One might say that Football being an inherently masculine sport, gaying it up might be pretty hard. Not really. And one doesn't even need to go into the detail about the players grabbing each others buttocks, chest bumping, and the other forms of physical intimacy on blatent display.
Let's start with the music.
-The intro song, We Will Rock You was originally by Queen, whose lead singer Freddie Mercury died of complications from HIV/AIDS.
-The Sandy Hook/Newton Elementary School performers sang America the Beautiful, whose lyrics were written by Katarine Lee Bates, a lesbian.
Advertising
-Unfortunately there was a ridiculously transphobic Doritos ad. Yeah, guys wearing dresses is all you need to do apparently in order to create mirth these days...
-Which was then followed up by a Calvin Klein ad featuring a muscular guy wearing only underwear. Go figure.
.
-This Coke ad reminded me of both The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Lawrence of Arabia (about T.E. Lawrence, who historians now accept as likely as having being gay). Probably the only reason I was reminded of Lawrence of Arabia was because I had just watched it about a week ago.
Miscelaneous
-The 49ers are from San Francisco, which at one point was considered a gay mecca and where the first openly gay politician, Harvey Milk, was elected to major office in the U.S.
-Half-Time show was by gay icon Beyonce.
Showing posts with label Harvey Milk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harvey Milk. Show all posts
February 4, 2013
June 14, 2011
Queer Review: Milk (2008)
Milk
Director: Gus Van Sant
Writer: Dustin Lance Black
Cast: Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, James Franco, Alison Pill, Victor Garber, Denis O'Hare
Overview
Harvey Milk was among the first openly gay politicians run and be elected to a major public office in the United States, and the first in the state of California. Milk is the Gus Van Sant directed biopic of Harvey Milk's life, with Sean Penn in the title role.
Synopsis
Milk starts out with the initial meeting between Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) and his longtime lover Scott Smith (James Franco) in a subway station and ends with his assassination at the hands of Dan White (Josh Brolin). In between we are shown Milk's early political campaign struggles and the events of his brief political career once he was elected, along with the strained political relationship he had with Dan White. There is also some time focused on Anita Bryant's homphobic campaigns against civil rights, which featured legislation to make it legal to fire "homosexual" teachers in California and that Harvey Milk publicly campainged against.
The Queering
On the whole, this is a fairly standard bio-pic. However, there are a few things that do make it stand out. The first is Sean Penn's performance as Harvey Milk which embodies the cliche of "bringing [insert historical figure here] to life". The other is the amount of insight provided into Harvey Milk and the homophobia that existed during the time period.
I also have to say that there are also plenty of emotionally moving scenes. This is what makes the film work. Without emotional investment in the struggles of Harvey Milk, this picture would simply not work.
However, I do have a minor criticism, although this is more broadly applied to Hollywood on the whole. Are there not enough mainstream pictures about gay white men now? It's not like there are not any other historical figures to choose from. When are we going to see a bio-pic of Sylvia Rivera, Ruth C. Ellis, George Washington Carver, or Bayard Rustin? I am just getting a little tired of there not being a heck of a lot of variety out there to choose from when it comes to queer films.
In any case, what Milk sets out to do, it does well. There is also enough insight into Milk's life and philosophy here to make it worthwhile viewing. Two quotes from Milk in particular stand out for me. I found the first the most insightful. When is when Supervisor Dan White tells Harvey that "you have an issue", Harvey responds with, "It's more than an issue, this is our lives we're fighting for."
The other one is the most moving:
Recommendation
Highly recommended. Milk makes a good starting point for those who wish to know more about the history of gay activism and queer politics.
The Rating
Trailer
Want to find a review of a particular work? Check out the Title Index, the archive of all reviews posted listed alphabetically.
Director: Gus Van Sant
Writer: Dustin Lance Black
Cast: Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, James Franco, Alison Pill, Victor Garber, Denis O'Hare
Overview
Harvey Milk was among the first openly gay politicians run and be elected to a major public office in the United States, and the first in the state of California. Milk is the Gus Van Sant directed biopic of Harvey Milk's life, with Sean Penn in the title role.
Synopsis
Milk starts out with the initial meeting between Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) and his longtime lover Scott Smith (James Franco) in a subway station and ends with his assassination at the hands of Dan White (Josh Brolin). In between we are shown Milk's early political campaign struggles and the events of his brief political career once he was elected, along with the strained political relationship he had with Dan White. There is also some time focused on Anita Bryant's homphobic campaigns against civil rights, which featured legislation to make it legal to fire "homosexual" teachers in California and that Harvey Milk publicly campainged against.
The Queering
On the whole, this is a fairly standard bio-pic. However, there are a few things that do make it stand out. The first is Sean Penn's performance as Harvey Milk which embodies the cliche of "bringing [insert historical figure here] to life". The other is the amount of insight provided into Harvey Milk and the homophobia that existed during the time period.
I also have to say that there are also plenty of emotionally moving scenes. This is what makes the film work. Without emotional investment in the struggles of Harvey Milk, this picture would simply not work.
However, I do have a minor criticism, although this is more broadly applied to Hollywood on the whole. Are there not enough mainstream pictures about gay white men now? It's not like there are not any other historical figures to choose from. When are we going to see a bio-pic of Sylvia Rivera, Ruth C. Ellis, George Washington Carver, or Bayard Rustin? I am just getting a little tired of there not being a heck of a lot of variety out there to choose from when it comes to queer films.
In any case, what Milk sets out to do, it does well. There is also enough insight into Milk's life and philosophy here to make it worthwhile viewing. Two quotes from Milk in particular stand out for me. I found the first the most insightful. When is when Supervisor Dan White tells Harvey that "you have an issue", Harvey responds with, "It's more than an issue, this is our lives we're fighting for."
The other one is the most moving:
I ask this... If there should be an assassination, I would hope that five, ten, one hundred, a thousand would rise. I would like to see every gay lawyer, every gay architect come out - - If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door... And that's all. I ask for the movement to continue. Because it's not about personal gain, not about ego, not about power... it's about the "us's" out there. Not only gays, but the Blacks, the Asians, the disabled, the seniors, the us's. Without hope, the us's give up - I know you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. So you, and you, and you... You gotta give em' hope... you gotta give em' hope.
Recommendation
Highly recommended. Milk makes a good starting point for those who wish to know more about the history of gay activism and queer politics.
The Rating
Trailer
Want to find a review of a particular work? Check out the Title Index, the archive of all reviews posted listed alphabetically.
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