Mini Essay on the Effect of Belonging Between a Person and a Place

In apiece of the texts, perceptions of belonging involve connections between pack and places. Compare the portrayal of the connections between people and places in Mankind Is No Island and grandma Torino. For people to have a real sense of belonging, they need to contract connections with the place they live and the people around them. If either of these connections is missing, then individuals will suffer as a result. Two films that examine this idea are the 2008 Tropfest Winner Mankind Is No Island and the motion picture Gran Torino directed by East Clintwood.The Tropfest film Mankind is no Island represents the challenges of belonging to a place by exploring the irony of the misconceptions that cities, being so grand, would also create a grand sense of belonging within the individuals that populate them. However, the film shows us that many people are faced with isolation, starvation and alienation. This is shown in a shot with the quote do we measure empathy by donations, after these 6 words, the camera focuses on a homeless man kneeling in the street.The camera angle is low when you see the man seem to be begging for money. His head is positioned downwards at the bag in front of him, with no broad deal of donations. This shot also shows people on the street walking past the man without so much as glancing in his direction, as though he does non exist. This is a visual theatrical performance that reinforces the title. It is as if the people drifting past him are depicted as the water and he himself the island. In Gran Torino, the neighbourhood in which Walt Kowalski lives is shown to be full of Hmong people.At the beginning of the movie, Walt is appearing to have a racialist attitude towards his neighbours as he is always calling them gooks or zipper heads. It is evident in the scene in which Taos cousin and his gang try to recruit Tao in his own front yard, that Walt does not like the Hmong people. Tao resists which causes a conflict that ends u p moving over to Walts lawn. The scene is cut to Walt pointing a gun into the gangs faces whilst saying get off my lawn.One of the members of the gang says to Walt are you crazy, go back in the class where Walt replies to this how about I blow a hole in your face and then I go in the house and I sleep like a baby, you can count on that. When Walt has a barbeque in his own backyard, inviting his new found friends over, we can clearly see the contrast in attitude that he has. He went from scowling and cursing at his Asian neighbours, to having a full grinning and laughing with them while sharing a friendly gathering. In this scene, Walt feels as though he belongs with this family more than he does with his own.Taos family accepts him for who he is and doesnt expect anything from him. Walt and the Hmong family are able to make jokes about each other that arent politically correct, but they are accepted for they trust and accept that it is how Walt is, because he comes from an mount up where making racial comments was less criticized. In conclusion, both Mankind Is No Island and Gran Torino show that connections with people and places are essential in creating a sense of belonging within oneself. When someone feels as though they truly belong to someone or something, they become much happier.