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A new theory is percolating about Gus Van Sant's Milk, the biopic about slain SF City Supervisor and gay rights activist Harvey Milk, and Prop. 8, the same-sex marriage ban. It's this: Could an earlier release date for Milk have helped change the Prop 8 vote? Slate asked that question today. Well, they asked two:"How does Proposition 8 change the meaning...of Milk?" and "[I]f the film had found an audience early enough, could it have made a difference?" In our post-Prop. 8 world those are good questions, ones that we personally cannot answer. But one thing is for sure: Milk will land the sympathy vote come Oscar night.
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Yea, like people who are against gay marriage are going to see a film about a gay man.
I agree. If you're voting for Prop 8, you're probably not gonna watch a movie about some homo who got what he deserved.
I've seen the movie. I thought it was great, but I don't think it's anything that a supporter of Prop 8 will go see, so I doubt it would have changed the vote at all.
It's not about the supporters of prop 8 seeing it, it is about the people who see it creating buzz and the people who were on the fence about prop 8 seeing it, or have friends see it. Basically the deal is that there are 40% on either side who aren't going to budge about marriage equality, but there is another 20% who are mutable. The marriage segregation people appealed to those peoples fears with the "teach gayness in school" ads. The marriage equality people tried to appeal the their sense of fairness, but they did it without really putting a face to it, or framing the issue well. "Milk", and the buzz of may have put a human face on it and convinced more of them to reject prop-8.
Could have made a big difference.
As an earlier post said, 40% (or whatever) of the Yes on 8 vote came from individual who could never be convinced to change their vote. By their own websites and statements, this core group would vote yes on abolishing any form of gay right: right of adoption, gays teaching in schools, domestic partnerships - heck, 25% would yes on open season on lynching gays. But you only need to convince 7 to 8% of the Yes vote, and this movie may have gonme a long way to do that.
I don't think the 20-25% of people on the fence, whether or not that's a reliable statistic, would really want to go see this movie. And if they did, I don't know if some of the scenes (like the blowjob in the darkroom) would have helped or hurt the cause.
On the other hand, we can only wonder how much this movie may have energized homosexuals to go come out to the people they haven't come out to and actually give this cause a face, as was suggested in the movie.
I think that more than anything, the movie's message very much encourages post Prop 8 protests and whatnot, and it very much might help to further the momentum that the LGBT community has felt since the election. Now if only there were better organization...
You don't need all those people to go see the movie, but I would hazard to guess that many of them will see it or at least hear positive things about it from people they know and trust. You don't need to actually see the movie to be affected by it, just knowing people, and reading reviews will have an effect.
My thought during the movie was that it will only be seen by those who are already totally convinced that prop 8 is wrong, and who are very, very comfortable with homosexuality.
I think very few straight guys who might be on the fence, will want to see a movie with even these admittedly tame sex scenes. Since they won't see the movie, the only way this movie will change their minds, is through positive word of mouth by their friends who are already anti-8, and who have presumably already made their feelings on the subject known.
Milk, to me, is more about what the so-called gay community is willing to do to effectively expand their vision and organizing. I've heard on a number of occasions that the No on 8 campaign wasn't run very well and chose not to engage non-white communities in their notion of 'civil rights'. I heard that too many people's votes and experiences were taken for granted. Could Milk be instructive for folks within the movement who think they know more than they actually do? Hell f***ing yeah!
2 lessons from fighting the Briggs initiative (to fire all gay teachers), as shown in the movie could have helped. 1. Don't hide gay faces in our ads. 2. Get out and debate them (in their own back yards if we can.)
A true event when fighting Briggs initiative, (not covered in MILK) -- the founder of MCC, Troy Perry, raised a $100,000 to do focus research on what it would take to change the minds of people. We were expected to be easily beaten. He used that research to reframe the debate (getting a catholic mom of 12, and Ronald Reagan to come out on our side)!
Let's learn from our HISTORY!
I'm torn as to whether the movie would have really helped. On the contrary, in a good old fashioned feedback loop, the passing of prop 8 popularized the movie and the debate over equal rights. I don't believe it would have happened the other way around.
Without the passing of prop 8 I believe the community would have just thought this movie was a quaint bit of historical perspective but not wholely connected to present day gay life. Now that the community's apathy has been jarred into the limelight suddenly this film becomes relevant and inspiring.
It would have helped ... because the message of both Harvey Milk the man and the "Milk" the film, is to live your life openly and fully. When we share our stories -- not just here in SF, but back home -- people are forced to realize that we are normal people just trying to share in the American dream.
I've walked the walk on this ... for the past decade I've been working on documentary films that help families understand and accept their LGBT members. I've seen what happens when people understand that we are not stereotypes, but instead members of their families.
You can see some of my our films at: http://startaconversation.wetpaint.com