Monday, March 29, 2010
Your Initial Response to “The Laramie Project”
Before we discuss the film, I’d like you to take a moment and reflect on your response to it. As you do so, I’d like you to identify the scene or character that you think is the most significant, or the one that had the most significant impact on you as a viewer. Describe this moment in the film or this character and explain why it impacted you. In your mind, how does it relate to the overall point of the film? Who else (think about audience here) do you think would find this scene important or should pay attention to this character?
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The scene with the man whose apartment looked out upon both ends of the homecoming parade route in Laramie I feel was an especially important scene in the film, because it shows what kind of barriers were knocked down in the town, when the citizens chose to unite around a common cause. The members of the community that were interviewed for the Laramie project were attempting to prove that their town that they know and love is not represented in any way by the killing of a gay man. However, this one scene is especially indicative of the type of community Laramie is without the use of words. I feel that the community as a whole should take note of his testimony because he has the proof that they are searching for in clearing Laramie's name.
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ReplyDeleteIn one word, I would say my response to The Laramie Project is surprise. Of course, one word is not adequate, but that would be the first one. I am not one to cry at many movies, but I responded on an emotional level that I did not expect. When one of the men who was interviewed spoke about the parade and how some people marched for Matt, that really touched my heart. When they showed how the size of the parade grew as the parade came south I had to hold back tears. The story of Romaine also touched me when I read it in those articles, but it was another thing altogether to actually see them walking heroically down the street; their angel wings were high enough to block the signs. What a beautiful thing. When people rise to the occasion and love and care for one another in the bravest way it touches my heart. It is something so powerful to say “I will generously do this for you.” Though those were the scenes that impacted me emotionally, I would have to say the thing that continued to grab my attention was the statement “Laramie is not like this” and “We wanted to distance ourselves from those who would do that.” It is interesting how, even in the midst of tragedy, the people had to defend their town, their stories, their narratives. That is an interesting dynamic to the story because it is as though they are fighting multiple battles. Battles against the media, against others, against hate, and against everything they had ever thought about their town and their lives. This relates to the idea of the film as dialogue because the people had to talk about things that they did not have to mention previously. An audience that maybe interested in a deeper look into the idea of the people of Laramie having to defend what they thought was true would be students at a university.
ReplyDeleteAs expected, “The Laramie Project” was a very moving piece. Although they are definitely more distant than “The Laramie Project”, I had already found the media reports of the Matthew Shepard case to be extremely emotional. The film went even further to impact the viewer, doing so through the inclusion of dialogues that were even more personal and emotional than those that would be found in interviews in a news story. There were several scenes and characters that I felt were powerful. Two of the characters that were the most powerful and also did the most to summarize the films main points were Matthew Shepard’s dad and the detective who announced Matthew’s health conditions to the press. Mr. Shepard’s testimony on sentencing at the end of the trial captured a lot of the emotion that the film was trying to give off, as well as the film’s ideas of forgiveness and mercy. The detective was a powerful character who demonstrated the film’s points of family and love. I think the film does a good job of making these characters seem important to all audiences through an emotional appeal.
ReplyDeleteOverall this film was incredibly moving as well as eye opening. As someone who is extremely pro all gay-rights, the film shocked me at times. I cannot imagine having the feelings that some of the characters expressed. Two characters through out the film caught my attention the most. The first character was the blonde woman who spoke about the high way worker that had recently been killed in a drunk driving accident. Her ignorance was astonishing. I could not believe that she related the two incidences. Yes, drunk driving is wrong and should never be done, but the driver who killed the high way worker did not get in his car that evening with the intention to kill somebody. Aaron and Russell had every intention in the world to brutally harm Matthew if not kill him. In most cases the words spoken by the blonde woman are only said by men, the fact that a woman was the one expressing this opinion made it even more dramatic.
ReplyDeleteThe other character in the movie that I felt had a significant impact on the film was only interviewed briefly, but her words stuck with me throughout the rest of the film. This character was the woman that questioned if Laramie really wasn’t “that kind of town.” This question stuck in my mind and I failed to form an opinion of the correct answer. Obviously Russell and Aaron were raised in Laramie and that is where they learned their beliefs. The community of Laramie taught these boys how to think, act, and treat other people, so if the boys are capable of such gruesome actions the rest of the town must be also. On the other hand, the mistakes of two boys should not reflect the community as a whole. Out of the people interviewed, everyone agreed what the boys did was wrong even if they shared the same anti-homosexual beliefs as Aaron and Russell. I feel this comment made the audience think more than any of the other statements in the movie and made the women a small, but significant character to the film.
This film was not only extremely emotional, but also very shocking and surprising to me. Born and raised in California, I was never exposed to this much of a disapproval of the gay community. Yes there are always some extremists in every crowd, everywhere, but I had never seen an overall disapproval from the residents of a town as I saw in Laramie. One character that caught my attention was the police woman who untied Matthew from the fence. Her interviews were moving and genuine. The emotions she had to go through from the horrific scene and her own health are unimaginable. What I thought was interesting in the film was how most of the residents kept repeating the view “Live and let live”; however, it seemed like they wanted to “live and let live” because they did not want to know about something that they would disapprove of. Overall, most of the residents, I felt, were uncomfortable about the gay community, but did condemn the actions of the two suspects and felt no one ever deserves what Matthew went through.
ReplyDeleteOverall, the Laramie project was a great depiction of the events that occurred after the atrocious crime. I found the story very touching and the way the case resolve itself was also very heart-warming at most times. It also portrayed the full spectrum of the human condition, where some Laramie residents showed their acceptance or tolerance towards homosexuality while others expressed utter hatred and animosity to it. The character I found the most interesting was the police officer who untied and attended Matthew S. after his body was discovered. Basically she started by doing her job. Then she found out that Matthew had AIDS and that she had substantial exposure to the disease. Her reaction and her words were nothing like what I was expecting. She didn’t express anger at her carelessness or panicked openly at the possibility that she would be HIV positive. Instead she asserted that all she was trying to do that day was to save a human live and unknowingly she put herself in harm’s way. Personally, I felt that her words were a milestone in the movie since she showed compassion for another human being and also neglected the fact that she could have AIDS. This is what reminds me that there are some astonishing human beings in places that go unnoticed, and that humanity aspect of the film gave it what I believe to be the essence of love and acceptance as portrayed in the play and the events that occurred in the case of Matthew Shepard.
ReplyDeleteMy initial reaction to the Laramie project garnered a wide variety of conflicting emotions. An acute sense of sadness and hopelessness was palpable as I watched human beings treat each other with callous discrimination. I felt incensed at the absurd loss of life and actually found myself hoping that Mr. McKinney would be put to death. The fact that I was advocating the loss of yet another human life exemplifies the raw emotion associated with the incident. The unwavering empathy I had for Matthew Shepard’s parents manifested itself into an insatiable yearning for revenge. As I watched Mr. McKinney sit appearing unrepentant, my wish for his fate to mimic Mr. Shepard’s only grew stronger. However, not all emotions associated with the film were characterized by inimitable grief or anger. In fact, through the atrocious murder of Matthew Shepard grew forgiveness, faith, mercy and an unwillingness to perpetuate meaningless acts of violence.
ReplyDeleteThe culmination of the film produced a scene that, to me, had the most resonating impact. Mr. Shepard’s decision to relinquish the opportunity to sentence Mr. McKinney to death represents an unprecedented level of mercy in response to a heinous act of hatred. It was at this moment where instead of escalating the death toll, a stand was taken in Matthew Shepard’s honor. To merely put another human being to death would have conflicted with the human-rights driven progression that Matthew sought to achieve throughout his lifetime. By allowing Mr. McKinney to live, Matthew Shepard took on the role of a martyr of sorts, who died in pursuit of universal equality. It is for this reason that the end of this movie can be deemed nothing short of poetic, as it utilizes a horrific tragedy to generate hope and forward thinking.
The Laramie Project was an intensely emotional movie that provided a connection to Matthew Shepard and through him, the gay community. The one moment in the movie I found particularly moving was Matthew Shepard’s father’s speech in the courtroom towards the end. Matt’s father obviously and rightfully had an abiding hate towards the killers, but he set his anger aside to do what is right. One of his most significant lines was when he said, “Good is coming out of evil.” This showed that the world had reacted to Matthew Shepard’s death. Matt’s father had revealed that despite this horrible event, there can be good from it. People stated to realize the gravity of a hate crime such as this and just how much hatred was pointed towards gays. The world can change and acts like this can be made so they never happen again. Matthew’s beliefs against the death penalty allowed Aaron McKinney to live. This scene showed that all the other things people did around the town as well as all the interviews conducted were in fact making a difference.
ReplyDeleteThe character who I found the most significant was the sheriff who cut Matthew Sheppard down from the fence. She reprented the severe effects that this incident had on a great number of people. I also believe that the sheriff made a good point by saying that all that was running through her mind was "don't hesitate" because you cannot simply let another human being suffer like that. This demonstrates that while the perpetrators beat him up because he was gay, she tried to save him because he was a person just like everyone else. It didn't matter who he was, only that he was in need of her help.
ReplyDeleteThe scene in the film that touched me the most was the parade when all of the people joined in to walk for Matthew. Events like these force people to decide what they believe is right and wrong.
I think people who have not had a lot of contact with these issues will find this character and scene interesting, because it will force them to think about what they would have done, and help them recognize their feelings on such an important issue.
