so get this: in an effort to be a little gay-friendlier than my last post, i decided to watch “Milk” for the first time.
I ejected it after about 30 minutes.
i appreciate the effort. i do, i really do. it’s probably the best we’re gonna get for maybe 6 years or so, after more big waves of political and social change. but the writing was shit. i wanted to punch Emile Hirsch’s character in the face as soon as he over-acted his fancy swagger (and i normally come in peace!). James Franco was adorable, with as much substance as a golden retriever. Sean Penn did the best he could, which, considering the writing, is pretty good. But as a whole, it almost felt like propaganda. Propaganda for ideas of which i support, but propaganda nonetheless.
Funny, i was rooting on principle for Milk every time it was up for an Academy Award, but now that i’ve seen it, i take my rooting back. I wouldn’t root for Slumdog Millionaire (the first 10 minutes seduce you in, and then they hope you don’t notice the inconsistencies stylistically and in the screenplay.), and i doubt i would have had patience for Benjamin Button unless it was mind-blowingly good (as reviews refute). That leaves The Reader, and Frost/Nixon, and i’m going on a wild guess here that i’d prefer Frost/Nixon simply because its historical political setting is more relevant to me and my life now than a love and justice story traced around a Nazi war crime trial is.
Oof. Time to watch the playoffs.
Lindsay said,
June 8, 2009 at 8:08 pm
I finished it in the theater and cried.
But. I have to say – wish you had finished it. The propaganda feeling was there for me, but softened by the fact that this man really did stick his (mildly nutty, overbearing at times, pushy at others) neck out there to make major MAJOR change in California.
In the end, I saw a complicated person and his crew of various brainy hoods – some who believed so strongly in him and in coming out, but still couldn’t do it. I saw a crizazy insecure man go over the edge and commit what may or may not have been a hate crime, but was a tragic end to a wild ride for Milk and Moscone. I saw a born politician – a man who manipulated the scene to make change and was able to do it because he knew his audience. Someone who, like janice dickenson, can claim to be the best or the first because the competition fell away. Not because he was necessarily the best OR the first.
I love that it reminded me that Prop 8 IS something that was born years ago with the first anti discrimination legislation, that there really IS still relevant activism for gay and straight folks to partake in to create real change (Love Makes a Family!) and that I shouldn’t get lazy about doing my own thing to make diversity in all its forms a celebrated thing.
Can’t wait to see you, planning a little bit each little day. xoxoxo