Film Gran Torino Characterization Sue Lor

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him over anyway. Her soft skills enable Sue to prevent a cultural conflict. For example, Sue adjusts to Walt's behavior by adapting his sense of humor and communicating through insulting each other. Thereby, she teaches him about the Hmong culture. All in all, Sue proves to be more integrated in the American society than the other family members because of her sociable and liberal mindset. For instance, she dates Trey, a white boy. Furthermore, she herself tells Walt that Hmong girls fit in better in the US. The girls went to College whereas the boys went to jail. Sue is very good at communicating. Whereas Walt's character flaw is solving problems with violence, Sue generally manages to prevent conflicts with words. When Trey and Sue are confronted by the Black gang, she fiercely stands up to the gangbangers even though they are a big threat. In general Sue is portrayed as though, brave and confident. Due to that and the fact that Sue manages to fit in, it seems that she has taken over the role as head of her family. So, Sue is a character with many positive character traits, that make her very likeable. But her character seems rather flat. In contrast to Thao and Walt, who are dynamic characters, that undergo a huge development in the course of the film, Sue remains unchanged. The viewer learns little about her motives, dreams and her feelings are barely portrayed. Therefore, it seems that Sue is a character that exists to form the storyline: At the beginning she tends to run into situations that require Walt to save her like a damsel in distress, so that he can be regarded as a hero. In addition, she acts as link between the cultures and gets Walt to open up and develop into a caring, likeable character as well as protective father figure. Walt seeing Sue's beaten up face after she was raped by the Hmong gang is an important plot point because it makes Walt realize that he made a mistake and that he is the one responsible for her pain. The guilt caused by this sight of Sue leads Walt to the decision to sacrifice himself in order to protect Thao and Sue.