The most influential part in this film for me was actually a very small moment. It is when the blonde woman tries to talk to the minister about Matthew. She is doing her best to be impartial and understanding toward his view. She is not being pushy or rude and just says she wants to talk to him about the situation and tells him she has done her best to understand his opinion by attending his services. His response is that Matthew's attacker and his wife attend his services as well and that he hoped, in his last moments, alone and suffering, Matthew got a chance to reflect on the lifestyle he had chosen for himself. She is later mortified that her only response is a simple "thank you for your time" and cannot understand why in that moment, she let him speak to her like that. I think that it is a lesson, it demonstrates that there are times, even when you are completely sure of your opinion, you are so shocked you cannot defend yourself. She could not believe that he would answer to such brutality with a response that suggested Matthew was somehow responsible for his actions and that these brutal last moments were simply time for his reflection. I think that anyone can relate to and appreciate this moment because no matter the issue, there will be times in life when we believe we could have done more to stand up for our cause and when we don't, it can be heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteWatching “The Laramie Project,” I found the second sentencing to be the most significant scene in the docudrama. I found it really interesting how the playwrights juxtapose the sentencing of Aaron McKinney and the deathMatthew Shepard. Just as Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney decided the fate of Matthew Shepard as they murdered him, Dennis Shepard, Matthew’s fathers, had the opportunity to decide the fate of McKinney. The importance in the scene, the contrast of the Matthew’s murder and McKinney’s sentencing, is that Dennis Shepard chooses to let him life, saying “Mr. McKinney, I give you life in the memory of the one who no longer lives.” This choice, a choice of mercy and compassion, shows how Matthew Shepard’s murder not only shook the town Laramie, but more importantly changed how people think – Matthew’s death changed society. As Dennis Shepard said, “Good is coming out of evil.”
ReplyDeleteI think this idea, that Matthew’s tragic and horrific death brought about changes for the better, is the purpose or argument of “The Laramie Project.” As the play presents different reactions and results to Henderson and McKinney’s crime of hate, it searches for a conclusion. It is a diverse dialogue, rather than a dialogue on diversity, examining if and how Matthew’s death would change both Laramie and the world as a whole. The project’s conclusion or thesis finally appears in Dennis Shepard’s speech, asserting that “Good is coming out of evil.”
The most influential characters to me were the priest and the reverend. Born and raised catholic, I have heard the argument of the morality of same sex relationships and marriage. Being from Massachusetts, I also saw the first state to approve of same sex unions. I have heard the arguments of catholic, bible driven protestors, such as “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” and the reverend showed his support in these arguments and blatantly stated he does not approve of the gay life style, which was no surprising. What was a change from what I had seen in the past was the priest, who though he knew the catholic church found the lifestyle wrong, he still wanted to support Matthew, and considered asking the Bishop for permission. This showed to me that even figures of God could show sympathy and support though religiously it is wrong.
ReplyDeleteAlso, two phrases that really stuck out to me were “if this had been a heterosexual murder, it wouldn’t have made the national news” and “I would like nothing more then to see you die Mr. McKinney.” These phrases combined power with a general feeling, but also creating an eye opening moment.
Watching "The Laramie Project" for the second time was just as emotional and moving for me as the first experience. I had underwent moments of fear, anger, joy, and even hopefulness throughout the movie. However, I was mostly moved by the various scenes that discuss the idea od "live and let live." This particular ideal revolves around living in secrecy in order to live, in order to survive which proves very ironic and controversial. The gay community is expected to hide who they are and conform to the conservative lifestyle of Laramie residents.
ReplyDeleteEverytime the characters would refer to this infamous phrase, I would experience fervent anger because certain individuals would justify the Matthew Shepard hate crime because of his chosen lifestyle. Although many believed that Matthew and his perpetrators were responsible for this incident "50-50," I was able to see a shred of hope once Dennis Shepard spoke in court granting McKinney life.
In my opinion, it is most important to inform the media and enlighten them of these ignorant acts because all the various media outlets have the power to appeal to and spread this particular message to the masses. Each individual needs to be aware of the "magnitude with which people hate."
The film really got to me. Like, I'm usually able to distance myself emotionally from these kinds of really intense, emotional pieces, but this just tore into me. The really significant part for me was the woman's reaction to the younger parishoner. Her distress was just so sincere after hearing someone so calmly say something so hateful. I shared her disgust with what he said. He said, with absolute sincerety and conviction, that he hoped that Matthew had repented before he died. As he sat there, bleeding from his head, this priest, who is supposed to have compassion for all living things, hoped that Matthew had repented for simply being who he was.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I did after seeing the film was calling my boyfriend and saying I loved him. It REALLY got to me.
The scene that struck me the most from the film was the one where they were interviewing the lady who showed more concern for the patrolman who got hit in an accident than Matthew Shepard. It was very impactful as it showed how prejudiced people could be towards a homosexual in Wyoming. The patrolman being hit was an accident however the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard was less a crime to her, presumably because of his sexuality. It really reinforced my current opinion on how prejudiced and intolerant parts of the United States can be towards people who live a different lifestyle, towards people who don’t fit the cookie cutter mold that nationalists hold. It reveals a very telling point of the film, that all people have different values and beliefs; some are more racist, more sexist, more prejudiced than others and that society accepts such a status quo. It would be an important scene to anyone who believes that the United States has overcome divisions in beliefs, overcome diversity.
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