Ep. 44: Gran Torino (2008) with Andrew Ti

Fasten your seatbelts, listeners: we're taking Clint's 2008 hit GRAN TORINO for a spin with racism expert (and native Michigander) Andrew Ti! This is a loaded one, gang: we talk about the film's lingering effect on the Hmong diaspora community, if it could have been made about any ethnic minority, whether the many slurs are intended to be funny, fatherly advice, and we try to sell Andrew on Clint's many other, better films. Plus there's a lot of Ann Arbor talk because Jake's dad is from there too. Great ep, check it out or we'll steal your car!

Topics include: doing drugs in class, ROMEO MUST DIE, Jake tries to make the case that this could have been a remake of TOKYO STORY, hamburger pizza, ping-pong humiliation, 8 MILE, star Bee Vang's 2021 op-ed about the film's contribution to anti-Asian racism, going from gamer to racer, and more!

Read Bee Vang's op-ed: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/covid-19-era-s-anti-asian-racism-isn-t-new-ncna1258184

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Artwork by Jeremy Allison:

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