The 2008 film Milk explores the last ten years of Harvey Milk's life, the first openly gay man to win an election in a major political office in the United States. Walking into this movie, I was excited to review it as a typical Hollywood film where anything about being gay automatically gets Oscar nods and is critically acclaimed as a classic film pushing and transcending boundaries. As it turns out, after seeing the film I didn't find this at all, though it may push boundaries for some, it is a true story and one that brings exposure to important issues. The movie is filled with inspiring quotes that can be applied to many mediums, not just the fight for gay civil rights. The movie shows the opposition to the fight for gay rights from the political, religious and most bigoted perspectives. Though it spoke with a clear agenda aiming towards glorifying Harvey Milk, its obvious placement in theateres after proposition 8 and not considering the other sides credibility in perspective, I found it to be a wonderful film in regards to an average person creating exceptional circumstances.
Harvey Milk: All men are created equal. No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words.
The film's roles gave opportunities for high caliber actors to shine their true potential as Emile Hirsch, James Franco and Sean Penn made noise with their roles as homosexuals, Josh Brolin played an amazing jealous politician who was trying to do what he thought was right, until it drove him so mad that he shot the mayor and Milk.
Milk's presence in political office came with charisma and presence as he used his influence to not only be a voice for gays but senior citizens and the poor. In the movie, the portrayal of the religious right is perhaps a bit extreme and makes each person in opposition to Milk in even the slightest seems extreme, however the film will turn (even they can stomach to watch a couple dude on dude make out scenes) the most extreme bigot into a more tolerant person I would hope as it illustrates the inhumane circumstances a homophobic America has put the gay population through over decades of abuse. Before his death, Milk was quoted as saying, "If a bullet should enter my brain, let the bullet destroy every closet door." His fight for proposition 6 in California succeeded that no openly gay teacher could be fired for their sexuality.
Harvey Milk: If it were true that children emulate their teachers, we'd have a lot more nuns running around.
After his assasination Dan White (Josh Brolin) went on trial and was given a minimal sentance even for shooting two politicians at work including the mayor. The jury was biased towards White and it is no wonder he got off so easy for having too much sugar in his diet. Wikipeda states "Milk's and Moscone's murders and White's trial changed city politics and the California legal system. In 1980 San Francisco ended district supervisor elections, fearing that a Board of Supervisors so divisive would be harmful to the city, and that they had been a factor in the assassinations. A grassroots neighborhood effort to restore district elections in the mid-1990s proved successful, and the city returned to neighborhood representatives in 2000. As a result of Dan White's trial, California voters changed the law to reduce the likelihood of acquittals of accused who knew what they were doing but claimed their capacity was impaired. Diminished capacity was abolished as a defense to a charge, but courts allowed evidence of it when deciding whether to incarcerate, commit, or otherwise punish a convicted defendant. The "Twinkie defense" has entered American mythology, popularly described as a case where a murderer escapes justice because he binged on junk food, simplifying White's lack of political savvy, his relationships with George Moscone and Harvey Milk, and what San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen described as pandemic police "dislike of homosexuals". Dan White served a little more than five years for the double murder of Moscone and Milk. On October 22, 1985, a year and a half after his release from prison, White was found dead in a running car in his ex-wife's garage. He was 39 years old. His defense attorney told reporters that he had been despondent over the loss of his family, and the situation he had caused, adding "This was a sick man."
After hearing of the easy sentance the gay community was furious and a surge of people from the Castro District walked again to City Hall, chanting "Avenge Harvey Milk" and "He got away with murder".Pandemonium rapidly escalated as rocks were hurled at the front doors of the building. Milk's friends and aides tried to stop the destruction, but the mob of more than 3,000 ignored them and lit police cars on fire. They shoved a burning newspaper dispenser through the broken doors of City Hall, then cheered as the flames grew. One of the rioters responded to a reporter's question about why they were destroying parts of the city: "Just tell people that we ate too many Twinkies. That's why this is happening." The chief of police ordered the police not to retaliate, but to hold their ground. The White Night riots, as they became known, lasted several hours.
Milk was included in the "Time 100 Heroes and Icons of the 20th Century" as "a symbol of what gays can accomplish and the dangers they face in doing so". Despite his antics and publicity stunts, "none understood how his public role could affect private lives better than Milk ... [he] knew that the root cause of the gay predicament was invisibility"
Sean Penn is a revelation as Milk. He not only has a remarkable resemblance to the real man but his energy drives the story. Something I really enjoyed about the film's acting is it revealed the many sides to homosexuality. The gays in the film were not stereotypical and some were true to life just like every day people. James Franco for example is very much like he speaks in real life, wheras Penn and Hirsch resemble different manifestations in themselves. Overall the film is worth seeing, Van Sant (director) has a powerful story to tell, and he tells it with craft, as it was written.
