Film & Ideology – Milk

fitting 2 Film and Ideology The definition of the word ideology buns be represented in many ways. Todays basic understanding of the word stinkpot be defined as the body of ideas reflecting the social needs and aspirations of an individual, group, class, or culture (Farlex, 2009). Gus cutting edge Sants exceptional biopic take protrude (Gus cutting edge Sant, 2008) depicts the story of Harvey milk, the slain cheerful-rights mouldivist who became the first openly gay man choose to any substantive semi semipolitical office in the history of the planet.Harvey draws life revisiond history his courage lifelessness motivates flock today, his ideals still teach people today and his commit still inspire people today. The change by reversal of take out in 2008 has helped to bring back a new sense of appreciation for the hope and craze that Harvey draw died for. milk beautifully shows the betrothals and struggles Harvey Milk had to go through to gain the trust of the peo ple and in order for his ideologies of a brighter tomorrow for all queer people to be fully appreciated by every wholeness.Harvey Milk was an individual who did non die in vain his efforts in struggle for gay rights left(p) a give outing impact on the people of this planet and his hope still lives on to this day. obviously put Harvey Milks ideology of competitiveness on and instilling hope in the fight for gay rights when no champion else would, immortalized him Without hope, lifes non worth living (Milk, 2008) It is now June 7th 1977, the sun has slump on the Castro district of San Francisco, and the crowd that has gathered in the street outside Harvey Milks photographic camera shop is becoming more and more, impatient and angry.We sock watching that the reason that every i is angry is due to the reports more or less voters in Dade County, Florida, having voted to overturn a local gay-rights ordinance, giving momentum to a backlash whose most perceptible semipublic f ace belongs to Anita Bryant. We know we have reached the climax of the movie. So much is happening all at once in the life of Harvey Milk that you wonder how he has not yet lost his head. His besotted upbeat attitude and overly positive optimism in the face of multiplying frustrations befools you look up in fearfulness at the wonderment that is Harvey Milk.The gay residents of the Castro atomic number 18 angry and looking to Harvey for leadership. Though not yet elected to office and having lost 3 courses consecutively, Harvey rises to the occasion and leads the angry crowd to city hall where he picks up a bullhorn and address the crowd in a way only Harvey Milk can turning an angry mob on the verge of a violent riot to a enthusiastic mass willing to fight for their rights the proper way. In the space of a few transactions Harvey goes from a whisper to a shout, from an intimate message of consolation and support to a defiant public speech.Milk shows us that it is these moment s, these distinct modes of address, are connected, and that the link between them is what defines Harvey Milks aspirations and ideals. According to Dr. devil M. Benshoff, an associate professor of Radio, Television, and Film at the University of North Texas, queer theorist focus on how sex activity was and is a product of culture, not some sort of biological given. In Milk it is clearly stressed that Harvey too did not believe that homosexuality was a genetic disease.In the scene of the 1977 June 7th march, skillful before he pass aways the store to lead the mob to city hall, Harvey answers the telephone only to be greeted by a scared and confused teenager whose parents believe him to be ill because he is gay. Harveys oversight of homosexuality as a genetic disorder is abundantly clear in this scene when he reassures the teenage boy that he isnt ill and that being gay is perfectly normal. Dr. Benshoff goes on to day that following the work of Alfred Kinsey and Sigmund Freud, q ueer theorists argue that human sexualityor indeed, race, gender, class, etc. are not either/or pro jells, tho are rather fluid and dynamic socially-defined positions. To suggest that there is one norm (straight white man on top sex for procreation and nothing else) is grossly take and only serves to foster rule by the same and persecution of everything else. Throughout Milk we can see that Harvey, though a very passionate gay-rights activist, is not only looking out for the queer folk. He holds beneficial to the ideal that everyone is equal. In a way he embodies what Kinsey and Freud say. He did not believe in sound one norm.In his fight for gay-rights he isnt trying to one-up the vast heterosexual majority by over throwing them and getting homosexuals to run the world, he is merely trying to get them to see that homosexuals are no different from any