This past Sunday I finally got to see Milk at BAM in Brooklyn. It was a late showing so the theater wasn't too packed which made me feel relieved since I am a big cry baby at the movies and I knew with this one I would let it all loose. And it lived up to all the tear jerking I thought it would. I cried so much I think I actually was embarrassing my brother sitting next to me. I couldn't help it, some things are so close to my heart, that crying is the only way I can process them. Plus, I just lived in San Francisco for 7 years and I miss that special place.
Milk is about the later life of Harvey Milk a New Yorker that flees to San Francisco to live life as an openly gay man and ends up as an organizer that builds power in the Castro and beyond. After multiple tries is finally elected to be part of the San Francisco city of Supervisors. It was one of the most brilliant portrayals I have ever seen of a civil rights leader.
I was not taught about Harvey Milk in school. As a school teacher in San Francisco, I had to learn about his life in order to teach my students, but never to the extent that was portrayed in this film. I never understood the depth of his character, just that he had been unjustly murdered and about the bullshit "Twinkie Defense."
Everyone of the actors in this film was on point. Penn killed it, one of the best roles of his life, as did his long time lover in the film, super hunk, James Franco and even the crazy right winger that ends up taking his life, Dan White, played by Josh Brolin. The story was real and it was timely. One of the key things that he fights for after in office is opposition to Prop 6 which at the time was calling to have all out gay teachers and their supporters fired in an effort to get the "perverts" out of the schools. What disturbed was the realization that this struggle was fought the year I was born, 1978, and well, that is just not that long ago. There are multiple scenes protesting different anti-gay legislation throughout the country all shot in the Castro and looked no different from those that only happened a few weeks ago after the passage of Prop 8, where protesters were also asking for the basic civil rights of gay people. As I watched the movie and as I have thought since the election, what will it take for our civil rights leaders to understand that gay rights is an issue of civil rights?
The story told in this movie is timely and relevant and a brilliant portrayal of what it took to build power in a community that had previously been powerless. It also shows how the majority of the organizers for gay rights were white men which is what has led to a predominantly white led movement for gay rights that has often ran in tension with lesbian rights and queer people of color movements for building gay power. The movie is cut with pieces of him recording a tape that is to be listened to if he is to be assassinated and at the end of the movie he declares that it is not just about gays, but also about Asians, blacks, immigrants, workers and the rights of all of what he calls, "us," a brilliant message that shows that the "other" is actually the majority. But Milk's dream of "us" has not been true in queer organizing since then and building an attempts at building international solidarity in building gay power.
So while the story of Milk is amazing, it is important to look at the impact his legacy. The Castro is currently one of the richest, whitest neighborhoods in San Francisco, where its base of gay men, has turned into wealthy gay white men, marginalizing most other types of people. It is known to be a hostile environment for youth of color that are frequently picked up by the cops and has had several of its bars protested for inhospitable treatment of black clientèle. Simply put, I have very few gay friends that hang out in the Castro anymore.
Milk adds to the mainstream dialogue around organizing that popped up after the Obama campaign. People are seeing what it looks like to build power in communities that have been previously unheard or rendered invisible, generally at the mercy of an unjust government and legal system. So then I had to think, what would an inclusive gay rights movement look like today? One that included single moms that are demonized as "welfare queens" and clearly disrupt heteronormativity to "sexual deviants" and radical queers. How do we align around the issue of our rights being protected or guaranteed? There are more of us that disrupt heteronormativity than there are that don't. And frankly, I think the most disturbing for many about the passage of Prop 8 and all the other anti-gay legislation around the country was the display of homophobia, even more so than the actual loss of the rights. What will it take for the majority of Americans to see queer people as deserving of civil liberties?
Go see the movie, it was really inspiring.
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Funny- I just wrote about the ways we have to teach and learn our own queer history rather than ever finding it in mainstream textbooks or popular culture.
As for what an inclusive queer movement would look like--I think it would look a lot like the Prop 8 protests across the country last month. In Boston I'll admit ours was still pretty white, but I was really heartened by the diversity of age--from toddlers on shoulders to a couple together more than 50 years--as well as the visible presence of straight allies.
I first learned about Harvey Milk in X-Men comics... where there were 2 gay mutant characters who argued about whether or not they should attend "Harvey Milk High School" just because they're gay and I googled it out of curiosity...
Milk was a great man.
I'm going to see Milk in about an hour, so I should probably wait to comment. I saw a documentary available thru Netflix about Milk that was absolutely amazing. What the documentary emphasized (and I hope the new movie represents as well) is that not only was Milk an advocate for gay rights but also for ALL marginalized groups and low-income families and individuals. He was a great man who tirelessly fought for everyone who needed an advocate. I cried during the documentary and I'm taking a hanful of Kleenex to the theatre today. Harvey Milk is one of my heroes.
What's kind of sad about political/social leaders and public school education: kids don't get taught about these people until their cause is generally agreed to be "correct". Kids are taught to idolize MLK now that it's generally considered bad to be racist. Kids are taught about suffragists now that it's not ok to be sexist.
When the generally consensus says that oppressing gay people is not cool, then maybe kids will be taught about Harvey Milk as well.
However, it needs to be said that history taught in schools is even more political and manipulative than that. Kids are only taught certain people, and only in a safe, uncomplicated, one-dimensional ways. I mean, I never learned about Malcolm X as a kids. I don't remember learning about individual suffragist women or really any women, except maybe Harriet Tubman. We only teach history how we'd like it to be remembered, not how it was. And people who are difficult to explain are usually omitted entirely.
Really good point about the history being taught is the safe kind, Danyell. I don't mind self-educating about those unnamed in history class, but the motivation to do so is not widespread. I get a little frustrated when people turn to pop culture for their "education": Spike Lee's "X" must've got many more people to read the autobiography, which of course is great, but I wish the pop culture material weren't such a one-dimensional stepping-stone. Glad to read that "Milk" is not, and I'm looking forward to seeing it!
Samhita--it was a weird feeling to know that our age is a sort of marker between Prop. 6 and Prop. 8. A little creepy. How far we've come, yet so much left to do.
I really recommend the book "Lies My Teacher Told Me" to anyone who feels like their K-12 education has cheated them.
Totally agree. I read that before taking American History in high school and it helped me examine what sorts of stories my teacher was privileging through a critical lens.
Thanks, Danyell! I just checked, and it looks like there's a new edition of it in hardcover. :)
The documentary The Times of Harvey Milk is also a must-see. It is amazing to see footage of those activists, and the energy of that time and place: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088275/
I really want to see this movie. Unfortunately, it's only playing in one cinema in my city, all the way accross town. Which, to me, is ridiculous, considering I live in Canada's capital. e_e
rent the documentary, you will not be disappointed, and it will help you appreciated Sean P's performance when you finally get to rent Milk! (I'll let go of this thread now, I promise :)
But I don't want to waaaaaiiiiit that long! *pathetic wail* Haha, no, I will rent it if I don't get to see it in a movie-theatre, for sure.
I will definitely try to look for this movie so I will be able to watch it with my family.
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Oops, where did my reading skills go? I'm in the process of looking for the documentary, so that's definitely on my must-watch list.
This is a great movie. I hadn't learned about Harvey Milk in school either--I only first heard about him when a Harvey Milk High School opened up here in New York.
I did have to wonder though, during the gay rights movement in the 70's, what of the lesbians? There was only one lesbian portrayed in the film, and the scenes of crowds, marches and rallies largely depicted only gay men.Were they active as part of the movement as a whole, or were they a seperate movement at the time?
Lesbians were part of the movement. Daughters of Bilitis was one of first advocacy organizations. I know that the women's movement pushed out lesbians, referring to them as the "lavender menace." I'm not sure whether the gay rights movement also pushed them out or not.
I'm going to see this movie this weekend. I loved the documentary. Harvey Milk is a true hero and I'm so happy that this movie was made at this point in history to highlight the injustice of Prop 8.
