Divergent and Gran Torino Project for CMST 105

1. Amy Dencker, Sarah Thompson,
Efrain Ovalle, Nicole Harris,
Bethany Kulasxa, Cornelius Ball
Presenting:
Gran Torino & Divergent

2.  Give examples of dialect, jargon/branding, argot, slang or
profanity. Be specific – which character uses it – in what
context? Is it appropriate for the scene? Why or why not?
-Walt Kowalski, (Clint Eastwood) an unabashed racist,
begins a journey to a slightly softer viewpoint through his
encounters with his Hmong neighbors. However, this in no
way stops him from using a wide variety of racial slurs
throughout the movie, even from the grave.
-Swamp Rats
-Zipper-head
-Chinks
-Gooks
-Dago
-Spooks
-Fish Heads
-Egg Roll
-Slopes
-Dragon Lady
-Zip
-Mick
-Ginny
The final two
were read
from his will:
-Beaner
-Zipperhead
Efrain Ovalle

3. NicoleHarris
-There are six universal facial expressions:
happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust,
and surprise. In GranTorino, one very soon
recognizes the universal expression of
sadness.Walt Kowalski, the main character,
is conversing with a priest who asks him
what he knows about life and death. Walt
begins to tell the priest about his knowledge
of death, about what he saw and did when
he fought in Korea for three years. As he
tells of the gruesome acts of those times, he
becomes very sad. His eyebrows furrow and
he looks down with pain in his eyes; his
mouth also turns down in a frown.

4. -Walt also
demonstrates the
universal expression of
anger. When his next-
door neighbors are in a
fight with a gang and
they start fighting on
his lawn, Walt runs out
with his gun and
orders the gang
members to leave. His
eyebrows narrow and
his eyes glare in fury
while his mouth is
turned down and his
teeth and jaw are
tightly clenched.
Nicole Harris

5. What evidence of
assigned face, face
manipulation and face
changed by the
surroundings or
received messages
did you encounter?
Describe carefully.
-Assigned face is the face that you are born with. Although
it can be altered by age, health, cosmetics, and so on, this
is your "basic" face. Walt Kowalski's face is evidence of
this because, though he grows older and becomes ill, he
still has the same face he was born with. Face
manipulation is when you change your face at will; you
can control this face. This face manipulation is evidenced
when Sue Lor, Walt's neighbor, comes to say hello to him.
In order to show that she is glad to see him, she changes
her face; her eyes crinkle up at the corners and she
smiles pleasantly.
Nicole Harris

6. You also also have a
face that is changed by
your surroundings and
the messages you
receive. This is
evidenced by Walt's
neighbor, Thao Vang Lor.
Walt tells Thao that he
can use his special car,
the Gran Torino, to take
a girl out on a date.
Thao is surprised, but
very happy. He lifts his
eyebrows and widens
his eyes in surprise
while he smiles in
pleasure. His face is
altered because of the
message he receives.
Nicole Harris

7. List stereotypes found in each
movie. Why do we favor
stereotypes? Are they harmful
to human interaction? Why?
Give examples:
-The main stereotypes I see in
this movie is racial stereotypes.
Being racist to other people
because of race or religion is
wrong because God made us to
be exactly how he wanted us to
be. It is harmful to human
interaction because if we were
all racist to each other nothing
in the world would work such
as jobs or sports. No one would
be able to get along and every
race would be for themselves.
Cornelius
Ball

8. Amy Dencker
-The movie starts out with Walt angry
at the world. He had no one in his life
after his wife passed away. The
community that he lives in was once
populated by wealthy white families,
but has now been taken over by
immigrants and gangs. Walt was a
Veteran, who kept to himself. He
appeared to be disgusted by his
Hmong neighbors, especially after a
teen –Thao- attempts to steal his
classic Gran Torino for a gang
initiation.