other person. Harvey Milk was trying to break down the social barriers that led to narrow-minded minded thinking of just one soci al norm. In Milk during one of the public bob ups he had, Harvey said that all men are created equal. No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words he believed these words with all his heart.To Harvey Milk, he wasnt just fighting for gay-rights he was fighting for a way of life that did not constrict its citizens to conform to just one social norm. Milk, Gus Van Sants film project that was close to two decades in the making, was released on the twenty-sixth of November 2008 and marks the 30th anniversary of Harvey Milks death and the brief nevertheless vivid political career he led. Harvey Milk was unfortunately gunned down on November 27th 1978, three weeks after his biggest political victory.The San Francisco city supervisor had been in office less than a year when he spearheaded a statewide fight back to defeat Proposition 6, a ballot initiative that called for the mandatory firing of gay teachers in California. Milk however arrived in theaters three weeks aft er the biggest political setback the American gay rights feces has suffered in years the passage of Proposition 8, which reversed the California Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.As untimely as the events that unfolded prior to the theatrical release of Milk, it begs the question on how did Proposition 8 change the meaningthe symbolic and ideological significance as well as the real-world functionof Gus Van Sants Milk. The passing of proposition 8 transformed Milk from a delicate, serious-minded period biopic that was directed by the intense Gus Van Sant into something much more urgent. Milk was suddenly this shinning beacon of hope that reinstated the hope and passion that was Harvey Milk into todays gay-rights activist.There are some moments in the film that in retrospect count as though it is speaking directly to the audience of the present. As the Proposition 6 results start to draw in, Harvey tells his followers If this thing passes, fight the hell back. Those eight words speak volumes to the people who are fighting against the proposition 6 of today, proposition 8. Somehow, when 8 passed, something else happened that was even more intense than the campaign, which is good. It was an inspiring reaction that showed effectualness to the people who were against Prop 8.So yeah, it seems to have an effect on something thats similar to it Prop. 6, that appears in our movie, Milk director Gus Van Sant was quoted during an interview with IFC. com. The activist understood the message Harvey Milk stood for in the day, and opted not to allow his valiant efforts go to waste. To judge from the numerous rallies that have sprung up across the country since Prop 8 passed, many gays and lesbians are doing just that, refusing to go down without a fight. Gay rights advocates have been quoted saying that they hope to capitalize on Milks fortuitous topicality.The films Oscar winning screenwriter, Dustin Lance Black, and veteran activist Cleve Jones pu blished a pronunciamento for equality in the San Francisco Chronicle on November 14th 2008 and launched a nationwide campaign of mass protests and courtly disobedience. The endnote of their manifesto read, Remember always, and reflect in all your actions, that we are not fighting against anyone, or anything. We are struggling for equality. Harvey Milk was the one that picked up the flag when no one else would. He was the one that led the suppressed minority on to recognition and acceptance.All who wear his badge, or speak his words, or hold strong to his ideals, keep him alive. Milk managed to revitalize Harvey and in a strange twilight zone sort of way enlisted todays newly radicalized generation to find their figurehead in the movie-hero chance variable of a long-dead hero. In Milk we see that Harveys main arsenal in his fight for equality was that he rejected secrecy and shame in favor of openness and visibility. He insisted that the fight against homophobia begins with the act of coming out If they know us, they dont vote against us.Harvey Milk realized this preceding than many of his contemporaries. He understood that in order to gain true equality gays and lesbians should serve as their own civil advocated instead of merely relying on pacts and promises made with their straight allies in risque and powerful places. Though he was seen as a radical at the time, in retrospect Harvey Milk is an optimist, an idealist, a true believer in the possibilities of American democracy. Gus Van Sant understood where Harvey was coming from with his come out of the mechanical press ideology. In the interview with IFC. om Gus Van Sant sheds some light on the ideology and how it unnatural him. It was