The ARA survey: Is Clint Eastwood 'woke'?

This past weekend I rewatched Gran Torino, one of the best films directed by Clint Eastwood (and that's saying a lot, considering he's one of the best directors of the last fifty years of Hollywood). It coincided with the publication of the YouGov poll for this newspaper, with the data that 66% of Catalans, an undeniable majority, are in favor of restricting immigrants' access to the country. This same majority is, at the same time, in favor of guaranteeing equal rights among all residents. However, 30% declare themselves in favor of applying the national priority defended by Vox and Aliança Catalana (and which the Popular Party has adopted). Released in 2008, Eastwood's film already speaks openly about immigration, and it's a hymn to the diversity and social cohesion of a country (the USA, but it could be Catalonia, it could be the Catalan Countries) historically formed by immigrants. However, being a hymn doesn't mean it's accommodating or well-intentioned: it shows how Black people have prejudices against Asians, Asians against Whites, Italians against Chinese, Chinese against Hispanics, Poles against the Irish. White supremacism over everyone else is portrayed, as well as the resentment and xenophobia that minorities profess towards Whites, etc. There is violence, weapons (we are in the USA), linguistic, cultural, and religious conflicts, and tattered American flags on the porches of rundown houses in degraded neighborhoods. But Eastwood clearly takes a stand for people's capacity to welcome and coexist. It's a capacity based on tolerance, empathy, and intelligence, qualities that define us as human beings before patriots.

Eastwood has never hidden his conservative thinking and Republican vote, but it is very possible that many of his ideological peers would have today labeled Gran Torino as woke and cheesy, in addition to being a dangerous example of weak and unpatriotic thinking. From what is reflected in this newspaper's poll, a majority of Catalan voters, or at least a very high percentage, would also say so. What this majority opinion reflects is not simple Catalan-style trumpism (this trumpism of Mr. Esteve who from time to time gifts us, like his role model, moments of unintentional comedy). It is also the result of a nationalist and supposedly patriotic withdrawal in which a good part of public opinion has succumbed to the discourse of fear, and speaks of Catalonia as a nation, a culture, a language, threatened, on the verge of disappearing. This is said and repeated, with whimpers of all styles, day in and day out. And as always happens in a context of fear of one's own disappearance, the outsider, the immigrant, is the first to be pointed out as guilty. We have succumbed to what Kundera called the provincialism of small nations: it means that dark times are approaching, and if isolation, suspicion, and hatred have become the majority, it is more necessary than ever to confront them: they will cease to be so again.Gran Torino as woke and cheesy, in addition to being a dangerous example of weak and unpatriotic thinking. From what is reflected in this newspaper's poll, a majority of Catalan voters, or at least a very high percentage, would also say so. What this majority opinion reflects is not simple Catalan-style trumpism (this trumpism of Mr. Esteve who from time to time gifts us, like his role model, moments of unintentional comedy). It is also the result of a nationalist and supposedly patriotic withdrawal in which a good part of public opinion has succumbed to the discourse of fear, and speaks of Catalonia as a nation, a culture, a language, threatened, on the verge of disappearing. This is said and repeated, with whimpers of all styles, day in and day out. And as always happens in a context of fear of one's own disappearance, the outsider, the immigrant, is the first to be pointed out as guilty. We have succumbed to what Kundera called the provincialism of small nations: it means that dark times are approaching, and if isolation, suspicion, and hatred have become the majority, it is more necessary than ever to confront them: they will cease to be so again.