9.  While Walt stands in his front yard, he
watches large groups of Hmong enter
his neighbor's house. With a crinkled
forehead and a rough raspy voice, he
says “How many swamp rats can you fit
in one room?” And proceeds to spit on
the ground towards the neighbor's
house.
Amy Dencker

10. -While Walt is in his front yard, Thao's
Grandmother comes out to sit on her porch
when they immediately engage in eye contact.
With eye's locked she starts to rant in her
native language. Not knowing what she is
saying, Walt again spits in the direction of her
home. In return, with a mouth full of chewing
tobacco, she spits also only her spit was
Amy Dencker

11. -It’s clear that
the non-verbal
communication
that happened
in this scene
was because of
a simple
glance. Walt
knew that Su
was in trouble,
and the gang
got defensive
due to guilt.
Amy Dencker

12. Sarah Thompson
Discuss appearance, body
posturing, tone of voice,
paralanguage examples,
unintentional messages.
Give examples:
 At his wife's
funeral, Walt's
granddaughter
walks down the
aisle wearing a
mid-drift shirt
showing off her
belly ring. Walt
has a disgusted
expression on
his face and
with a crinkled
nose, he
mutters “ugh”
through his
teeth in
disapproval.

13. -As Thao works in a
crouched position in
his front yard, he is
approached by his
cousin's gang and
taunted, called names
and pushed as they try
and pressure him into
joining their gang.
Thao remains silent
with his head hanging
down in a submissive
position showing his
lack of interest.
SarahThompson

14. Give the cultural/socioeconomic
background of the main characters.
include age, education, gender,
expression of emotions,
idiosyncrasies, eye contact.
Walt Kowalski is a down-home stereotypical
American white man. He appears to be roughly in
his seventies and has led a very long hard life,
including being a soldier in the Vietnam war,
which would estimate his education level of at
least high school. Throughout most of the movie,
he expresses irritability, annoyance with the world
(especially a different race), and a lot of animosity
in general. He starts to care for his neighbors but
still has a very gruff exterior towards them,
although in a loving way. He continually makes
comments about race in some form, using a lot of
derogatory terms. He is very rude and yet speaks Beth Kulasxa

15. Thao is of Asian descent, and
comes from what seems to
be an impoverished family. He
is probably in his early
twenties, and lacks drive in
life due to fear and family
ties. He is probably finished
with high school, since, when
Walt asks him what he wants
to do in life, he says he would
want to go to school. Thao's
exact reply is "Yes, but
school costs money." He is a
very timid boy that gets
picked on by his cousin who
is in a gang. His temperament
is very shy and so easy going
he is almost a pushover, until
Walt gets ahold of him. He
does not originally look
people directly in the eye due
to his culture.
Beth Kulasxa

16. Sue is Thao's brother, so she is also from
Asian descent. She is probably also in her
early twenties, and her education is
unknown. There are no remarks to her
education other than that she is a smart
girl. She has no problem expressing her
emotions or even her words. She is very
outspoken and fights every stereotype put
towards her about race and gender. She
looks Walt in the eye, because she
recognizes it for what it is: a sign of
respect. Yet she still respects her family’s
culture and does not look them in the eye.
She explains to Walt that they see it as
disrespect to look each other directly in
the eye.
Beth Kulasxa

17. What evidence of assigned face,
face manipulation and face
changed by the surroundings or
received messages did you
encounter? Describe carefully.
-Four would use many facial
expressions to show his
emotions. Whether he was mad or
sad he would always show his
emotions with his facial expressions.
That’s how the real tough ones
always do that because they're all
about action.
Cornelius Ball

18. There are two main characters in the movie Divergent.They both
come from a similar cultural/socioeconomic background:
The first character isTris, a sixteen year old female. She completed
her high school education. She is training to join a new faction.
During her training method, she uses a sense of nonverbal
communication. It expresses her emotions and it's really okay to do
in her culture. She shows the value of eye contact in Dauntless
culture. Back in her other faction, looking down is a sign of great
respect. In her new faction it is a sign of cowardness and weakness.
During her training she adopted new ways to show respect.
CorneliusBall

19. Nicole HarrisThe second of these two main characters is
Tobias Eaton, more commonly called Four,
an eighteen year old male. He too
graduated from high school, but is already a
trained member of Dauntless. Four is more
of a stoic character, but he still uses similar
nonverbal communication cues to express
his emotions. He crosses his arms while
narrowing his eyebrows and glaring when
assertive and forceful, smiles and raises his
eyebrows when pleased, and furrows his
eyebrows when puzzled. Four reveals
another idiosyncratic gesture: nodding
one's head to signal understanding. Four,
already trained in Dauntless ways, makes
use of forceful eye contact to get his
message across. As an instructor to those
new to Dauntless ways, he uses direct and
steely eye contact to show his authority and
enforce his leadership; he also uses it to

20. Provide
messages
observed by
the characters
regarding skin
color, religion,
politics,
nationalities,
type of attire,
perception of
beauty.
-The beginning of the film introduces the
audience to a strictly structured society and
its five factions, representing the virtues of;
intelligence, bravery, kindness, honesty and
selflessness. When children come of age,
they take a test to help them choose which
faction they will join for the rest of their life.
When Tris goes in for her test, however,
things don’t go as planned and she is left
with uncertainty, fear and a dangerous
secret.Efrain Ovalle

21. Discuss appearance, body
posturing, tone of voice,
paralanguage examples,
unintentional messages.
Give examples.
At the beginning of Divergent, Beatrice is very
quiet and shy. She isn’t very strong and she
doesn’t know how to voice her feelings-as she
is supposed to selfless. As Beatrice observes the
Dauntless faction jumping from trains and their
fearless behavior, you can see the awe and
admiration in her wide eyes as they follow the
group. As time goes on, she chooses to now be
a Dauntless and wants to be called Tris. Now
she is acting like a warrior. She begins training
to become stronger, and she starts being
outspoken and witty with her comebacks. She
goes from rags to riches as far as her
appearance. After choosing her new faction,
she becomes a new person. Amy Dencker

22. Eric, a leader of Dauntless is
particularly disapproving of
Tris throughout her “trials”.
When she finally becomes
injured and presumably
incapable of continuing on, at
the last minute she makes it
onto the train to the next
activity. Eric walks up to her
and with an intimidating leer
and snidely asks “who let you
out?”. Trice responds “I did”
and he reluctantly says “okay”
in a disapproving tone and
abruptly turns and walks away
from her.
The expression of
of Beatrice and
Caleb's parents
when they both
chose different
factions than them
is that of
disappointment
and shock.
SarahThompson

23. When Dauntless has been put into a
drone-like trance, they load onto the
train to go attack Abnegation, Tris
slowly makes her way to “4” so she is
not noticed and he slowly grabs her hand
to show her his love and that he too is a
“Divergent”.
SarahThompson

24. -A main stereotype in this film is
the division of people into factions
which are made up of the five
virtues they consider to be of
highest value. By giving every
individual a test, how the individual
chooses to complete the test is
what determines what faction they
belong to. For example, if one
chose to rid the pack of wolfs with
a sword instead of a steak or rid
birds by jumping in water instead of
using fire. These would determine
where you “belong”.
SarahThompson

25. Another stereotype would
be that “4” could be viewed
as a sort of “night and
shining armor” for Tris as
she struggles the “trials” of
Dauntless.
Sarah Thompson

26. Stereotypes are favored
because they are a quick
impression of a person or
group of people. If it is a
negative stereotype, then
of course it is harmful.
Classifying a group of
people based on their race,
religion, or past situations
is wrong in the sense that
not everyone of that
description falls in the
same category.