Harveys one idea that would have worked and probably did help the No on Proposition 6 campaignultimately, its an interesting concept, and that was the way he thought had a huge effect on Proposition 6. If its not an unknown, its not scary. If its a known, its friendl y and you understand, Oh that person that I know is gay, and this other person I know is gay. Thats partly how it works. The openly gay Hollywood director went on to say, But people did come out.It was his drive to just come out of the closet, lock the closet, and stay out, which was followed by many people. And really, it was his death request. If a pot should enter his brain, may it knock down every closet door that was his last request, his will, which probably extended to many people, including me, because I came out after he was killed. This is just one of the millions of typeface on how Harvey Milks ideals and aspiration for equality for homosexuals touched and affected the lives of many closeted ones.Milks screenwriter Dustin Lance Black was quick to praise Harvey Milks come out of the closet ideal a really good solution to a problem that tons of people had diagnosed but had yet to offer any answers to in an interview with ABC Radio. In the same interview he said, In the y ears that Harvey put that into place, that sort of philosophy into the campaign, he won an election and a calendar month later he was able to defeat one of the biggest, most popular anti-gay pieces of legislation in our country. He was able to defeat it, very unexpectedly, with that philosophy.The recent anti-Prop 8 movement however seemed to embrace the adversary tactic. It was a closeted campaign, devoid of a public face, largely dependent on straight spokespeople, and run with a wary defensiveness that would have driven Harvey Milk mad. The story and context of Milk, and of the times in which Harvey Milk lived and led, make clear the continuation of this struggle we still find ourselves in. As soon as you lose a battle, another one looms before, giving you another opportunity to try to win. You win a battle, and before you can catch your breath, another struggle is on the horizon.We fall down only to pick ourselves back up again. Nothing about progress allows for much in the way of rest, but nor does it allow for much to last out stagnant. Harvey Milks thoughts were ones that changed the world. His thoughts turned into full out ideologies and his ideologies in turn morphed into a revolution. The ever brilliant Gus Van Sant who has a certain knack for merging the lines between now and then delivers to us a biopic that brings back to life its subject. In the post-proposition 8 viewing of this film, we can now see the rise of a new generation of activist ones that have been instilled with a new sense of hope.Just as Harvey Milks assassination, which he repeatedly foretold, has meant that he remains frozen in time as a martyr, the Proposition 8 result has, for now, has redefined Milk as a cause. Gus Van Sants 20 year long journey of bringing to life this culturally epic subject has cemented Harvey Milks position as an ideological leader. Lives of great men all remind us we can make our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind us, footprints on the sands o f time (Longfellow, 1838). Harvey Milks footprints would have never been forgotten, but Milk has in a way reaffirmed this stand.Gus Van Sant brought about a hero that was long gone and come up him from six feet under to be celebrated again as if he was never gone. Harvey Milk believed in one thing above all else and that was hope, Gus Van Sant brought back that hope. 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 thats all. I ask for the movement to continue.Because its not about own(prenominal) gain, not about ego, not about power its about the uss out there. Not only gays, but the Blacks, the Asians, the disabled, the seniors, the uss. Without hope, the uss give up I know you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. So you, and you, and yo u You gotta give em hope you gotta give em hope. , were the last lines of Milk. (2435 words) References 1. Black, D. L. (2008) Interview with Dustin Lance Black, writer, Milk, viewed may 2009, 2. Doty, A. 1998) The Oxford Guide To Film Studies Queer supposition, Oxford University Press Inc, New York 3. Dr. Benshoff, H. M. (2006) Notes on Gay History/Queer Theory/Queer Film, viewed May 2009, http//www. unt. edu/ally/queerfilm. html 4. Milk, 2008. Film. Directed by Gus Van SANT. USA Focus Features 5. Sant, G. V. (2008) Interview Gus Van Sant on Milk, viewed May 2009, http//www. ifc. com/news/2008/11/gus-van-sant-on-milk. php 6. TheFreeOnlineDictionary. Com By Farlex (2000) The American Heritage Dictionary of the side Language, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston