Milk - Natalie Sharp

 The film assign for this week, Milk, followed the life of Harvey Milk a gay rights activist in the 1970s and the first openly gay elected official to a public office in the United States. This movie highlighted many of the struggles gay people at the time were facing from mental health issues to violence and political scrutiny. My main issue with the film was that the actor who played Harvey and his partner who was played by James Franko, are not openly gay themselves. Having straight actors play gay characters is not authentic to their lived experiences and can be invalidating to gay identities. It allows the audience can appreciate the film and support the actor without supporting a gay actor. The actors get to play these roles but walk away as straight men. Having straight actors in this film misses the opportunity to highlight gay actors and reinforces the notion that straight is the norm. In addition, this film only highlights the white gay man's experiences and fails to represent LGTBQIA+ people of color or women.  LGBTQIA+ rights have gained some big wins in recent years and their stories have been more widely broadcasted in the US. Gay marriage was made federally legal in 2015 and PRIDE parades and merchandise have been getting bigger and bigger. However, this changing acceptance and broadcasting has trigged certain individuals to feel more hate and prejudice towards these communities. Right now, it seems that trans rights and non-binary rights are at the forefront of discussion. Gender-neutral bathrooms, the use of proper pronouns, and trans kids competing in sports have been hot topics in the K-12 battleground. One recent instance that hit close to home was the Archdiocese of Portland last month said that “names, pronouns, facilities use, attire, and sports participation should depend upon biological sex identity rather than self-perceived gender identity” stated Archbishop Alexander K. Despite their being nothing in the bible about non-binary issues the church especially the catholic church has made it their issue to push back and oppress LGBTQIA+ issues. It seems in this country, especially with LGTBQIA+ issues,  we take one step forward, and two steps back. I do have hope for generations to come because social media I think plays a large role in its wider acceptance and exposure. In the past, it was believed that only 10% of the population was gay or lesbian and now those numbers have increased to 23.6% in the U.S.





Comments

  1. Catherine BolzendahlMarch 11, 2023 at 2:24 PM

    Thanks for tackling these important critiques of the film. You raise and important point about the sexuality of the actors which deserves more discussion. I wish we'd discussed it more in class. I do think we see the process of pushing rights for one group (gay white men) that simultaneously made other groups invisible or even furthered their marginalization. They do touch on it a bit but it clearly was not on the agenda at the time.

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