesn\u2019t mean movie goers are cold, cruel or unworthy of our empathy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In fact, laughter doesn\u2019t mean the audience condones a specific thought or action. Chances are Eastwood himself might tell the younger actor just that, had he engaged the icon face-to-face rather than pen an essay for the media.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Certainly the bigger messages found in \u201cGran Torino\u201d \u2013 growth, acceptance, healing and sacrifice \u2013 linger longer than a few ugly slurs in the film\u2019s first act.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><span class=\"s1\"><em>member<\/em><\/span><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clint Eastwood flexed his box office muscle, again, with his 2008 smash \u201cGran Torino.\u201d Eastwood directed and starred as Walt, a cranky veteran spending his golden years slinging racial slurs &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274052,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-83980067.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018Gran Torino\u2019 Co-Star Tries To Retroactively Cancel Film, Calls It \u2018Insensitive\u2019","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/GettyImages-83980067.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018Gran Torino\u2019 Co-Star Tries To Retroactively Cancel Film, Calls It \u2018Insensitive\u2019","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}