Thanks for the info. Maybe there will be a movie about them some day.
gawd, i saw this when it opened in dallas a few weeks ago. i'm a newbie in learning about queer history, so it was doubly moving for me to see it all so fresh. having just gone to a prop8 protest a few weeks before, i was all emotions and just bawled through parts of it. i hope it doesn't get snubbed at the oscar's like it did at the golden globes.
I'm wildly fascinated by the whole Jonestown tragedy and in my research I saw where Harvey Milk was a huge advocate for Jim Jones until the end, I wonder was that touched on? That's not a slam its just curiosity.
I hope to see this movie on Saturday. I do have a question, though... did the movie get an R because of too much language? A sexy scene? Nudity? Violence? I'm really interested in the way that the MPAA rates movies. They don't actually have a guideline, and I think it's possible it could be rated R due to the homophobia of the MPAA. Or is the language really that bad?
Have you seen the documentary "This Film Is Not Yet Rated"? It's fantastic. It examines the MPAA's ratings system and the subjectivity involved in it. Among other things, it touches upon the way in which movies depicting homosexual characters tend to get higher ratings than movies depicting heterosexual characters performing similar (or in some cases more graphic) sexual acts.
For starters, an all inclusive queer rights movement would stop condoning the label "Gay rights."
It is so frustrating to consistently see almost every post on Feministing use the term "gay rights" instead of 'queer rights' or 'LGBTQI'. It is especially aggravating to read a post attempting to call out said LGBTQI groups and orgs for not being accepting, welcoming spaces for all queer-identified folks while blindly using a term that is by definition not inclusive. This consistent (mis)use of language makes Feministing an unwelcoming space for me as a queer woman.
Rush, as a queer woman myself, I can understand your frustration with the term used. It's especially frustrating given how many queer organizations and events still feel like they're catered toward (or dominated by) gay men--that's certainly been my experience.
At the same time, I hope you don't feel consistently unwelcome here. I really do think Samhita and the rest of the crew are generally awesome about inclusive language--and you'll notice that the post ends by asking, "What will it take for the majority of Americans to see queer people as deserving of civil liberties?" Queer people, not Teh Gay.
I see what you are saying. I think to clarify, I use gay rights when I am talking about movements that are considered "gay rights" movements. I am not going to use inclusive language when the movement is not inclusive, it would be in inaccurate descriptor. I speak queer, when I say future movement building, academia or queer movement building, but queer groups were not at the forefront of the anti-prop 8 organizing, gay groups were. From what I can remember.
But either way, you make a good point and I am sure I have mistakenly used them interchangeably as well, so I will be most careful of this in the future.
Rush, would you be willing to write a post on the community blog about the difference between saying gay rights and queer rights? I'm not sure I completely understand the difference, but I would like to know more.
I'm an LGBT activist, I went to middle and high school in California, went to one of the most gay-friendly high schools ever, and currently attend college at a prestigious school in California...and I never learned a damn thing about Harvey Milk until I saw this movie. What the hell?
It's disgusting that this once-in-a-lifetime civil rights leader is an unknown even in the community he fought for; that apathy rages on in the LGBT world; and that we're treated as a political controversy rather than a group deserving of our rights.
I, too, was dismayed at the similarity between the Prop 6 fight and the Prop 8 fight. I realized that 30 years of institutionalized discrimination in the school system would have changed the world so much. My favorite teacher in high school (back when I thought I was straight) was a gay man. He's now the principal, and I've since had the pleasure of having him as a boss. He's one of the most caring souls I've ever met, yet also a man who takes no bullshit from anyone. He taught me so much. My life would be far, far worse if he hadn't been in it.
Milk (the movie) reduced me to tears several times and I couldn't sleep when I went home that night. Just writing this is bringing the tears back. All I could think while I was watching the movie was,
Why do they hate us so much? Why can't they find it in their hearts to give so little when it would give us so much happiness? How could they hate us so much? What did we ever do to them?
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