27. Provide messages
observed by the
characters regarding
skin color, religion,
politics, nationalities,
type of attire,
perception of beauty.
Abnegation dresses all in gray so
that they don't stand out. Tris and
her mom "picked up nearly identical
stacks of clothing every six months
or so. It's easy to allocate
resources when everyone gets the
same thing". Abnegation clothes
are about promoting equality and
blending in which is what
Abnegation believes in.
Efrain Ovalle

28. Amity dresses in
red or yellow
clothes, and
always makes
comfortable
clothing a
priority. If your
main goal is to be
happy and
friendly, you
want to look
Efrain Ovalle

29. Candor dress in
black and white
because, as Tris
notes, they see "the
truth as black and
white, so that is
what they wear.”
The clothes-as-
symbols aren't just
something subtle
that we're supposed
to notice. They are
symbols even in
Tris’ world.Efrain Ovalle

30. Dauntless dress
entirely in black and
are into piercings
and tattoos . Tris
recognizes that
there's no clear
connection between
wearing black and
being brave, but we
recognize that the
train-hopping, gun-
wielding, fighting,
and clubbing
Dauntless aren't just
brave. They're also
supposed to seem
cool, rebellious, and
individualistic.
Efrain Ovalle

31. Lastly, Erudite wear blue, but they have a very
serious, knowledgeable reason for that decision.
According to the Erudite, "Blue causes the body to
release calming chemicals, and 'a calm mind is a
clear mind’.” So the Erudite all dress with at least
some blue in order to have this effect. Candor people
don't become more truth-telling because they dress
in black and white; but Erudite are supposed to
become more clear-minded because they wear blue.
Just like Abnegation folks are supposed to blend in
more because they all wear gray.
EfrainOvalle

32. The intercultural exchanges were between the
different factions. The use and understanding of the
nonverbal communication between the factions
improved these exchanges. There were times where,
if not for the nonverbal cues, there would have been
no action in the scene. In the end scene where Tris is
cueing Four to throw her the dart gun, she says no
words but instead uses a slight tilt of the eyebrow.
Even though she originally started in a different
faction (culture), she was still able to use non-verbal Beth Kulasxa

33. Give examples of dialect,
jargon/branding , argot, slang or
profanity. Be specific –which character
uses it- in what context? Is it
appropriate for the scene? Why or why
not?The moment when members of Dauntless call Tris and other
Abnegation members "Stiff". I'm thinking that that falls under the
category of slang: non-standard terms usually used in instances of
informality which serve as a means of marking social or linguistic
identity. Stiff can refer to a deceased person, among many other things,
but in Dauntless culture it has evolved to be a term, though a slightly
derogatory one, for members of a different culture, specifically
Abnegation. They also call members of Erudite a "nose" because they
know it all. There is also argot in the movie. Argot is a private
vocabulary unique to a co-culture, group, organization, or profession.
An example of this is members of Dauntless referring to their basic
hang-out place as "The Pit". This unites the members of Dauntless
because no other culture except Dauntless understands this reference.
There is a little profanity in the movie too. Peter says "fuck" when he isNicole Harris

34. Profanity: In the scene where the new initiates to
Dauntless are playing a game similar to capture the
flag except with simulating guns. Christina gets
confronted by Will and Tris comes up from behind
and shoots him in the shoulder. He falls and his
response is "Bitch!" Christina then shoots him in the
leg and says "Asshole" It was the perfect use of
profanity. His being that he is mad that she got him
and got lost in his arrogant attitude and Christina's
because she showed that he deserved to be shot for
his attitude.
Branding: The term "Stiff" is used many times by
different people referring to the Abnogite's, but
specifically to Tris since she is most involved. The
term is branding the people of that faction and
generalizing them as a stiff.
Divergent: Used many times during to movie,
however a great example taht shows branding is at
the end when Tris confronts Jenene and she has a
knife to her neck, Jenene doubts her capabilities by
saying "Maybe you're not as Dauntless as you
thought" Tris then replies "You're right, I'm
divergent" She is showing what they have labeled
her as"rebellious" because she thinks for herself.

35. authority and straight to the point. For
example when sitting down for dinner, Tris
talks to Four and he says "What makes you
think you can talk to me?" He has a very
demanding presence and backs it up with his
words.Then later you see a whole demeanor
change through Tris and she is becoming
more self-confident. When Al confronts her
after his attack on her to apologize, she speaks
with authority when she boldly tells him "If
you ever come close to me again, I will kill
you. You're a coward."
Bethany Kulasxa