Two films, two different people, a politician and a student, twenty years apart, showing the world that something needs to change. Prejudices need to be broken and equality needs to prevail. The film Milk was released in 2008 and is based off of the life of Harvey Milk. He was the first openly gay man to be elected into political office in California. He fought for gay rights throughout his life before and during his political career. He is best known for winning his No Campaign against proposition 6, which stated that homosexuals and anyone who associated themselves with a homosexual were banned from teaching. Three weeks after his victory Harvey Milk was assassinated November 27, 1978 by a resigned supervisor named Daniel White. In 2002, six years before Milk was released, The Laramie Project was released based on the play with the same name about the murder of Matthew Shepard and how it affected the town of Laramie, Wyoming. Matthew Shepard was a twenty-one year old student at the University of Wyoming who was severely beaten on October 6, 1998 leading to his death in a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, October 12, 1998. These two men represent more than twenty years of prejudice and discrimination with little change. Through the power of film, these two stories advocate change and promote people to take a stand. The films show that even though these events are in our countries past they still can teach us today.
The two films represent the gay right movement by advocating that change needs to happen and exemplifying that the fight for gay rights is just beginning. Milk was directed by Gus Van Sant . Sant exemplifies his vision by centering the film around the figure of Harvey Milk and the important events and relationships in his life. In order to make the film more realistic he incorporates actual video footage from Harvey Milk’s life with the video that he captures himself for the film. By incorporating this footage the ethos of the film is strengthened and the accuracy of the film increases. The film shows how Harvey Milk started off as just another simple human being, but had a fire lit inside of him to advocate change in society and the views that society held against homosexuals.
Moises Kaufman of the Tectonic Theatre Project directed The Laramie Project and released it four years after the murder of Matthew Shepard and six years before Milk was released. Kaufman’s film reached out to people across the country about the story of Matthew Shepard and his murder. In Kaufman’s vision he decided that a physical representative of Matthew Shepard would not be present in the film. Instead the character of Matthew Shepard is created through the dialogue of numerous characters in the film. The ethos and authenticity of the film are the result of basing the script and the overall film on more than two hundred interviews that Kaufman and his crew collected from the residents of Laramie, Wyoming.
Comparing these two films brings up many questions. One such question is; why was the film Milk released thirty years after the death of Harvey Milk, while The Laramie Project was released four years after the death of Matthew Shepard? The answer to this question is up for interpretation, however I believe that Harvey Milk himself created his own legacy throughout his life while Matthew Shepard’s legacy was created when he was actually murdered. James Brooks of The New York Times stated Matthew Shepard “became an overnight symbol of deadly violence against gay people.” I believe that The Laramie Project was made in direct response to the murder of Matthew Shepard and was released with haste in order to show the world the harsh realities about hate crimes. Milk on the other hand was limited released November 26 and 27, 2008, exactly thirty years after the assassination of Harvey Milk.. I believe that the motion picture Milk was made as a rebirth and a reminder to society of who Harvey Milk was instead of a direct response to his assassination. When the film Milk was released in 2008 Proposition 8 was a very big issue in California and made it so only a man and a woman could get married in the state of California. This changed the entire purpose and impact that the film Milk had on society. As stated in an article written by Dennis Lim on Harvey Milk, “…not many films occasion three New York Times articles and a Maureen Dowd column before they open.” He continues saying, “The passage of Prop 8 transformed Van Sant’s film…There are moments in the film that now seem to traverse time and space, as if telepathically addressing the struggles of the present day. As the Prop 6 results start to roll in Harvey tells his followers: ‘If this thing passes, fight the hell back.’”
Gus Van Sant and Moises Kaufman interpreted how they wanted to portray their main character in their films differently bringing up another question. Why wasn’t Matthew Shepard an actual character in The Laramie Project, while Harvey Milk was the main character in Milk? This question is also up for interpretation, however I believe by making Matthew Shepard a faceless character in The Laramie Project, Kaufman is able to transform Matthew Shepard into a broad symbol of the gay rights movement that everyone can put a face to. Harvey Milk on the other hand, created his own special persona throughout his life and is known by the impact he made throughout his life. Therefore, it was important for Sant to choose an actor who could give the role justice and show the world again who Harvey Milk was. He found this in the very talented Sean Penn.
The power of film is exemplified by both of these films and the legacies that their characters have created. Harvey Milk and Matthew Shepard are both looked at as national icons in the gay rights movement. Harvey Milk created his own legacy by never giving up after running for city supervisor in San Francisco over and over again until he was able to actually win it. He influenced homosexuals throughout the country by telling them that they could be who they were and let the world know that homosexuality wasn’t a mental illness. Matthew Shepard was looked at as somewhat of Jesus figure. It was stated in a New York Times article that, “'There is incredible symbolism about being tied to a fence,'' said Rebecca Isaacs, political director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington. ''People have likened it to a scarecrow. But it sounded more like a crucifixion.'' The Laramie Project has brought out the significance of the murder of Matthew Shepard and has shown the world how wrong it was. Both of these films show the world that prejudices are wrong and that homosexuality is NOT wrong. In the words of Harvey Milk, “If a bullet should go through my head let that bullet go through every closet door.”
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