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Proposition 8 Protest Rally & Street Closures - Wednesday, November 5th
As deeply disappointed as we all are that California voters passed Proposition 8, we must not allow that disappointment to linger. This vote is a temporary defeat in the long march toward equal rights for all citizens in America.
Please join me for a protest rally tonight at 7 pm on San Vicente Blvd between West Hollywood Park and the Pacific Design Center (647 N. San Vicente Blvd. West Hollywood CA 90069) as we move forward towards restoring equality for all in California.
San Vicente Blvd, between Santa Monica Blvd and Melrose Avenue will be closed tonight starting at 6 pm. San Vicente south-bound traffic will be directed to make left or right at Santa Monica Blvd. Signs have already been posted to help divert traffic.
For more information about tonight's rally, please contact (323) 848-6460.
So what does this have to do with movies? (Yes, that is now the primary focus of this blog again)
Milk, however overstated by The Hollywood Reporter last week, has been trying to stay clear of the election cycle, as have movies like Frost/Nixon, Twilight, and even James Bond. The two political movies in this group were clearly concerned about mixing fact and fiction, even though both these films are based on the true stories. But getting heard above the noise of the election is very challenging. Twilight and Bond have both worked their bases effectively. But the big ad money is just rolling out now. And indeed, Milk is a case where the movie is opening in three weeks and change, is presumably more review driven than many films, and wants to keep the wave from breaking so early that there would be no froth three weeks from Friday.
But the moment is the moment. And the success of the anti-gay-marriage Prop 8 in California is, stunningly, a mirror reflection of one of the central stories of Harvey Milk’s life, as told in Milk. Proposition 6 looked to give the state the right to fire teachers for being openly gay and even those who “supported them” (whatever that means). The movement was directly connected to Anita Bryant’s crusade, which started in Florida.
Milk was the catalyst to fight this prop… which was certainly even more heinous than this year’s Prop 8. Obviously, it was not all Milk, but he was a central voice in both the fight and the strategy behind the fight.
It is, perhaps, the failure to have a central figure and a more aggressive approach to fighting this proposition that allowed the proposition to be turned into a choice between God and Godlessness.
I do not agree that Focus should have somehow given up control of their interest in this film to the idea of using it as a political weapon in this election cycle.
But I do feel that we are now on the other side of the looking glass and that it would be the best idea, both commercially and aesthetically, to connect the story of Harvey Milk to the story of California today. This film about a powerful series of events thirty years ago is, to its credit, as much about today as any movie that you will see this year. (In an odd way, even more so than W.) The power of the individual – gay, straight, white, black, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Pagan or whatever – to change the world IS the story of the moment… the story of Obama… the story we all want.
Gus Van Sant or some who work with him should be out shooting the rally in West Hollywood and The Castro and anywhere else they take place and the real world of 2008 should be going into TV spots and a trailer contrasted with the real world of 1978… let Harvey Milk speak for us all. Let the spectacular Sean Penn performance speak to today.
I have been saying for a while that Prop 8 winning in California would be a big win for Focus and this movie. I don’t think anyone at Focus is pleased that they have this advantage. They would surely prefer that Prop 8 had lost… as Harvey defeated Prop 6.
But the moment is on them. And they should take advantage. It may feel dangerous, but the truth, I think, is that they have never had a chance to make this film as commercial and accessible as they have right now. And the film deserves it.
So I say, “go for it.” You have to give them hope…
(P.S. And for mysef, thanks to fortune that this issue makes a nice transition from all the politics back to movies...)
Read the complete post at http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/archives/2008/11/milk_it.html