CONSENSUS:
Rotten Tomatoes give this move a 93% rating
Zoom In Analysis will AGREE with this rating
In conclusion, I'd like to switch it up a bit and write a personal piece in response to a movie that begs such controversial questions and in emulation of Harvey Milk, I'd like to be a voice within my own community.
Why someone can still be religious and support gay civil rights:
The mormon document "The family: A proclamation to the World" states blatantly that each child is entitled to a mother and a father. Personally I beleive that I would rather have a child be adopted into any family with a loving parent than be an orphan, whether the "mother" and "father" roles are male and female, as long as they love eachother and show love to their child I feel that that is a power that is special either way. Seeing The plan of god is freedom to choose/free agency, the whole reason (the church believes) that we are here is to have a freedom of choice. I don't think personally in all honesty that being homosexual is the right thing, but I do believe that if you do think it is right then you should have the free agency to choose and the rights that go along with it. It’s obviously a human rights issue; we are beyond the times when we can ignore it as immoral. It’s not about political ideology or proving you are accepting and liberal, it is about believing that people should have the right to act as people. There is a theory that if we allow homosexuals their right, who is to say a man can’t marry a horse or pedophilia shouldn’t have its demands heard? First of all, to compare the two in the same breath is arrogant and secondly the percentage of the population that actually believes that this is okay is a dot on a very large map. The day when pedophiles and advocates of bestiality want their voice heard and it is actually getting recognized is when I will admit we have definitely stepped in the wrong direction.
The church is under a lot of heat because of proposition 8 in California. It funded a third of the campaign to get it passed. There are protesters outside of temples and even persecuting people when they go into church on Sunday. I have a lot to say about this. There are so many elements of irony and paradox in the way the gay community is handling the situation. first of all I should mention that not all Mormons were along side with the church, many put signs up to the contradictory view on their lawn because they believe the same as me...does this mean we are unfaithful or bad Mormons or even thinking of leaving the church?...I don’t think so, the ultimate doctrine of the church is that god will look into your heart. And in my heart I feel I’m right.
Secondly, the protesters decide to pick on our church, which makes sense, but the other 2/3rds of the funding came from African American churches, Baptists and Catholics. When interviewed, an African American said that he denies the gay community the right to compare their struggle with that of the blacks in the civil war because it’s totally different and what he called immoral. He also criticized them for being contradictory because they all solicit a vote for Obama and because they are gay push attitudes of acceptance for the blacks as well, however not one protester has come to a black Baptist church or any black church because he said they are scared to be seen as racist. I just thought it was kind of funny that hundreds of protesters have been outside Mormon buildings but fail to recognize all the other sects.
Finally I have my main point as to why if I was in California I may have not voted for prop 8 despite my beliefs: It was the plan of democrats and the gay community that soon, since gay marriage was legal bylaw any church that did not allow gay marriage would therefore not be allowed to practice marriage at all. This is outrageous, if the whole principle for gay marriage is based on rights, then why deny a hetero couple the right to marry the way they want or a church to act in the way they wish. It’s almost a revenge wish and quite frankly the criticism of if there were only gay people the human race would cease to exist: doing something like this actually gives credit to that notion. To me, this is completely ironic and hypocritical. If the world ever becomes this liberal I think it’s gone downhill. Religion isn’t a bad thing, the world definitely has blinders on the great things religion has created within people despite the views of Islamic fundamentalism and political theocracies (bush).
The solution: give both sides complete civil rights and take nothing away. Give the homosexual community all the civil rights of a marriage. A loved one or a partner should be able to visit someone in the hospital when they are ill, without this civil right they aren’t considered family and therefore are denied aspects that a married couple would. Simply give them all the civil rights that a married couple would and then don’t deny rights to the other side. When blacks or women got civil liberties, nothing was taken away from other races
of gender.
The bottom line is: I find that there are many like me. Liberal views and the church can still mix, my faith is secure with my liberal ideology: I feel non-discriminate even though I do believe that being homosexual is not the right thing to do, or rather the natural order of things meant to happen (which does not contradict with what the church believes), outside of the church I can still practice my civil rights (which are separate) to be accepting of how people want to practice their free agency. When issues like this come up in church, I defend my view and it is not discriminated or mocked, it’s accepted. There are people in the church who are bigoted, and even racist. But there are people like this everywhere. The point is there are people in the church that are very liberal minded as well and we keep practicing our faith because it brings me closer to that pure heart spirit that I believe ultimately matters. I think almost all churches can help someone achieve this, but for me personally this is the best church to help me do just that. To be frank, I will go as far as to equivocate the view of many people on homosexuality and homophobia to the extremist racist views of just a few decades ago, our children or grandchildren will be ashamed of the way society has treated gays just as I am ashamed of how society has treated blacks and aboriginals.
