Studying Ideologies in Movies
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In Toward a Geo-Cinematic Hermeneutics, David E. James (1998) uses a "geo-cinematic hermeneutic" as a framework to explore the spatiality in which a media production is set but also the spatialities in which it came into being (p. 23). A geo-cinematic hermeneutic permits us to explore the ideology that is behind a movie. The spatial representations of race relations in Clint Eastwood's (2008) Gran Torino reflect different ideological attitudes. Location serves both through dialogue and visual imagery to play a significant part in understanding the ideological message of Gran Torino. Film critic Roger Ebert (2009) maintains the message "Is about Americans of different races growing more open to one another in the new century" (p. 2). The landscape plays a part in this and its spaces and places are reconstructed to reinforce the message. Geo-cinematic space is used to reinforce the transition in Walt Kowalski, whose better nature flowers once he recognizes he loves his neighbors more than he loves his own relatives. Formerly, Kowalski's neighborhood was filled with blue-collar immigrant workers employed by the auto industry. Now, the neighborhood is filled with a population of Hmong immigrants from China, Thailand, and Laos. That these individuals fought on our side during Vietnam locates them spatially as "friendly," despite Kowalski still viewing them as the enemy. He calls Sue "Dragon Lady" and tells one gang member, "I used to stack fucks like you
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d Polish workers like him are "Polacks" (Eastwood, 2008). If the economic and employment landscape of Detroit is in need of change, so is the attitude of older residents who must learn to co-exist with entirely distinct new groups of immigrants.
Gran Torino also shows the spatialities in which it came into being by highlighting the rise of gangs in areas where industry is faltering and few opportunities exist for anything other than minimum wage jobs. In many ways, this landscape is what faces modern immigrants like the Hmong, as opposed to European immigrants like Eastwood. While European immigrants struggled to assimilate and succeed, they face a Michigan landscape where the auto industry, economy, and industry in general were thriving. Men like Kowalski found good-paying jobs in manufacturing plants that provided for their families and left them with a decent lifestyle in retirement. This landscape is drastically altered today and one of the reasons film production incentives are offered to lure outside industry to the blighted area.
That the modern geography offers youth little in the way of economic possibilities is one of the film's messages, which it conveys by using the construction of Michigan spa
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1453
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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