The moral of Milk
I've really been trying hard to process the movie Milk.
First of all, Sean Penn is astounding in this. I get shivers from how good his acting was in that. Oscars were invented for actors like that. I don't even have to see any of the other performances, this was a standout performance for the ages.
But it's not an easy movie to see. For one thing, there's a fair amount of man-on-man sex. This movie is about a man who burst out of the closet with zealousness of a convert when he was forty. He was here, he was queer, and he was proud of it. I'm not into man-on-man sex - those scenes in Brokeback Mountain squicked me out a bit - but they're brief and somewhat necessary for the movie. You've got to KNOW this about the man: he was as queer as a three dollar bill. He liked dick. A lot. The movie made me just accept that and then pushed me past how I feel personally about gay sex to celebrate his humanity.
I was in high school when he died and I knew the one sentence version of his life. His story was interesting to learn about. He was funny and kind, level-headed and smart. He was a business owner and sometime Republican and his first instinct was to organize a neighborhood chamber of Commerce. But it turns out that people held being gay against him, even after he came to love and accept himself the way he was.
This made him PISSED that being out of the closet could get people fired from their jobs, or could get them beaten by the cops, or could get them killed. And he was SAD that kids were committing suicide and partners of closeted-married-gays were left so wounded and hurt by things lacking in their relationship that they couldn't understand. He was SYMPATHETIC to the difficulties of being human. And he figured out a way to help.
So far this is an inspiring and somewhat touching story about love and redemption, finding yourself and your place in the world, making a difference in people's lives. That's all very lovely, very Martin Luther King.
But, has anyone seen my old friend Harvey? Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up over the hill, With Abraham, Martin and John.
It turns out that working to fix what's wrong in the world gets you killed. Not only that, but your lovers commit suicide and/or leave you because you're too devoted - swallowed up - by the enormity of the job. It's a sucky thing to do with a life. Milk was a fool. A lucky fool for the people who backed his agenda - those would be HUMAN people - but a fool nonetheless. Don't be like Milk.
Except... it sure is a good thing that Milk was the best Milk he could be.
First of all, Sean Penn is astounding in this. I get shivers from how good his acting was in that. Oscars were invented for actors like that. I don't even have to see any of the other performances, this was a standout performance for the ages.
But it's not an easy movie to see. For one thing, there's a fair amount of man-on-man sex. This movie is about a man who burst out of the closet with zealousness of a convert when he was forty. He was here, he was queer, and he was proud of it. I'm not into man-on-man sex - those scenes in Brokeback Mountain squicked me out a bit - but they're brief and somewhat necessary for the movie. You've got to KNOW this about the man: he was as queer as a three dollar bill. He liked dick. A lot. The movie made me just accept that and then pushed me past how I feel personally about gay sex to celebrate his humanity.
I was in high school when he died and I knew the one sentence version of his life. His story was interesting to learn about. He was funny and kind, level-headed and smart. He was a business owner and sometime Republican and his first instinct was to organize a neighborhood chamber of Commerce. But it turns out that people held being gay against him, even after he came to love and accept himself the way he was.
This made him PISSED that being out of the closet could get people fired from their jobs, or could get them beaten by the cops, or could get them killed. And he was SAD that kids were committing suicide and partners of closeted-married-gays were left so wounded and hurt by things lacking in their relationship that they couldn't understand. He was SYMPATHETIC to the difficulties of being human. And he figured out a way to help.
So far this is an inspiring and somewhat touching story about love and redemption, finding yourself and your place in the world, making a difference in people's lives. That's all very lovely, very Martin Luther King.
But, has anyone seen my old friend Harvey? Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up over the hill, With Abraham, Martin and John.
It turns out that working to fix what's wrong in the world gets you killed. Not only that, but your lovers commit suicide and/or leave you because you're too devoted - swallowed up - by the enormity of the job. It's a sucky thing to do with a life. Milk was a fool. A lucky fool for the people who backed his agenda - those would be HUMAN people - but a fool nonetheless. Don't be like Milk.
Except... it sure is a good thing that Milk was the best Milk he could be.