5 comments:
Gay "rights" issues are radically different from race-related civil rights in the US and Canada. Every American citizen has civil liberties guaranteed by our Bill of Rights, and whenever these rights have been violated either by reason of race or gender, they have provided a proper focus for the struggle to redress those violations. Historically, civil rights have been violated based solely on a person's skin color or gender. Any effort the parallel the struggle of gays to achieve mainstream acceptance (i.e., to be considered "normal") with that of Blacks and women who suffered under a racist and male dominated society devalues those struggles.
To be fair, homophobia and laws against sodomy have caused stress and suffering for homosexuals in the past. Moreover, discrimination against a person for any reason, including sexual orientation is wrong and unlawful. The latter is gradually being codified throughout our legal system, and gay couples are even gaining the right to join in civil unions that have the legal sanction of heterosexual marriage. There is likewise a more widespread tolerance and acceptance of the gay lifestyle on the part of the public at large.
What is unfair, however, is the assertion on the part of some gay activists that their struggle is the same as what Black Americans had to endure and overcome. In fact, many Black civil rights leaders bristle at the notion the gay rights movement can be placed on the same plane as the fight for racial equality. As a group, homosexuals have never been slaves, nor have they suffered from Jim Crow laws that kept them in a state of subjugation for decades after slavery. There have never been "heterosexual only" drinking fountains and cafes in America's South; nor have homosexuals been sought out by angry white men in robes lighting wooden crosses on their front lawns.
Also, male homosexuals have never been denied the right to vote or own property in their own name. They have always had ready access to America's political process as well as highly paid jobs at the same rate of pay as their heterosexual male counterparts. No gay rights march has ever been met with fire hoses and vicious dogs and cops with truncheons.
There is also a major difference between homosexuals and African-Americans as a class of people who have experienced varying degrees of discrimination, from persecution to mild disapproval. Black Americans (and women, too) could never camouflage their unique physical characteristics and thus avoid persecution or discrimination. On the other hand, homosexuality is normally not manifested in physical appearance. If there is any manifestation, it is behavioral.
Homosexuality is a sexual preference and a lifestyle that can be practiced in plain sight or in private, depending on the preference of the practitioner. Blacks cannot hide their skin color, nor can women hide their gender. Both women and blacks have been discriminated against solely because of their physical characteristics. Gays, too, have suffered discrimination and homophobic mistreatment, but never to the degree of African-Americans and women. To claim otherwise is a disingenuous effort to garner a level of public sympathy that is disproportionate to the degree of actual "suffering" caused by gays, who want "rights" that they already have by virtue of being Americans.
Of course, the argument as to whether the institution of marriage should be extended to members of the same sex is one that society will have to resolve. However, as long as gays have the option of legalized civil unions, the complaint that they cannot "marry" is really a quibble
I believe I agree with you blogger "hammer" in my entry that the gay community comparing itself to the civil rights struggle is an irrelevant and horrible connection to make on their part.
However, your comments that there have never been laws against gays is incorrect, there have been laws that have outlawed people from jobs for their sexual orientation and in many countries being gay is illegal, even punishable by death ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_laws_of_the_world ). The death penalty for being black isn't something I've heard of except in Fascist Germany (where gays were killed also). Also, even though the gay community has never been "slaves" I would argue that the verbal and physical gay bashing that goes on throughout the world and in our own backyard is a subjugation of the human being and therefore similar to slavery. Furthermore, you claim that no gay march has been broken up with fire hoses and dogs, I don't know about fire hoses but I can assure you far too many have ended in the beating and deaths of many gays ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Night_riots ). Also, you say "nor have homosexuals been sought out by angry white men in robes lighting wooden crosses on their front lawns," of course not in this manner, but again there are similar parallels whether literal gay hunts or implicitly hunting people for who they are which might as well be right on their front lawn stripping people from their right to live a normal life in the same community, and this is mostly caused by cross waving religious fundamentalists.
Honestly, I agree, to compare the long struggle of the gays to the civil rights movement is shameful. It is not only a completely different issue but it is irrelevant. However, to say that the gay community has not shared similar travesties is ignorance:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/09/28/bc-hate-crime.html
http://florida.bilerico.com/2009/02/witness_ryan_skipper_killed_because_he_w.php
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1582039/20080221/id_0.jhtml
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8edBhVi8Ws
http://www.theliberianjournal.com/index.php?st=news&sbst=details&rid=452
http://www.news4jax.com/news/11287209/detail.html
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2008/12/killed-because-they-thought-he-was-gay.html
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/09/29/bc-gay-bashing-community-court.html
It's time to wake up if we haven't already. This is not a religious issue, it's an issue about loving our neighbor. It's an issue of human rights.
Why the mistreatment of homosexuals? I say it was because of what was seen as the future should homosexuals win their battle. It was for the safety of society that people like Anita Bryant and others have stood so valiantly and protested this unethical sexual license. Today we have the horrors taking place that we feared back then due to the mentality of today toward immoral sexual freedoms.
Believe me, I do not want the return of some of the cruelties of the past toward homosexuals. But I find it very difficult to say that all jobs should be permitted them or all places to live be open to them. Not so with racial situations. The black family or person should have the same as me as for rights but in the case of homosexuality I feel there need be constraints in certain cases.
Children should not be exposed to their teachings and should not be placed in their hands for care giving. Male homosexuality has been found many times, to be connected to NAMBLA which is an organization that promotes pedophilia. At this time we also have lesbian gangs who stalk girls who have need of the locker room or the toilets in some schools, to rape them.
How can we even attempt to bring Racial and Civil rights into the same arena as homosexual rights? This angers the black person for the most part and I do not blame them. They suffered years of physical and mental cruelty at the hands of the KKK and others who had no use for them save for what they could make on them. Homosexual activists try to lay claim to the concentration camps and ghettos of Hitler's regime thus belittling the sufferings of the Jews yet Hitler himself was soft on homosexual men. Read "The Pink Swastika". There are many proofs of the reason why these are completely unrelated.
Out of total ignorance and the emotional sympathy of the public due to the fake pleas of being victims the homosexual has moved ahead in their plan to destroy family and marriages. Disease has increased and immorality has bloomed. The USA has become one of the most hated nations primarily because of the filth that is peddled all over the world. All of that has played well into the hands of the homosexual activist and they know how to use it thanks to the salesmanship of monsters that authored book that have served as the king of "Overhauling America". One book was "After the Ball", there are others.
We have earned the lifting of God's hands from this nation. Every religion in the world has stood to say that homosexuality was never a plan devised by the god of their choice for the past two thousand years, now all of a sudden the reason for that has been pushed away and we are under the judgment of God. Only repentance and prayer will get Him to return to us. May He have mercy on us.
Hatred for homosexuals is not my attitude as I have written this blog. Actually love is my motive. Love that dares to tell the truth to a people who have been so lied to by their own so called "friends". Changing our country's laws are not going to change God's laws. He is not going to suddenly turn around all that He has said about this behavior. The true haters of the homosexual are the very ones who claim to love them for they do not care what the person will face one day when they answer to God. 66 books of the Bible where not one positive thing is said about same sex, sex. Would that not cause one to wonder? What if I am correct? I believe I am
Hammer, as you ended your last blog respons with "I believe," there is no way to argue with you because it is your belief. I have to respect the fact that you have a belief that you feel makes you stronger. The same goes for anyone that holds strong beliefs in anything, even homosexuality. They have a belief that someday they will be accepted for who they are, and so we, as citizens amongst them have a duty to accept them for who they are.
Agreed, lets stop comparing gay rights to civil rights. You also say that God will not change his laws, yet (and I don't know what religion you belong to) there are churches that have moved away from their policies even allowing Gay marriage in their church.
I find your comparison/generalization that gays are pedofiles to be an incredible and arbitrary assertion. What a horrible thing to say that a gay person is more likely to rape a child. The USA is also not a hated nation because of its immorailty, its because of its abuse of power and imperialism. I am not American, nor do I live there, but I feel like you are not giving your country the credit it deserves. Though America is seen in a negative light, it is still full of womderfil philanthropic citizens who are making differences throughout the world.
To say that the true haters of homosexuals are those that don't care that they will have to face god is the view of someone who doesnt respect someone else's beliefs. Also, someone who is taking the role of God's judgment. I say leave these things in the hands of god, they are not my business, but while we are here, I will advocate whatever it takes to allow for the freedom to choose for my neighbor. However that freedom is handeled or used is on the onus of the citizen, I just hope they have the right to choose i nthe first place. There are people in this world that think differenlty than me, and you and them, so lets just give everyone their rights and allow for unity in a world of contention.
Hammer, how did you find this blog? Aside from the issue discussed, it sure is awesome that films can cause such great discussion. Movies are amazing. I wonder, have you even seen Milk? Or are you just interested in the topic.
I would like to comment and add to this entry i made a while ago and add this link and applaud the church supporting Salt Lake City gay rights:
http://lds-law.org/2009/11/12/lds-churchs-support-of-slc-gay-rights-law-shouldnt-be-a-surprise/
it shows the perfect approach and resolution to opposing views:
I think the cooperative approach should go both ways: while supporters of same-sex marriage disagree with religious groups on various issues, they can (and should) recognize the right of religious groups and individuals to believe and teach religious principles that may include opposition to homosexuality. For the past few years it has appeared that the gay rights movement and religious liberties were on a collision course, but cooperation like that in Salt Lake is a good reminder that the conflict is both unnecessary and avoidable.
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