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Let’s be honest: Stonewall by @rolandemmerich is actually a *good* movie about the Stonewall riots - where the gay liberation movement started in 1969 🏳️🌈 Especially for a straight audience.Permalink
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Mood +4 🙂
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The movie shows absolutely *everything* about being gay in 1969: the anti-gay propaganda (the school movie), the rejection (by the father, by the school), the need to hide (the sex scene at the farm, forbidden gay bars), the youth homelessness, the prostitution to survive...Permalink
Mood -7 🙁
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... the costs and risks of prostitution (being beaten, being « captured » by a criminal organization, the tears, the fear), the HATE (the death of Justin), the attitude of the police (homophobic, violent), the social pressure (getting married to a woman while you love a man)...Permalink
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Mood -17 🙁
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... the cynism of the criminals (how the Stonewall is run by the mafia) and probably other things I’ve missed. IT’S ALL IN THE MOVIE.Permalink
Mood -5 🙁
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Some said the movie didn’t depicted enough non-white, non « straight-acting » characters. Did those people actually SAW the movie? It’s full of those characters! And many of them are important characters.Permalink
Mood +2 🙂
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And yes, straight people are appealed by straight-acting characters (what a surprise...) : huffingtonpost.com/entry/stonewall-straight-acting_us_5602bf50e4b08820d91af82d Maybe you don’t like that, but *it’s a fact*. And the way Roland Emmerich tried to use it is actually pretty clever.Permalink
Mood +7 🙂
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First, using the « white All American symbol » of the football player in a small city located in the Midwest is brillant. Why? Because it ensures the audience immediately identifies with him (at least a US audience). You’ll give a fuck to what happen to him because of that.
Mood -4 🙁
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Second, the movie isn’t full of straight-acting characters, only the hero is. Do those people know about the Trojan horse strategy? You put a straight-acting character to appeal a straight audience and you use him as a « bait » to show *a lot* of non-straight-acting characters.Permalink
Mood +3 🙂
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Sidenote: not every gay is effeminate. And I don’t understand why telling the story of a non-effeminate gay man is so horrifying to some. THERE’S NON-EFFEMINATE GAY MEN AS WELL.Permalink
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I am one of those weird animals and trust me, it’s not because I’m not effeminate that it’s easier to be gay.Permalink
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Gay Midwest football players (and other clichés) can have a hard time dealing with their homosexuality too, and I absolutely don’t understand why this issue shouldn’t be addressed. There’s no « rankings » in suffering. ***END OF THE SIDENOTE***Permalink
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Third, yes the hero is a white football player, but he also has a story. His angst is tangible (that « Gay power » scream is frightening), his relationship with his best friend is complex and subtle, and so on. He’s more than just a cliché to appeal straight people.Permalink
Mood +3 🙂
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To conclude: telling the story of the LQBT+ community to « straight » people *is* important. They are 95% of the population. They are the opinion surveyed in the polls who support more and more LGBT+ rights.Permalink
Mood +4 🙂
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Think about Brokeback Mountain: I’ve read dozen of stories of straight men crying while watching this movie because they realized what’s love between two men look like. Who do you think made some of these people change their mind about gay marriage and other gay rights?Permalink
Mood +4 🙂
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Maybe speaking to straight people is not the strategy you would’ve picked, but why not? There isn’t only one unique strategy to fight for the LGBTQ+ rights. And reaching out straight people *do* make sense to me.Permalink
Mood +2 🙂
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What @rolandemmerich tried could have worked if people actually saw the movie and thought a bit about it before saying it’s a pile of crap. It’s at the end pretty sad to see the LGBT+ community shooting its own foot because the film wasn’t supposedly « pure enough » for some.Permalink
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So I do recommend Stonewall, especially if you want to show the history of the LGBT+ community and/or if you care about white gay football players who are kicked out by they parents and have a hard time to get back on their feet...Permalink
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Mood +4 🙂
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(And many thanks to @CinemaDurendal for bringing this movie to my attention through his retrospective on Roland Emmerich! Great job, as usual!)Permalink
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Mood +5 🙂
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Mood -1 🙁